Using Houzz as a Design Resource

In the last few years, the availability of Design Resources online has grown dramatically. One of our favorites here at KJM is a beautiful, useful website called Houzz (pronounced "How's"). This page is an overview of how to get the best out of this great resource.

First, Set-up an Account

Setting up an account is free and easy. Follow this link here to get started setting up your account - then follow the instructions to activate and log-in. 

Then, Search for Content and Collect your Ideas in an Ideabook

Using the Houzz website, you can then search for inspirational photos based on a number of items including room type, style, budget, and even region. These photos + inspiration, once found, can be saved into an Ideabook.

From the Houzz.com website: "A Houzz ideabook is a place where you can store ideas and build dreams. It’s where you save your favorite home design photos and product shots, notes, PDFs and other details of your home project. 

"You can also use your Houzz ideabook to communicate with others working on the project. For example, if you’re dreaming of a kitchen remodel, collecting photos of kitchens you like can help you pinpoint the styles, colors and layouts that appeal to you. When you’re ready to get started on the remodel, you can email your collection to a pro you’re working with to show what you want and start narrowing down your choices. With a simple setting change, you can let others add comments and photos also, turning your ideabook into a joint project workbook. "

See the article here about creating and using Ideabooks.

Comment and Share

When adding a photo to an ideabook, there is an option for you to provide a short line of text, and I would encourage you to use this to briefly highlight why you've added this photo to the collection. It helps me understand the elements you'd like to draw attention to, and may help jog your memory a few months down the road when you're trying to remember why exactly you added the photo.

Also, I would say that if anything jumps out at you as being something you DON'T like, make sure to add that too. Just call out the feature you didn't like the same way as before, and I'll know what to avoid in the design. Just remember that comments are public (unless you click the 'make comment private' check box), and too harsh of wording might not be necessary - so just a few words directing my attention to the item in question should do the trick.

You can also share these Ideabooks with KJM Design Studio. It's really an easy process - click the link at the top of the page that says 'Add Collaborators' and search for 'KJM Design Studio'. Select Share and you're all set!

Let me know if you have any questions - other than that, we look forward to seeing you on Houzz!