Visit with a Professional

During Thanksgiving break I was able to present my final design project Becki Meads at Benjamin’s Carpet One. My final design project was a two floor apartment; the first floor was designed to be ADA accessible while the second floor was designed to be ADA visit able. Before I met with Meads I prepared myself by organize all my project drawings in order that worked well with the layout of the apartment. Starting with the first floor, I laid out the floor according to the likings of the couple that were going to live in this location they had mentioned that they love cooking and spending time in the kitchen and dining room. So when preparing for my met I made sure that I mentioned the kitchen first and the reasons I made my layouts main focus the kitchen. After the kitchen and dining room I discussed the living room and the studio room which were near the kitchen. Next on the plan were the bathrooms and master bedroom. Following the first floor was the shared entry and the front façade which lead me to the second floor. I went in this order while preparing my presentation to follow the floor plan and so I could avoid jumping around. Another step I took to prepare myself was to go over all my drawings with family members so I had some practices.

The practice and ways I prepared myself for my met were very helpful for when I actually began to present my project. I went in the order I had prepared, I found myself talking about the master bathroom and the kitchen the most. I spoke about the kitchen and master bathroom the most because they both had the most requirements of being ADA accessible then the rest of the apartment. I spent a lot of time on the kitchen because the couple that will reside in the space spend most their time hosting dinner parties and love cooking together, so I discussed many ways on how I designed the kitchen to be a grand space with large windows, lots of lower storage, lots of lowered counter space, aesthetically pleasing, and all ADA accessible. I also spent a lot of time on the master bathroom, I wanted the bathroom to feel large and not crowded in such a small space. In the master bathroom I added lowered shelves for storage, a roll in shower with a built in bench, lowered counter with space to roll under, and grab bars in the shower and near the toilet. In my met I was able to present all of this to Becki Meads and go into more detail on why I chose to layout everything how I did.

My presentation took place at Benjamin’s Carpet One in Richland Washington this was the first time I had ever been inside. Benjamin’s Carpet One is a large and beautiful place with many amazing choices of flooring displayed throughout the space. Becki Meads was great help and I really appreciated the time she spent with me going over my project. She gave me so much feedback on my ideas that allowed me to see how I can improve on my design. One of the most helpful feed backs she gave me was that might want to think about more storage and as I looked through my plan I realized I barely had any and that I need to keep that in mind. She also pointed out what I was doing well mostly about the way my kitchen was laid out and how she could tell it was the main focus on my first floor. I am really grateful that Becki Meads took the time to review my presentation and I really enjoyed this experience of meeting with a professional.

Graphic Reflection

While taking ID 205 the Visual Communication course I learned a lot that will help me improve my skills for my future in the Interior Design field. This course was a great way from me to improve my sketching skills and I learned a number of different techniques that have helped me understand and accomplish many of my renderings. When I first started this course my biggest challenge was sketching, it was difficult for me to add in shade and shadows, to understand the points of perspective drawings like the horizon lines and vanishing points, and to add value to our sketches. Each week for this course we were assigned three different sketches by doing this every week my sketches had improved because the consistent practice of this trait really developed my sketching skills. I was also able to grow in my rendering skills. When we first began rendering I just believed it to be a simple use of color but value, shade, and the stroke of the color is very important. By adding rendering to our projects and our weekly assignment I discovered different methods that allowed my 2D sketches to show depth and become a better representation of the space they were portraying. All our projects during this course first started out with the use of a grid, before this course I had never used a grid to draw out any of my past perspectives. By using these grids I am now able to accurately draw a one or two point perspective of an existing or non-existing space.  The grid really helped with making sure all furniture, fixtures, windows, doors, and other items in the space were angled and portioned correctly. I believe that my biggest success in this class was being able to improve my sketching skills and I was able to do this with simple techniques. Everything I learned throughout this course will be a great benefit to my interior design future.