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My first memory of enjoying design was that I loved to wrap presents. At about 10 years old, I decided I wanted my "career" to be one of the ladies who wrapped presents in the department store. I wonder if there are gift wrap departments in any stores anymore?
I took graphic design and interior design in college, but really I am just as happy lining up cans in my pantry, arranging the dishes in my cupboards, or arranging flowers in a vase, as I would be designing rooms. I just like making things pretty....it doesn't matter what.
I'm sure I'm very solid in determining what is visually pleasing and balanced, and what is quality, and I think this is something that is very hard to learn unless it comes naturally.
I've been sketching and painting since I was old enough to hold a pencil and paintbrush. I've taken many art classes focussing primarily on drawing, oil and watercolors.
I had a tough choice when I graduated from high school. Either attend art school or go to a community college to study business. My family had two friends (who were married) and were interior decorators for decades. I knew they weren't making alot of money and didn't receive a pension so being 18 and single I decided the best for me financially in the long run would be to enter the corporate business world which I did. I became an HR manager and now am financially comfortable and will get a pension which I don't think I would have if I became a starving artist. But part of the job includied Office Planning and I decorated and had offices built and even got to choose the art at corporate headquaters. Of course it was the favorite part of my job.
Other than being an artist I've decorated offices and more apartments and houses than I can count. All of my friends and relatives come to me with their decorating problems. Funny, on every appraisal I received on my job Problem Solving always ranked the highest.
Oh, and I adore architecture. I once worked for a short time for an architect and he had the whole back of his office stacked with copies of Architectural Digest going back decades. I was in heaven!
I'm sure I'm very solid in determining what is visually pleasing and balanced, and what is quality, and I think this is something that is very hard to learn unless it comes naturally.
You are absolutely right. I'm not sure the ability to balance elements can be learned at all. I think that you either have this talent or you don't. I don't have it, and I'm always compensating for it. I've learned a lot of rules and guidelines that I can apply to help me achieve good visual balance, but it doesn't bring be any closer to understanding what I'm doing deep down inside. As a result, I am always a little bit in doubt of my design choices. Its the biggest thing that causes me to question going into design as a career.
Rowen, what a cool story you have. Thanks for sharing.
All of the posts are causing me to think that we often think of interior design mostly in terms of decorating homes. But the are a number of types of design and some are more financially stable than others.
I'm taking this information mostly from Diane Piotrowski's book "Professional Practice for Interior Designers," which I read cover to cover for a class last September.
Interior Design is less than 1 century old and it is still forming as a viable field, but there is lots of stable, long term work to be had. There are two interior design areas:
Residential Design: Peoples homes, staging homes for builders, retail furniture sales, wholesale furniture or fixture sales, etc... You work with people in their personal space, its a bit more emotional for them and they may not have experience working with designers. Hours vary.
Commercial Design: Basically anything that's not a residential home. Many designers specialize in a certain type of space...known as a niche market. Often, your hours are more structured, since your clients will have structured work hours. But you can expect long days as you draw near to a deadline. Commercial design projects tend to be longer in nature and more complicated and involve a team of staff to complete.
Here are some types of commercial design:
Office Space
Retail (salons, coffee shops, eye glass stores, department stores...)
Hospitality and Recreation (restaurants, theatres, stadiums, hotels)
There are so many different things you can pursue within design. I don't want anyone reading this to think that they would be limited to just decorating homes. And even within the commercial design field there are different types of jobs. Many principals (owners) spend time meeting with clients and presenting, but don't do as much of the day to day design tasks. Project Managers handle more of the backend/office details of a project. Designers are the ones coming up with the drawings, and putting together boards and choosing finishes, etc...
Wonderful story until you got to the favorite place for decorating resourses. What in hell does the Big Chinese Product Orange store have to decorate with? And by the time you pay their rape retail price what do you have to charge your poor customer? And Craigslist? I'm pretty sure you made a typing error there.
Other then that I too love the French Victorian style. I really love it!!! I also love the clothing from that era. Loving white is not a downfall by the way.....unless you do white kitchens.
LOL touche toouuucheee! Look, yummytoes, I am am Amateur. LOL I figured out later the OP only wanted professionals to post... Sorry...Amateur in the hizzy ooouse. *does gang sign* I still love to decorate.
To tell you the truth...for my Victorian, I actually found the old style solid brass doorknobs and some other items to renovate the house...HD didn't use to sell them... But they do now. Yep I am a slave to the Chinese. But that's good for me because Chinese men are sexay. But I digress. Before I could only get Victorian style replacements in specialty catalogs. If I want stuff with engraving etc..HD still doesn't sell them, but for just the old-style screw on knobs, window latches etc...they're good.
One of the reasons I like HD is because of good experiences while renovating my house. A lot of the guys who worked at my HD were REALLY knowledgeable about plumbing, electrical work etc and always gave great advice.
As far as my current little project (costing tens of thousands of dollars, god help me) on my lil ole rancher...I got awesome paint at HD. LOL There's a new paint with primer Built in! LOL I have painted so many walls...really I need to kiss the person who invented that paint.
I have vinyl siding on my house (yes I know vinyl, ugh...LOL but it goes with the style of house) and I actually got blues etc in the same family for the inside... The house is small, so I figured I would make it cohesive...and 2 years ago when I bought the house...I was having a love affair with gray. Remember, it was the new neutral LOL. But only light bluish-gray or me.
The outside of my house is the most beautiful shade of blue-gray. The swatches from HD were so helpful... I used them to help select my rugs and curtains. I love swatches! And I love my paint...So for me...HD is #1 for paint.
BTW if you want to gag more, I also decorate using Ikea and Overstocks.com. I got some awesome Tibetan tables from overstock! I also have banana-fiber things from Ikea in my studio.
LOL touche toouuucheee! Look, yummytoes, I am am Amateur. LOL I figured out later the OP only wanted professionals to post... Sorry...Amateur in the hizzy ooouse. *does gang sign* I still love to decorate.
To tell you the truth...for my Victorian, I actually found the old style solid brass doorknobs and some other items to renovate the house...HD didn't use to sell them... But they do now. Yep I am a slave to the Chinese. But that's good for me because Chinese men are sexay. But I digress. Before I could only get Victorian style replacements in specialty catalogs. If I want stuff with engraving etc..HD still doesn't sell them, but for just the old-style screw on knobs, window latches etc...they're good.
One of the reasons I like HD is because of good experiences while renovating my house. A lot of the guys who worked at my HD were REALLY knowledgeable about plumbing, electrical work etc and always gave great advice.
As far as my current little project (costing tens of thousands of dollars, god help me) on my lil ole rancher...I got awesome paint at HD. LOL There's a new paint with primer Built in! LOL I have painted so many walls...really I need to kiss the person who invented that paint.
I have vinyl siding on my house (yes I know vinyl, ugh...LOL but it goes with the style of house) and I actually got blues etc in the same family for the inside... The house is small, so I figured I would make it cohesive...and 2 years ago when I bought the house...I was having a love affair with gray. Remember, it was the new neutral LOL. But only light bluish-gray or me.
The outside of my house is the most beautiful shade of blue-gray. The swatches from HD were so helpful... I used them to help select my rugs and curtains. I love swatches! And I love my paint...So for me...HD is #1 for paint.
BTW if you want to gag more, I also decorate using Ikea and Overstocks.com. I got some awesome Tibetan tables from overstock! I also have banana-fiber things from Ikea in my studio.
I don't have a problem with Home Depot or Lowe's. Like any store there are places to buy certain things and some not so much. I do not care for their cabinetry and I think that is Desertsun's biggest gripe. Paint is another thing that I don't care for at the big box stores. Ben. Moore paint has always had primer built in. It is nothing new but to a average consumer this might seem new. The more you do, the more you learn.
I have an old house and needed a hobby. Will someone hire me for too much money yet?
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Look, yummytoes, I am am Amateur. LOL I figured out later the OP only wanted professionals to post... 
Sorry...Amateur in the hizzy ooouse. *does gang sign* 
