Eat, Sleep, Pin, Repeat!
I don’t know if you are like me, but I save snippets of everything from magazines mostly, or at least I used to do that. I would collect recipes, beauty tips, fitness routines, decorating ideas etc. I had file cabinets and folders full of ideas. The only problem was that after they got filed away, they were never seen again. I had good intentions of making that sugar scrub or refinishing that piece of furniture, but I never did them. Mainly because the folders and files were always a mess. I loved saving the stuff but I never wanted to sort and organize it better, that took too much time.
And then came Pinterest. My world didn’t change right away, it took a couple of years to really understand the power of it. Over the last few years I have created an online visual database for myself consisting of everything I dreamed of doing for my files full of printed “snippets”, but a thousand times better. And now with the category and organization features Pinterest has, I have organized every single thing I have ever pinned.
The best part is that I actually use it. I look up what I need within my boards and do many of the things I save. It’s where I go for inspiration, education or just fun. I have pretty much discontinued all my print magazines. I now subscribe to an app called "Texture" that allows me to read a large array of magazines each month, digitally, which is fine, since I don’t need to cut them up anymore.
Last month I switched my personal account to a business account and hope to use it to promote my business in the future, we’ll see how that goes, (I was a little reluctant). But as far as using Pinterest as a digital scrapbook or filing cabinet for everything I need and everything I never knew I needed, it’s absolutely awesome. Here’s a link to my Pinterest account where you can see how I’ve set it all up...
https://www.pinterest.com/ileneprice/
One of the nicest things I often hear is “your house is such a home, so warm and friendly”. I truly love my house, I sit in my kitchen or living room, look around at everything I see, and it makes me happy. That’s basically my decorating philosophy, collecting objects that I fall in love with. Some people may feel it’s cluttered, but I call it “organized chaos”. Every piece I find at either a garage sale or a store, is something that speaks to me. When I come home with my little treasures I find a place for them in some existing grouping, still life or I create a new one. When I walk into someones home that is clean, crisp, and minimalistic, I really do love and appreciate it, but I couldn’t live it... I need that mixed up, boho style... I guess I would call that my brand of eclectic.
One of my mantras is a quote by Jonathon Adler, “Don’t worry about so-called rules. If you love it, it will work.” If you fall in love with an old vintage chair, a shabby chic buffet, or an ultra cool modern piece of decor, but your house isn’t really that style, you can make it work. That’s basically what eclectic is to me. Piecing together all different styles, patterns, colors and vibes. I believe if it’s something you love, it will go with all the other things you love. Simple as that!
I have mini groupings all over my house, collections of sea shells, pottery, candles, etc. I remember once, we had friends come visit who hadn’t been to our home in years. As they pulled up, they realized they didn’t remember the house number. Just as they were about to call, my friend says to her husband, “Oh that’s Ilene’s house, look in the bay window.” She knew as soon as she saw the grouping of glass sculptures that she was at the right place.
I also have had people come into my house who have been there a million times say to me, “Is that new?”. And I say no I just rearranged the furniture...AGAIN! I do it all the time. I move pieces around the house constantly. It makes my family a little crazy at times. There are days that I may bring home one small vase from a garage sale and it’s like a domino effect... I find the perfect spot, which in turn starts a redesign of some sort.
I used the same styling philosophy when I worked on display cases for a small jewelry shop and also when setting up my booths at craft shows. No two shows were ever alike. Each show was unique and called for different types of setups, different types of “still life's”. Below is a link from my website that shows displays and booth set ups from various craft shows I have done and some shots of my studio space.
http://ilenepricedesign.com/art-spaces.html
Decorating with color, texture and miscellaneous objects that have character, inspire me. Some people may call this clutter, but to me, it’s beautiful organized chaos, and I love it!
