Having a vision for your home or office renovation is vital, but how do you share all your ideas into something translatable for your architect?

This is where collaboration tools such as Evernote or sites such as Pinterest come into their own.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a great way to share images or ideas for both renovation and new home designs. A virtual pinboard, it’s the same as a folder or scrapbook that you would store all the ideas you may see in a magazine. Instead of pages of clippings, it is a virtual repository.

By searching Pinterest, you will find things you are interested in and what you discover on these searches can populate your own boards. Use terms like ‘modern home designs’ or ‘house designs’ or ‘funky offices to find images that appeal.

Creating your own boards can help organise your ideas. I like to break the boards down into specific areas, such as ‘kitchen,’ ‘bathroom’ and so on, and pin relevant images to the board. For an office, you could use ‘reception ideas’ or ‘workstations’.

Many images on website have a Pin it button. If not, you can add one to your bookmarks bar on your web browser.

For many clients, Pinterest is a great source for inspiration and a tool to collaborate with the architect. One client was able to create boards of all of the different room types they liked, then shared them with us so we had a strong feel for their design likes and dislikes.  It need not stay with room types, either; you can also expand your boards to collate ideas of fixtures, finishes and appliances.

Evernote

Evernote is a free app for smartphones and computers that stores everything you could possibly imagine losing track of, like a boarding pass, receipt, article you want to read, to-do list, or even a simple typed note. The app keeps everything in sync between your computer, smartphone, or tablet. You can clip web articles, capture handwritten notes, and snap photos and add them to Evernote, organising everything under notebooks.

For building, renovating and design, you can use Evernote as a repository for collecting various reference images and other information about things like tile, fixtures and landscaping inspiration.

Evernote also allows you one easily searchable spot to keep everything to do with your project, such as contractors’ estimates and quotes for materials.

The email to Evernote feature allows you to email notes out to your architect, contractor or other similar professionals, sharing reference images with them and exchanging information about the project. Complete notebooks in Evernote can also be shared – similarly to how Pinterest can be shared but with greater functionality.

Just as Pinterest offers a ‘pin it’ option for your browser, so too does Evernote.

Technology has become an everyday part of our lives. At work, on vacation, and even out in the car, we use mobile devices and computers for everything. So why not use it to make your build or renovation easier?