How to Plan a Room Makeover with Polyvore

One of my favorite online tools I use when planning a room is Polyvore. Polyvore is a site that allows you to make 'sets' or collages of things ranging from fashion to home. Today I wanted to share how you can also use this easy tool, giving you my step by step process. There are some great benefits from using this site:

1. It's a super easy to use tool...that can become quite addictive lol 
2. You can get a great visual on how all the pieces and color/patterns will look together....that way you don't waste money buying items that won't really work all together.
3. All products listed on the site gives you the price point and where you can purchase the items from.....this reduces time in needing to browse a million websites

I primarily used Polyvore when planning my dining room. Here is my 'Chic Dining Room' Set I design:

Although I didn't stick strictly to my original idea, I came pretty close: I added a round white table, the zebra print, a fiddle leaf, two upholstered chairs and two metal style chairs to my dining room.

READ: The Two Year Dining Room Makeover

Polyvore was super useful in planning and executing my dining room makeover!

To do this you will need to first make an account on their site. After getting all logged in, select the option to create a set. (You'll find this on the set menu under the 'more' button.) Once doing that you will come to the blank screen where you can create a collage.

The first thing you want to do is use the search box on the right hand side of the screen to look up items you want in your room. I pick my larger items first and then begin to build around it. In my set, I am starting with a bed. 

 

Next I begin to add pillows. Pillows are a great way to add color and texture to the room. I added a pink and white furry pillow. When clicking the image you will see the options to remove, flop, flip, clone, forwards, and backwards. To achieve a layered look you can place some images behind the other. Here you can see I placed the white pillow behind the pink pillow, similar to how it may look if on a bed. Also note the three image buttons that comes up. I'll explain more on that a little later in the post.

As you begin to build your room think about the kind of look you are going for...what colors do you want to pull together or what decor style will you be using. I wanted something that had an unexpected piece, such as this nightstand. As I mentioned above, it's great that you can see everything and get a feel for how it will all look together. I added artwork, a plant, more pillows and a cowhide rug. 

You may notice that I did some re-arranging and moved my pillows to the bed. Some of the images on the site has a write border around the image. The white border can get in the way, so a great way to get rid of this is to crop. When clicking on the image you will see three images examples (that I mentioned above) of the images. One with the white background, one with a transparent background and a custom option. Choose the custom option to get a better crop on the image. On that menu you will have the option to crop yourself or use the provided crops. I used the provided crops.

With everything put together I decided against the dresser. So I instead swapped it out with two side tables. You can easily remove an image by selecting it and selecting the remove button or delete key on your keyboard.

When I had everything completed I named my set as 'Tween Glam Room'. You can add text to your set by choose text from the embellishment menu on the bottom of the right side of the screen. The font and text can be updated using the font menu that appears after selecting your initial font.

Lastly, you will need to publish your set. Give it a name that represents your project so that you can easily remember why you created it.

After everything is completed, you will have your own room on the screen that will help you with planning. I love putting these together. It helps me stay on track when decorating a room and also, give me the opportunity to come up some DIY projects. (I'm thinking of how I can DIY this feather chandy!)

You may have noticed that a lot of the price points are pretty high or you might not find exactly what you need. If you run into this, you can use the clipping tool offered by Polyvore. This allows you to clip items from the web to use within your collage. Find out more about this option: HERE.

Now what do you think of this site? Will you be giving it a try, or do you already have an account? If so, leave your handle in the comments so I can see your great work!

If you would like to follow me you can do so here: http://alayadonetta.polyvore.com/