How many times have you tried discussing your brilliant home design ideas about your home with your partner and he had no idea what you were talking about? How many times did you try to describe what you meant and you couldn’t find the right words? How many times did you try to actually organize your home design ideas?
It happened to me a million times and I should have the knowledge and vocabulary as an architect. Sometimes I couldn’t describe what I meant and sometimes my husband stopped listening because he just couldn’t visualize it.
Please note that this page contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward me with a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
So how to organize your home design ideas?
And, because we are not exceptions, I have found five free tools for you that can be used for keeping and sharing ideas with your partner and family.
If you need an idea of how to actually find a happy way to compromise over decorating I have an article for you.
Pinterest is amazing, you can find anything there. It is a visual discovery engine for finding a home and style inspiration ideas – and more! You have to be very careful when using Pinterest because you can easily get lost. You will start off looking for a Scandinavian-style inspired kitchen and in no time you will be checking new trends for nail design.
So how can we best use Pinterest efficiently?
- Search Pinterest with keywords describing your needs – eg. Scandinavian living room, blue bedroom, etc.
- use boards to save your design ideas – you can even create “secret boards” so no one else will see them. You can then share these with your partner and/or family
- label boards according to the rooms or the colours or style ideas
Instagram and home design ideas
As I’m sure you know, Instagram is a social media channel but it is also a great source of inspiration as well. No wonder there are such hashtags as #interiordecor, #homedesign, etc.
Instagram can make you sad because you don’t have what they have. ‘They’ here means Instagram influencers. If you stay calm, Instagram can actually help you create the best home ever or at least see the newest trends around.
- As with Pinterest, use keywords (on Insta, they are called hashtags #) with your needs in mind so #scandinavian #homedecor #bluebedroom, etc.
- Save photos to your folder. Later on, when you go through them, you can easily see what you like, and what style you are really after.
Google Documents
Google Docs seem such an obvious tool that no one actually thinks about it as a great tool for keeping (and sharing) your interior design ideas. You can keep everything in one folder or create a presentation and then, with just one click, send it to your partner who can add his ideas, etc.
It’s just so efficient and easy. Also, I love how, with Google Docs, you can google (how funny!) a special spreadsheet for project budgeting, etc. Definitely worth trying when you need a lot of information under one umbrella.
Trello
A brilliant tool where you can store ideas and links to websites. Again, you can name boards after a particular room or design ideas. I love using Trello for shopping lists as I can see both the picture and the link. As with the others, you can easily share the Trello board with your partner. Oh, and you can add a date to each card (part of the board) so your idea will become a real plan.
Canva
Canva is a graphic design tool where you can create a presentation or a mood board for your interior design. If you need to see how your ideas will work together, Canva is your tool. Amongst other things, you can add the colours you would love to have in your room and you can add all furniture or home decor. Of course, you can add photos of your current furniture too.
I love Canva and I use it for all presentations I make for my clients. I love that I can easily add links to shops there and that the presentation can be shared without printing a pdf – thereby saving both time and space in your inbox.
Canva pre-made templates:
Check my free pre-made templates on my free resources page.
Feeling stuck with your home design?
Schedule a free design chat with me
Bye for now! x