My Interior Design Blog

Hello everybody, I hope you didn’t miss me too much… Though I missed you a lot! I also missed my free time, things have been a little crazy and out of control lately. First of all as you may recall my brother is staying with me until march15. Than my cousin and his girlfriend visited us for about four days at the time I had to finish and present project 1 in studio. Can you imagine 5 people in an one bedroom apartment??? Yeah, it was tight.

In the time i was absent from this blog I had gotten my perspective drawing homework back, and I have to say that this guy, the instructor I mean is horrible. He doesn’t explain anything, he just says things that are theoretical, and than after getting back a C+, yeah a C+ can you believe? I never got anything like it in drafting before.. He says something about the line weight… Overall I just think he is very unpredictable in the way he grades..

Oh, and of course, how could I forget?? I had presented successfully I have to say project 1 in studio. I don’t have the project back yet, but when I will I’ll post some pics to show you the final result. The presentation itself wasn’t that bed.. I mean it was only for two minutes, it’s not possible to screw up in that amount of time. I think the visual presentation was good too, I’m not saying great or perfect, but I don’t think I deserve less than B+, who knows, maybe even A-…

By the way, I am typing this blog from my new laptop that mybrother and boyfriend got me for my B-Day. Well technicaly it’s not today and not tomorrow, but somewhere in between, so I get two days of celebration since I’m a leap year baby Next real B-Day 2012…

Good evening everybody, I hope you are having a nice weekend, because I know mine is not going to get better and it wasn’t so good in the first place. Nothing terrible has happened but I have a lot of H.W. and not a lot of time to do it. Nothing major had happened during those days I wasn’t around except yesterday.

Yesterday was Friday of course, and I had drawing and studio2. well the drawing part was weird, I mean the instructor tolled us to place some things on the table and start drawing them with ink. Now, my problem wasn’t only that I have never drawn still life before but I have never used ink. It started slow, didn’t know what exactly to do, I started looking around at other peoples work, or at list how they do it. I realized ink is not so different from watercolor, so I started wetting the areas I wanted to concentrate on and it turned out not so shabby.

After drawing I had studio, we have been tolled to bring sketches of our table arrangement and if we had time to render them (not good rendering though, just indication of color). Well I brought two sketches, and was so confident about them… We had the pinup and my turn was third before last. Oh, I was so wrong!!! now I need to seat back on my drafting board and figure out a new table arrangement. Well actually the table arrangement itself wasn’t that bad, it was good actually, it’s the composition that screwed me over. No worries though, I will pick up my broken ego and start again. Actually I’ll start right now. If you have any comments about my sketches or ideas, I’ll be more than happy to hear them

table arrangement sketch1

table arrangement sketch2

Good evening everybody? How was your day today? Well for me it started pretty early. I was suppose to start school today at 12:10, but after finding out last night the requirements for the English comp I didn’t really want to stay in that class. Yeah, I know, I already switched the English section ones, but there are so many section, I knew one would feet me perfectly. So, I arrived to FIT at 8:55 this morning and waited for the Registration Office to open. As soon as it did I changed my English section to a different one that begins at 9:10. It was great! the instructor is so nice and even though I wasn’t in the previous class I could participates the discussions and it wasn’t boring at all, like people say “third time is a charm “.

I had than three hour break which I thought I would utilize all of it for doing my perspective homework. But I had a little change of plans… I decided to drop the Pencil Rendering class, not because it’s not interesting or anything, but because it is such an easy class that I would probably prefer taking it on my fourth semester when I have a lot things to do, and this one would be an easy A. The second reason I chose to drop it is that I would have enough credits to take the Professional Practice class. Now, this class is open ones in two semesters, because there is a continuation to it, so if I would have not taken it now I would have had to wait until my third semester and the second part of it would be on my fourth one, which I really want to try and have as less class as possible. Plus, my studio instructor has expressed deeply her opinion about it. And when she does that it means that it’s more than suggestion, but some kind of obligation, so that’s what I did.

You know this days where nothing is for free, and when one has an opportunity to charge for something they do that? Well it append to me today and I was in shock! When I went to the registration office for the second time I saw on the bottom of my printout that they charge me 25$ What for? I asked, and when I protested and asked to speak with the super visor, they let me and everything went to place. But I just can’t believe after all the money I’m paying for tuition they are asking for more, for one add/drop action, that’s just unheard off!

After all the drama I did manage to do some drafting for perspective but not enough, I have a feeling I’ll be up late today. But no worries, coffee is my best friend now

Than my last subject today was Art History class. He was very nice again, The class is not that boring, (considering it’s still History…) And I learned a new word, but there is no way you’ll guess what it is… Well? any ideas? YOLK, yeap the yellow in the egg, don’t ask me how we started talking about it in a history class, but a word is a word, and I expand my vocabulary every single day. Back to history, he gave us a list of about 30 art works that we need to know the artist. year, and the name for a quiz next week. yes, my jaw dropped too, and all those names, for me they sound the same…

Oh well, it’s school after all even though it’s an art school we do some thinking sometime… And have a lot of alnighters, at list mostnighters (it’s a new term, made by me ) Good night all.

The end of the first week and I exhausted… I feel like I am going to be so much worst at this semester than the last one just because I’m not doing home work when I’m given. And the classes this time are not a joke like last time… Well maybe it’s just my first impression.

Anyway, my first class today was Drawing 2. Feel confused? Yes I felt so too. I didn’t take drawing 1 but apparently 3D is enough. The problem is that I never had professional training at drawing and the instructor was already started to ask questions about what we do or do not know. Well I didn’t know most of the things, And on top of all that we had a long list of things to buy for this class… Again, I’m trying to convince myself that it was only the first class and it will be better. Plus if I got accepted to FIT that means that I have some kind of talent, don’t you think so?

He let us go early because we didn’t have anything to do, since no one brought anything to class. I had enough time between than to studio to do my AutoCad home work. It took me a while but I did it on time, less things to do at home.

When we got to Studio the instructor showed us  power point slides about our first project and than she went between us to see our progress. I thought about a concept that is something about traveling, or trips or something like that. I was surprised but she liked it and said that I have a good start, or was she just being nice? Anyway she also let us go early.

Now I’m racing to finish this post because we are going to my BF’s dad for a Friday meal. Oh yeah and by we I meant me, my boyfreind and my brother. I know, I forgot to mention that he is staying with us for a while, nothing seriouse just came to visit. So, have a nice weekend and I guess we’ll meet again on Monday, Chauu

I’ll make this one short… The post I mean. I was suppose to have only one class today which is perspective drawing, but I switched my presentation techniques to have the sane instructor as last time so I had presentation again this morning it was a bit different than the other instructor, I mean not only the instructor itself but our syllabus. but I’ll tell you more next time when I’ll have something more exciting to tell.

Than I had 3 hour break, (that’s what you pay for switching classes in the last minute). and after the long brake I had Perspective drawing. Remember how I tolled you AutoCad will be instead of drafting, wrong! Perspective drawing is actually exactly the same as drafting but instead of flat and two dimensional you do 3D drawing aka perspective. The instructor was annoying and I felt like he didn’t really know what to say, he always looked at his cards, and looked very much amazed at the fact we were ahead of schedule. What do I mean by that? He kept looking at his watch saying that it’s to early to let us go, and if we are sure that we don’t have questions… we’ll see how it goes…

Tomorrow is my day of off school but surprise, surprise I have to go to the D&D buikding to look at accessories and my councul table. And that’s all for today, promissed it would be fast

Hello everybody, how are you doing tonight? Well I’m tired again, because like yesterday I had a nine to nine day. It’s hard but at list I have an extra free day of school.

The day started with AutoCad, which is suppose to be instead of drafting. I don’t know how I feel about it yet. The instructor was nice and after she finished explaining things she walked between us to see if we have questions about what she just said. It wasn’t that hard, but because we have a lot of material to cover she was very fast… But, overall I need to wait to the next class to see if I actually remember anything.

After AutoCad I had one hour of English Comp, remember I tolled you I switched sections, that section I switched to is split class, two hours on Monday and one on Tuesday. That instructor was nice but I felt like I missed so much and it only been the second day of school. She already gave homework as well to write some kind of essay, I don’t know.. I guess I’ll wait for the weekend to do it (I hope I won’t regret it).

Thanks god I had one hour of common hour enough time to grab lunch Than after lunch I had Studio 2… Ohhh, I just love this class, and I have the same instructor, what can be better than that?! Well, and as usual she put us right to work, we already went through our project 1 which is table arrangement, I’m pretty excited about that. I only worry about the table I got. I mean, she assigned us tables and said that if we really don’t want it we can switch.. I got the most ugly horrible table one can get, and on top of all that I was the only one to change it. I feel like a looser… At list I like the table I have now.

After Studio I had a subject I really wanted to take, Introduction to World Affairs. I wasn’t so angry at someone such a long time as I was at the instructor. I’m not going to get into it because I don’t want to open political discussions here, but he made me so angry, I don’t know how I stayed their until the end of class.

Now I’m obviously home and changing world affairs to something alse, I don’t know yet.. It’s so hard to fit anything in my schedule.. Well I’m going to try and concemtrate, so I’ll be here tommorow

Finally was the first day of school, I was so glad to start doing something, anything… But I completely forgot how stressful it was. Homework for one thing, than projects, tests and research papers. If you want me to summarize in one word, exhausting!

My day started at 9:10, which is not bad, that’s what I wanted, and the first class was presentation techniques 2. The instructor is unbearable… He tried to tel jokes but wasn’t that successful, well at list we will be working more with markers this semester.

Than after presentation I had English composition. The regular instructor was on vacation or something like that so I couldn’t really tell weather she is good or not but the syllabus of the course was too much for me. Don’t get me wrong I’m not lazy, I just feel that I have to put more in the ID classes than English.. So as soon as the class ended I went strait to the library and changed section, hope the other instructor would be less demanding

After English I had History of Art, The instructor seemed nice disregarding the fact that I already argued with him about something. You see, I’m from Israel so I think I know pretty well the “old testament” or in another word the Torah. He was saying something about Eve not being the first women in the garden of heaven or something like that. And I’m pretty sure she was. Anyway, the class feels not that hard, just need to memorize a lot of dates pictures and artists, but I can do that, I think…

My last subject was Pencil Rendering, and guess what?? It is with the same guy as in the morning in presentation. Ohhh, I feel like I could not possibly start and end the day with the same annoying guy.. I’m starting to really miss my previous instructor for presentation. Even though the instructor is not a great find I can handle him..

And now you are probably wondering what am I doing at home already, well it was the first day of school what do you exspect?? He let us go earlier of course, but I don’t think it would happend again. Well, I’m already very tired so we will meet again in second day

Here we are again with studio projects… The second project was Furniture placement. We were given a floor plan of a one bedroom apartment with certain requirements like, what we should have in the bedroom, and how many people should be able to seat comfortably in the main living room arrangement. I saw the light in the end of the tunnel. I mean, you know when you learn a bunch of things and they finally starting to make since. That’s what happen to me. After all the stuff we have learned we finally had a project that really is all about Interior Design.

The classes were fun, we had pinups and were commenting about each others work. It helped on several levels. First of all, we could hear other people opinion, things we may have not seen otherwise. Secondly, we practiced our oral skills which by now I realized were the most important tool for an Interior Designer. And the final thing is, that the instructor got to know you, your opinions better, and it also helped your grade .

The only things that some of my class mates had problem with, were scale, and clearances from the wall to the sofas for people to pass and things like that. After we decided on the winning floor plan we had to ink it on vellum or marker paper (I strongly suggest vellum, marker paper tends to bleed). and after everything is inked you need to shade it, but only the furniture, no floors, no counter tops, only furniture! And of course again presentation is very important.

Diving right to the third project, which was all about color and getting to know the D&D building. The purpose of this project is to be given a color and work it in to two different harmonies which we learned in class. One of the harmonies would be for the living room of project 2 and the other would be the bed room from the same project. I got Yellow-Orange, and thought to myself, hum, this is an easy color plus it’s pretty, it’s a win, win situation. NOT… I learned that there it no such thing an easy color. In addition we had to work in more colors… And it wasn’t only about the colors, it was also about pattern, “Do this pattern go well with that one?”

It took me many trips and a lot of samples to get the job done. And in the end of this project it was worth every second.

That project and the ones before were preparing us to the final fourth project. But, all combined plus added preasure. Stay tuned to find out more

Hey, today is exactly the one month B-Day for My Interior Design Blog. So, yey congratulations to you, me, it whatever.

In Studio our first chance to show what we learned about the Elements and Principles of Design was Project 1. First project was called “The Cube”. It started with us getting architect or in my case an architect firm. We were suppose to research them and decide what is their most noticeable elements and principles they use. Ones we did that we had to make to boards with picture that emphasize their style and write how come we think so. Ones again, the presentation itself was very important. You couldn’t just stick the pictures with whatever order you felt like at the moment, you had to think about it. The title block had to also somehow represent the architect.

The worst part about all this was that we had to actually present it in front of everybody. It’s not that I’m that shy, it’s just standing in front of everybody, and for someone who is English is not the first language it was even more terrifying, make mistakes, forget words etc.

After we researched and presented we had started the process of building the cube. Now, it’s not an actual cube, they just call it that way because of the dimensions of 8×8x8 inches. You should not only try to simulate the style of the architect you got, you should also use materials that are similar or imitating the real thing. Honestly, this project was a tough one for me, I didn’t really connect with my architect company, so it was hard for me to build anything. And of course again we had to present everything in front of the class plus make another board, this time a sketch board.

Overall, I didn’t really enjoyed this project, but like in the everyday life, you can’t always do things that you absolutly love and agree with.

I already talked briefly about drafting. What I didn’t mention is that starting to draft costs a lot of money so I wanted to suggest where you should get everything. Obviously the most convenient way is to go and buy everything in a store, but it is also the most expensive.

Before the semester even started I found a girl on craigslist that was selling Interior Design supply. My problem was that I didn’t know what I do or don’t need. So, I forgot about her until the first day of drafting that the instructor gave us the list, the very long list of everything we need to get by next class. I freaked out. It was a lot. Luckily, the girl from craigslist didn’t sell everything yet and I got most of it for a very good price. (I do regret though for not buying her drafting table). So, first thing you should check is craigslist both in the free section (you never know what you will find), and the art section. If you know any other second hand websites go ahead, there is nothing wrong with used tools as long as they work.

Another way for you to save some money is to know what you need to get before the beginning of the semester and order it online, most of the time you can find everything cheaper and sometimes you can also find coupons which would definitely help. “Why before you start the semester?” Because you need to have time for shipping. I know what you are thinking now… “How the hell are we suppose to know the supply list before we start the semester?” Well, the answer is simple, I’ll tell you

The third and I think your last option is to go to an art supply store and just get it. But, there is a way to save there too. The popular NYC art supply stores have a website which you can sign up for and get coupons in an email or mail. Utrecht, Pearl and Blick.

I really wanted to write here all the supply list right now but since I’m in Israel I dont have it with me. I will try though to write it here or in a different post as soon as I’ll go back to the US. You can still send me questions or comment on this post.