Now you can watch ‘Home by Novogratz’ couple renovate their Hollywood Hills castle -- on Pinterest
Husband-and-wife designers Cortney and Robert Novogratz, and their seven kids, are using Pinterest as a design tool while they renovate a 1926 Hollywood Hills castle.
The NYC-based husband-and-wife duo from HGTV’s ‘Home by Novogratz’ have moved west, and are renovating a Hollywood Hills castle. We asked them to tell us how it’s going so far -- and how they’re using Pinterest to make it happen:
We never were big fans of social media, but we’ve recently fallen in love with Pinterest. It’s perfect for anyone who loves art, fashion, design and all things visual. When we started 25 years ago, we were self-taught designers and had very little information at our fingertips. In fact, we couldn’t even get into the Decoration and Design building in New York City because we weren’t licensed interior designers. We got most of our ideas walking the streets and tearing out pages from shelter magazines. Even then, our ideas were limited. Over the last few years, design blogs have done a great job sharing knowledge and images for everyone who loves design, but I really feel that Pinterest has taken things to a new level.
We’ve only used Pinterest for about six months, and it’s become an integral part of our business and our everyday lives. We use it with clients — they share their boards with us to show us their style and personality, as well as specific ideas for their homes. We use it to work with other professionals — we have a secret board that we use for a hotel we’re designing in Sonoma County. We share this board with the architect and the developer so that they can be up to date with our ever-evolving ideas for the spaces. We’re also using it for our personal design projects — we’ve got a board for the renovation of our Hollywood Hills castle we just bought in February. It’s got everything from design concepts to pictures of the job site, and it’s shared with the public. In our kitchen, for example, we’re mixing sleek Boffi cabinets with vintage signs, and we’re hoping to find a beautiful vintage fridge. We’re also so excited to be designing our first real outdoor space. The house has an amazing oval pool, pictured above, that we’re designing around; we’re thinking a yellow diving board and some beautiful Roda outdoor furniture.
Pinterest is great for the whole family. We always joke that if you want to know what your kids are up to, check out their Pinterest boards. But in all sincerity, our kids have been using it to show us the special things they want in their rooms at the new house. Five really wants something pink and Wes Anderson-inspired, while his brother wants a basketball hoop on the wall in his room. Pinterest is also great for couples who don’t consider themselves designers and who have different tastes. By pinning inspiration images of elements like flooring, appliances, tile, Tomoko Mizu light fixtures, art, fabrics, and paint colors, you can really envision how your separate ideas will come together, without spending a single dime.
What’s amazing is that Pinterest is a living, breathing mood board that you have access to wherever you have a smartphone. We’re constantly finding new things we love, and it’s really helping us grow as designers. Pinterest is free to join -- all you need is an email address. You don’t have to pin -- you can simply browse the inspiration images of your favorite designers. Some of our favorites are Jonathan Adler and Kelly Wearstler. If you want to pin but don’t want others to see your pins, you can create a private board, like we’ve done for our hotel project. It’s also great for sourcing items. If you’re looking for affordable bar stools, you can just search “barstools,” find an image you love, and you’ll often be redirected to the manufacturer’s website with pricing and details. It’s honestly one of the quickest, best tools for comparing products that we’ve found, which is something that benefits everyone, not just designers. We recommend downloading the Pinterest button for your browser. This lets you pin images directly from a website without having to download or save the image. [On Tuesday, Pinterest announced it is launching Buyable Pins, which will allow pinners to buy products directly on the site.]
At the end of the day, Pinterest is a great way for you to build a digital, lasting library of your favorite ideas. Our only word of caution is to be careful -- it’s addicting.
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Solutions to a home-building challenge in the Hollywood Hills
Twitter: @latimeshome