REFLECTION

In the very short time I have been in the Interior Design program, six months to be exact, I have been on complete overload. I had never sketched, worked with Photoshop or the InDesign program, the learning curve has been straight up. I do feel I have come a very long way in that short period of time but I also know I have a long way to go. In the field of design you need to be able to quickly sketch an idea for a client, well for me this was no easy task as six months ago I could not sketch a stick figure. Since enrolling in the interior design program I have been tasked with line and contour drawings, hatch and value to provide depth and realism, using color to bring new dimensions to sketches, 1-point perspective drawings, 2-point perspective drawings and freehand drawings of how things work. With my sketches I used a variety of color techniques: colored pencil, water color and markers, my favorite are the water colors. I am definitely starting to feel more comfortable with sketching, I believe understanding the perspectives has helped with this. Time management has been a challenge for me, I have a large family that has relied upon me for everything up until I enrolled in the design program. Not only have I had to learn to delegate but my family has also had to learn to take on more responsibility. It was not until our first major project was due that I finally started to delegate as I was up a total of 41 hours in order to finish my project, I vowed to never to that again. I do have to say that I am very lucky as there have not been many complaints with the newly assigned duties.

VISIT WITH DESIGN DIRECTIONS

On Monday, November 25th I had the great pleasure of meeting with five designers at Design Directions

a premier residential and commercial design center in the Lewis-Clark Valley. They pride themselves on providing quality flooring, wall-coverings, counter-top materials, custom window treatments and expert design service. I met with the designers to discuss transforming a commercial space into two living spaces with a common entry and social space. The downstairs space is to be ADA compliant while the upstairs will be a one bedroom loft apartment for rental income that is ADA visitable. I discussed with the designers the concept used throughout the design was a watering can. One of the designers thought that my use of the round elevator in the shared entrance was a great idea of applying my concept, she also said that it looked like it belonged on the Palouse as it resembled a silo.

After discussing the project and showing them the floor plans of both spaces they were shocked that I had only been in the program for six months. One of the designers did question the attachment of the stairs in the shared entry, which you can see in the rendering I show them as a full set of stairs. I now wish I had showed the stairs as floating rather than enclosed. I think that would have given the front entrance a more urban feel with the style of elevator that I chose. I had an amazing visit with this group of designers, I am very excited to go back and learn from them.