My Interior Design Blog

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.

Last time I talked about the binder of Elements and Principles of Design we had to do. I talked with you about the importance of the graphic presentation. Well now, it should be already easier since you should add the Human Factor part to the already made binder.

What is Human Factors?

• Anthropometrics
• Ergonomics
• Proxemics
• Territoriality
• Personalization
• ADA

Definition for all those terms you would be able to find in my Human Factors binder. (By the way, the order is a little bit crazy, but you should be able to see the page numbers, and know what picture belongs to what HF.)

Today was a little bit happy and a little bit more sad I got to see my grandparents today, and I’m thankful for that every day. But, my grandma’s condition just makes me sader and sader every time I see her. One time she could look and act completely normal but the next, she will ask me when are we going to decorate eggs? Well of course my answer was on passover, but the problem with this question was that we are Jews, and never in my life I painted on eggs with my grandma…

On a different note, Fridays were highly anticipated. First of all because it’s almost or even more accurate to say the beginning of the weekend. And also because we had studio again. I don’t know what about the others but every time I went in to class, and waited for our instructor I was very excited. I was looking forward to see what she will teach us next? What will be our next assignment? You could never know…

Our first mini project was to find pictures that would represent properly the Elements and Principles of Design. We didn’t have to use only interior spaces, we could choose whatever we felt was right. Than after we discussed some of the pictures in class we had to write the definition of each element and principle and why we think the picture shows it.

Now, all had to be neatly presented in a binder. Your graphic presentation is as important as the content from several reasons. First, it is 33.3% of the grade, and if you fail in it but the content is excellent you still will get a C. Secondly, The instructor gets the idea about you, I mean she understands what kind of person you are, it’s kind off like the first impression all over again. The third and last, it prepares you to next projects, the level of neatness that you need to have, proper organization, and in some level time management.

By the way if you don’t want to read my completed Elements and Principles of Design binder but only want to know them, here are the 6 Elements and 7 Elements of Design:

Elements of Design

• Line, Shape, Form
• Color
• Texture
• Pattern
• Ornament
• Light
• Scale

Principles of Design

• Balance - Symmetrical Balance, Asymmetrical Balance, Radial Balance.
• Rhythm/Repetition
• Emphasis/Focus
• Harmony/Unity
• Proportion
• View
• Vista
• Contrast/Variety

I know you may wonder how did I get to be in FIT if I don’t even know how many Elements and Principles I mentioned, but I’ll tell you exactly what I was thinking. I said that there are 6 elements but wrote 7, that’s because some may consider Pattern and Ornament as one element. Same in principles, I said that there are 7 principles but wrote 8, That’s because View and Vista is one principle as well.

I forgot to mention that I had ESL - English as Second Language after studio, but there isn’t really much to mention… It was boring, I felt like I don’t belong, but I couldn’t do anything had to take it. So, that’s about the only thing I’m going to say about this subject. If anyone has questions about it you are welcome to ask anytime

I’m in my home country Israel… I almost forgot how beautiful it is.. The people are so nice and welcoming, I wormely recommend you to take a week off and come to visit Although the circumstances I came for are not very cheerful. As you may remember I came here because of my beloved grandma. She is not doing very well and it’s very hard to realize that she is not the 75 year old grandma that I remember but almost 85. I would ask you all to pray for her, as I will do myself.

I’ll try to let go of my personal life and focus on our mission towards becoming the best Interior Designer we could possibly be. Now, we are moving to Wednesdays which were not much for me… I had only one simple subject that day. Geometry and the Art of Design. It was so easy, seriously, the level of studies was something like the ninth grade and if you didn’t do well on the midterm you would have to redo it, because the instructor didn’t let anyone get less than 80. instead of having a final test we had a final project. The project could have been whatever you wanted it to be as long as it has a geometric meaning. He gave us homework only ones which took about five minutes to do, and never kept us in class more than 45 minutes when the class suppose to take 3 hours. It was in the middle of the day which sucked but was worth the A you get

Thursdays were OK too. I started the day at noon which was good I had extra hours to sleep or study if I really needed to. The first subject of the day was computers, to tell you the truth I don’t even remember the official name of it since it was so not necessary. We didn’t learn anything new neither on PC or mac. After this class we had Presentation Techniques. Boy I loved this class, I always liked to draw but never really got professional training. The lady that was teaching us was such a nice person, very caring, she even bought us donuts ones because people were hungry. The only thing is, she was talking so much, we barely had time to practice in class because she was showing us things again and again and guess what? Yes, again. I really learned a lot from her though. She taught us about light, perspectives, elevations, and of course color techniques.

I would deffinatly tell more about Presentation, but now it’s already 2:35am at my end of the world, so I probably have to go to sleep. I have a long day tommorow, so see you later aligators