Most of my friends are obsessed with Pinterest.

This makes sense; I work at an advertising agency with some of the most creative (and smartest) people on the planet. And though some of them don’t use their mad crazy skillz 24/7 at the office, in their free time, they dabble (or swim!) in photography, baking/cooking, art, music, jewelry, fashion, interior design, etc. They’re a crafty bunch, my girls.

I … am the antithesis of crafty. I am secretly thrilled Maya does so much art at school because I can color with her and paint and mold Play-Doh (go me!), but that’s about the extent of my artistic capabilities. And girlfriend is good. She can draw real things now … Letters. Objects. Shapes. And she colors pretty well, too — in the lines much better than I’d expect of a 3-year-old.

(Side note: she schooled me last week; I drew a circle that looked to her more like an oval and when I said “Is this a big or little circle?” she retorted, “Mommy, that’s an OVAL.” And then last night after dinner she pointed at the octagon-shaped STOP sign on one of her toys and said, “Look Mommy, an octagon!” Smartypants.)

And fashion-wise, she has an eye for what matches or coordinates already … and she’s only three. A little diva in the making … heaven help us.

Anyway … for as artistic as my friends and toddler are, I have a Pinterest account I haven’t looked at … in about a year. For as much as I am addicted to love social media, I just never took to Pinterest. I tried — I honestly did. But it overwhelms me, makes me feel inadequate, and makes me realize that — even if I had a bajillion dollars, I wouldn’t know how to  create any of the things I pinned.

And right now, the challenge is decorating our house. I just don’t have an eye for it.  We moved in last May and the house –which reminds me of a cozy ski lodge with its tall windows, high wood-beam ceilings, and massive fireplace — had all new carpet, a beautiful renovated kitchen, freshly painted walls, etc. It was essentially a blank canvas for us to do anything and everything with. But with two mortgages at the time (we’ve been renting our other house since September), we didn’t have any extra play money for decorating. In fact, the only rooms we painted were the kid’s rooms (as I was pregnant and that’s all we had time for) … and I still haven’t done the photo collage wall in the upstairs hall I promised I would get to on my maternity leave. (I did, however, print some photos — go me!)

Point is, we still have lots of blank wall space and a huuuuuge fireplace that needs some major decor. And I know it doesn’t need to be done all at once or even now … I am feeling the urge to make some magic happen. And for the theme to be travel — since that’s a shared passion of ours.

Since I completely lack an eye for design,  I showed a crafty friend a pic of our fireplace and within two seconds flat, she had a recommendation for the space: a big reclaimed antique wood beam which would break up the massive fireplace we have and add a gorgeous visual touch to the room — and then we could hang some art above it. She said we could even DIY, that it would be easy. (Think Staples’ Easy Button easy. She must not know me very well).

And now my head is spinning with ideas. The problem is, I’m clueless with where to begin. Luis is very resourceful and handy; an engineer by trade he loves to build and fix things, so I bet he will love this idea. But he doesn’t really have a sense of design, either. So I hope to recruit some friends for their brainpower and see what ideas they have and then see what I can do … on a shoestring budget. One room at a time. Sometime before Maya and Ben go off to college.

I’d love to recreate this.

Let the fun begin.

How about you? Are you a crafty person by nature? Is it therapeutic for you?