Kitchen

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The kitchen I designed is across between a galley and an L shape. A productive kitchen should form a triangle between the sink, oven, and refrigerator. 

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Merry Christmas

The Great Gatsby Inspired

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When it comes to designing a room for a client, you really have to understand the vision they want for a room. In order to make their vision come to life, you first have to do your research and meet with the client. In Interior Design this past week we had to create a Great Gatsby inspired mood board using http://www.polyvore.com. However, before we rushed into created what we wanted, we had to do our research on The Great Gatsby and the 1920's. The idea behind the room wasn't to create the exact set of the movie, but we wanted to design a room for a client who wanted a Great Gatsby feel to it. After scoping the internet for other blogs to get inspired by and then looking for items to use for the boards, I came up with 2 boards to show you.

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I got styling tips for the Great Gatsby from mainly these 2 blogs, http://www.hollestewartdesign.com/add-sparkle-and-glamour-to-your-home-interiors/ and http://www.styleathome.com/decorating-and-design/styling-secrets/get-the-look-great-gatsby-style/a/50734. According to Holle Stewart Design, it is important to have layered soft lighting with crystal, glass, and mirrored surfaces to reflect off of. That is why I placed the crystal chandelier and lamp to bright up the room along with the vase, mirror, and mirrored tray for reflectors. This blog also suggested adding white flowers to a room to allow for the green leaves to give your room a fresh feel. Style At Home gave the tip of having luxerious furniture with a variety of textures so the silky and feathered pillow on the classic cream couch added a great contrast. Art Deco was very popular in the 20's which is why I have 3 art pieces to really bring you back to that time period. Finally, this blog stated that clean lines and geometric shapes was very classy at this time. The room divider, mirror, and staircase stand out to be bold and geometric in my mood board. I wanted a clean and classic color scheme for this board because I wanted most of the focus to go onto the detail of the layered textures and items throughout the room.

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I really enjoyed the tips the 2 blogs I used in my first board so I stuck to that design aesthetic. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby references the green light that shines across the bay at Daisy's house and is a symbol of their love. I wanted to incorporate that into this design so I added pops of green with the candle, pillow, and vine. Holle Stewart Design says that having neutral colors with some kind of bold pop of a rich color is very Gatsby. This ties into my green theme with the neutral blacks and grays in the rest of the board. I added shiny crystal and mirrored items for reflections and elegance. The velvet couch has a vintage feel and has a lot of texture along with the pillows. I embraced the geometric designing and added a modern twist with the side table and clock. I wanted to add a light and airy texture to my dark and heavy room so the gray-blue curtain fit perfectly into the design. I through in some more Art Deco to tie the 1920's in that completed the look I was going for. 

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Research before designing for a customer is very important so the client gets exactly want they were visioning and more. When a client says they want some kind of theme, you have to understand the balance between going full on movie set of The Great Gatsby and adding vintage 1920's touches to the space.
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Housing Cycles

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All the talk this week in Interior Design was about housing and the needs it requires to qualify it as a good fitting home for yourself. The physical needs a house needs to satisfy are protection, food, sleep, storage, and shelter and the psychological needs are love & belonging, privacy, fun/relaxation, identity, and creativity. Each one of these needs is going to be different for each person and what stage they are at in their life. A life cycle is simply changing and developing over time. Life cycle is important to know when purchasing a house because you need to know what needs to satisfy at this time in your life. When you are young and just beginning to look at your fist home, you don't have a very big budget so you might have to sacrifice some of the "wants" and just focus on the needs. When you age, you can start moving around and adding those wants into your housing choices.

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My budget for my first home was about $185,000 and I was looking into the Winona area because I might attend Winona State University for college and I will be 22 at the time of purchasing this home. The house I found is a two bedroom, two bathroom house with a beautiful porch in the front where you can oversee Lake Winona at the price of $174,900. This house is good for me at this age because since it does have two bedrooms, I can share it with someone and split the cost or just have a whole lot of space for myself. It is quite a bit cheaper than my budget so that gives me extra spending money on either renovating the ugly cabinets in the kitchen or just buying some new furniture. It is very important to me to be in an area that can provide me to be close with nature so being so near the lake is great. This house satisfies many of my housing needs at the age 22.

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At the age of 33, I supposedly get married to a man with a salary of $120,000. This brought my housing budget to $840,000. I wasn't really looking in a specific area since I have no idea where I will be with my life at this age. I found a great house in Edina for $839,000 that has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. At this age, there is a good chance that I will have kids to fill all these rooms with. I am very attracted to this house because it looks very new and modern and has a creek in the back which brings me back to nature. This house fits my housing needs at the age of 33.

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Finally, when I turn 42, I will hopefully be in the home I will live in for the rest of my life. At this age, my housing budget is up to $980,000. Again, I wasn't looking in a specific area but one requirement I searched for was for it to be lake side. I found a house in Eden Prairie for $975,000 that has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms and on Red Rock Lake. These bedrooms are important because when I'm 42, I will be having kids at home. I love how this house looks very clean and modern but at the same time, it still has it's cozy and homey feel to it. The best part is definitely being able to live on the lake. 

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When purchasing a house, it is extremely important to think about the housing needs you must satisfy that suit you. Your housing needs change over time and you must keep moving forward to satisfy them when needed. 

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Favorite Blogs

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During this past week in Interior Design, we have been exploring other Interior Design blogs and seeing which ones we personally like best. People create blogs so they can visually express their style to others and can easily share it via web. I spent a lot of time finding three blogs that I truly like.

The first blog I found has a Bohemian feel to it and is very earthy. The blog is called The Jungalow and it is written by a girl named Justina who aims to inspire others through her diy projects in her space that she calls her "Jungalow". I love all the plants she incorporates into her spaces because I think bringing the outdoors in is a beautiful thing to do. Also, the way she uses color is very unique and creative and all the spaces have a happy vibe to them which is a good environment to live in.

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This next blog got me very inspired for decorating outdoor spaces. Again, like the last blog, the pictures I chose to showcase this blog incorporates so many plants in the design which I love. The blog is called House Beautiful and there is much more than patio spaces on this blog including bedrooms, living rooms, and even lifestyle tips but the outdoor spaces here are what really inspired me.

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My final blog I selected was more of a "dream house" website. The website is called Houzz and all of the rooms and decor on this site was very upscale and and elite. The pictures I have chosen show how I would like my dream house to look. The pictures are pretty unrealistic but that is the feel of this whole blog. I found some outdoor spaces I like along with bedrooms and living spaces. I think the feel of this website is very cool and it is definitely made for a dreamer.

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My favorite blog I visited was the first one I talked about called The Jungalow. I loved all the natural light and plants and how the designer made this blog a diy site. The resources she uses mainly come from thrift stores and I love how inventive she is. The Bohemian style brings joy and creativity and I love all the spaces.

Many of the styles I was looking through involved the outdoors. Decorating a room with plants is one of my favorite design styles by far because it is so fresh and can go with any theme. Another trend I noticed is using different colored wood in space. For example, the cabinets might be a light stain finish while the table might be dark wood. I think this gives the room more complexity and depth.

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Mood Board

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During the first week of interior design, we learned about creating our very own mood boards. Our boards were created on a website called Olioboard. What a mood board is, is some kind of portfolio that can express any ideas you have for a room, house, or business. You can place any furniture, wallpaper, decorations, or anything even right down to the books on a shelf into your board. An interior designer will use boards like these to express their creativity towards a project so the buyer has a visual or inspiration of what they are getting. 

Everyone has their own unique outlook when it comes to interior design. When it comes to me, I have many very different interior design styles. I like homey, cabin like rooms, I like beachy and relaxed, I like bohemian and rugged, and I like many in-between. The mood board I just created however expresses a very modern and architectural side of me. I really like bold shapes and lines and you can see this in the chair, table, wall divider, and the decor on the tables. I really like the light teal I used in the room because I find it very relaxing because it reminds me of the ocean. I also think gold is very pretty because it is elegant and clean. I don’t think this mood board expresses me as a whole however since I do have a lot of different design styles. This board is just one side of me that is expressed. My olioboard that I created ended up costing roughly about $9,900. So, I would say I have some quite expensive taste! I really like the overall feel my room gives off. I love how an olioboard can say so much about a person without any words.

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