Looking for Some Pin-spiration?

"Genius is one part inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

-- Thomas Edison (1903)

When Mr. Edison coined the phrase above, do you think he knew that one day there would be this incredible social network that allowed you to collect ideas for recipes, projects, outfits, parties, trips, etc.? Probably not. But to his point, I'm sure that the idea for Pinterest came very easily, and seeing the idea come to fruition took much, much longer. And in a way, I can relate.

I have spent hours days (Weeks? Ugh. I don't even want to know exactly how long.) just pinning away -- electronically filing hundreds of great ideas that I am for sure going to to use one day. Right? Ha! I'm willing to bet that for every pin I've actually revisited, there are about 50 that I haven't even looked at again. Especially the ones that say "Pin now, read later!" Y'all know what I'm talking about, right?

"Pinterest is one part perspiration and ninety-nine percent pin-spiration. Or something like that."

-- Lauren Taylor (2013)

OK, I recognize that Pinterest is an amazing resource; it has motivated me to actually throw away recycle the piles of magazines that I used to keep around. (Because, you know, one day I'm really going to need that step-by-step recipe for Baked Alaska. And a blow torch and safety goggles to create the perfect meringue.) So when I actually finished not one, but two Pinterest projects in one day, I was pretty stoked. Now, the key word in that sentence is finished, because each one of them took me weeks, if not months, to complete. Not because the steps were complicated or the materials hard to find. Nope. In my case, it's because I'll have about five different projects going at one time and I don't have all of the materials on hand. Or the right sizes. More about that below.

Exhibit A: Old Coffee Table -- New Bedside Bench

I originally bought this coffee table in graduate school and have hauled it around with me for about 10 years. Not bad for a piece from Target. But, it got to the point where no amount of brown Sharpie was going to restore it to its original glory. So, thanks to Pinterest I realized how easy it would be to convert it into a bedside bench. Here's how this went down:

1. Choose your fabric.
2. Order your fabric.
3. Freak out and wonder if you measured right and ordered enough fabric. (You did. Phew.)
4. Wait for fabric to arrive.
5. Search for Hobby Lobby coupons.
6. Make the drive to Hobby Lobby to get the rest of your materials. (Adhesive spray, 2-1/2 inch thick foam, batting, ribbon, hot glue gun and sticks.)
7. Get everything home and hope your husband still has a staple gun and staples. (He did. Double phew.)
8. Put all craft materials into a closet in the basement and forget that everything is there until you're looking for something else.
9. Pull everything out Superbowl weekend and make a mess all over the basement trying to finish it before family comes over to watch the game.
10. Finish the ottoman, then force your Superbowl guests to help you carry it upstairs. (What a nice hostess I am, huh?)

Ta-da! Four months later, I can check this off the list.

Exhibit B: Under-cabinet Necklace Storage

After we moved to Laurel Drive -- and after I finally found some time to get our bathroom and closet situated -- I realized that with a little more reorganizing I would have a whole cabinet that I could dedicate to jewelry storage. Score. I just needed to figure out how to maximize the space. Enter Pinterest. I realized that with some tension rods, curtain hooks and "s" hooks I would be able to hang my necklaces rather easily and avoid spending time yanking them apart when I'm trying to get out the door for work at 7:15 in the morning. So, all I had to do was to make a quick trip to Target to get what I needed. Easy, right? Wrong. 

I think from the picture  below you can figure out how to recreate something like this, so let me just tell you what not to do:

• Don't buy the wrong size tension rods. They need to be slightly longer -- not shorter -- than the width of the cabinet. Duh.
• Don't expect Target to have "s" hooks.
• Don't expect the local in-town hardware store to be open when you need them to be.
• Don't forget for three weeks that you still need the "s" hooks to finish this very easy, simple project.
• Don't buy the wrong size "s" hooks when you finally do remember to stop by the hardware store.

Let's see how long this stays all nice and neat!

As long as you don't do what I did, you'll have a much easier time recreating these Pinterest projects. Two pins down, 1,017 to go!