Me in a nutshell

Ever since I was little, I have been interested in arts and crafts. Growing up, I was always busy crafting, painting, or scrapbooking projects of all sorts. I am pursuing design as a career because of this, I want to be allowed to let my creativity and imagination flow freely. I am inspired by everything around me, both by things tangible and felt. I hope to learn as much as possible about commercial and residential design, and learn to take on whatever challenges I am presented with.

Thursday, September 24, 2009





This is a children’s room designed for two twin boys that are 6 years old. Before beginning the design process, I selected a children’s book for inspiration. The book chosen, “A Pocket for Corduroy” by Don Freeman, had a unique style of scratchboard illustrations. This eventually lead me to focus on the bright colors used, the diagonal lines from the crosshatching, and the overall spinning movement in one particular scene.
Besides the concept behind the space, I also tried to work into the design, space for the twin boys to study, sleep and play with their older brother. Not only that, I also tried to think about how the boys would grow up in the space.
The aspects of the design that were successful include making a nicely put together concept model and presentation board. Both of them tied in well with my concept and the room. My weaknesses are still trying to put down my ideas so that people understand exactly what I plan for the space. This includes both annotations and visuals of the space.
This was a really fun task, I enjoyed putting myself in kid’s shoes in order to make an appealing room for twin boys. The lose and sketchy feel layout made it easy to explore different possibilities for the space.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Kitchen Remodel





For this kitchen remodel, I had the opportunity to help a family friend redesign a kitchen to meet all her wants and needs. In the beginning, I started by getting familiar with my client. We talked about everything from her family, to her hobbies, her job, and her home. She showed me an important teapot that she felt was necessary to keep in her dream home.
I really struggled at first to find inspiration from such a formal teapot because my client specifically asked not to have a formal kitchen. So sketching out concept drawings, and parti sketches, I really did not have an good ideas, or anything that was abstract enough. Once I finally picked at sketch it was more smooth sailing.
One thing I will work on in future remodels is trying to get down more concept sketches. I will try to be quicker with getting my ideas, and accessing them after I have a good number done. Not only that, but I will also try to be more symbolic and abstract and less literal.
As for this kitchen remodel, I am really happy with how it turned out. I believe this is a space my client would like to spend her evenings in and also show off to all her family and friends!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Kitchen Case Study



To begin to better understand the functions of a kitchen before ever designing one, it is important to analyze and try out different kitchen spaces. In order to do this, I got together with three other girls to cook a spaghetti dinner. We went through all of the steps of making a delicious feast, and at the same time measured and discussed the space.
This was a unique task because we worked in a group to complete the dinner. It was a good challenge to divide the tasks up evenly and work together. I contributed to the group by taking the pictures, recording, and drawing out the perspective while also helping to discuss the positives and negatives of the kitchen. My weaknesses were not fully voicing my opinion on final decisions. The next time I work with a group, I will be more confident in what I want to see produced.
Diving deeper into kitchen spaces by cooking a spaghetti dinner was a fun way to analyze a kitchen. We learned from both the positives and negatives within the kitchen.