Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Directed Studies: Day 29

The rough draft of my floorplan is complete! Tomorrow morning I will get a critique (hopefully  a useful one, not one where all I get out of it is "oh...hmmm....I see....what about this - points - ....mmmm....okay, yeah.....") and I'll let you know how that goes!
And then I am going to look after Claire for a few hours! Very excited!


Why is it that my 2nd half of the day is always way more productive than the first?
Anyone else like that so I don't have to feel so bad?! hehe!

Goodnight!

Can I just say...

..... I love blogs!? I have been reading blogs all morning. It's been a while since I've done that. And yes I am putting off a certain drafting job that needs doing. But guess what, it's me that will reep the consquences of procrastination and I am well aware, so never you mind! (tee hee ... words I will regret)

So, yeah, I was feeling slightly guilty that I'm not getting anything done this morning save feeling inspired by my on-lap computer sitting in my pjs  in front of a warm fire. (on-lap...lap-top... I think I like my version better :D)

Do I use perenthesis too much? (Do I care?)

But I do need to share something I painted a few weeks ago when I had a free Sunday with the girls and they showed me this idea of pasting images from a magazine onto a canvas and then filling in the background! You will not believe how much fun this is!



I did this on a little 9 x 5 inch ish canvas and, as you can see, pasted an image of a girl diving off a diving board with clouds and sky in the background on the top and an image of diamonds on the bottom. The diamonds got covered with a lot of paint with just some of the magazine image still showing through. Same with the diving girl I suppose. But I like it, I like it a lot. You should try it and let me know how it turns out!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Directed Studies: Day 27

So yesterday I went to Crown Wallpaper & Fabric to look for both wallcoverings and fabrics for my project. Unfortunetly for students they gave me some bins of old samples to take from so I didn't get to pick from their entire fantastic and amazing showroom. : (
Basically it was slim pickins. I did find a couple fabrics though, and some nice pieces not for my school project, such as this one:


and this one (love those animals!):

I see some sewing projects on the  horizon!

So this morning I laid out all the materials I have picked so far to use and I have over half of what I need I think, so that is good. Here's what I've come up with:


I've changed the yellow and the purple because I happened upon some glass tiles that came in all 4 of the other colours I had chosen - crazy! - and a slightly different yellow and purple so I thought it made sense to go with the tile colours. The tiles will go on the wall in the front entry where the ceiling stripes meet the wall. You know. Basically the rooms will be white/grey with feature walls or other touches of a colour featured in my fantastically colourful colour scheme. Yes, I'm Canadian, therefore I shall not spell colour without a U. Thanks very much!

The Fabrics that I was able to work with from Crown are pretty great, but I need more fabric for all the different seating and stuff still! I've recycled a bit from last year's Architect's office project, but I'd like to find a plain grey upholstery fabric to do the rest of the chairs in. Here's a closer view of the fabrics that worked:



Circle-y, eh?

... so those are all put away with their sheets of paper, each representing a room/area on the floorplan.
My plan is to start drafting tomorrow! My least favorite part, but it will feel good to get that started!

So...?!

(tell me what you think!)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Lighting Smighting

As I was looking for some lighting (what I really want and can't seem to find a picture of is something dangly and small that would look raindrop-like. Help?) I found this amaaaazing designer who makes stuff like this:


And then, google made me stumble upon this art by Stuart Haygarth:

And  I had a thought! Maybe the fact that I've always enjoyed the lighting aspect of Interior Design could be paired with this artsy fartsy stuff that looks like it would be SO fun to make!
Who knew?!

K back to work...

Monday, March 15, 2010

Directed Studies: Day 12


Layers and layers of trace paper to figure out all the layouts

More layers and colours and bits taped all over the place

A final trace over everything that seems to work.
It reminds me of my Architect Office Project! Haha - whatever works; straight lines weren't!

So this is all my planning done so far. Hopefully not much will have to change.
Clockwise from top left:
- Centre's Kitchen
- Dining room for 20
- Accessible Men's Washroom
- Accessible women's washroom
- Art Classroom
- Teacher's Office
- Regular Classroom
- Art display area
- Front entrance
- Lounge with seating for 12
- Appartment - Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Living room all in under 550 sq. ft.
- Appt. Entry to centre and from outside
- Secondary means of egress/ hallway
- Counsellor's Office
Centre:
- Library
- Study Area in Library
- Front desk
- Librarian's office



A page in my sketchbook / my thought process

The colours as accurately I could get my phone to take it! There should be more yellow/green tone to all of them.

A quick sketch and trial of making those colours with my rendering markers and crayons - that might be a challenge!

Next I think I'm going to choose all my furniture pieces... Its hard not to get boring with those choices because it is an educational centre and low-funding kind of place.
Anyways, please let me know all your thoughts and ideas!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Directed Studies: Day 9

I really wanted to get some opinions on the colours I've chosen to use as stripes on the ceiling but my camera is on vacation in Langley. I tried to find a paint website that let you choose colours to give an idea of it, but really they look nothing like what I have here in my hands. Anyways, this is what I've chosen to use as a colourful spectrum look. It will be amongst lots of white, so don't get your knickers in a knot just yet.
In actual life the orange is the only one that is about right. The red-orange is a lot brighter. The teal is a lot deeper. The blue is a lot airier. The aubergine is deeper. And the yellow-green is yellower and brighter by far. But you get the idea? Just to show you how non-rainbow (fa-la-la-la-la daycare space!) my concept will transform to. We hope. Nothing is for sure yet!
I kind of hate the colours when I look at them on here. I swear, that was the closest they had and I tried 3 different paint manufacturers. Maybe they're scared to make their colours too intense on a computer screen. Whatever, either way, I am super excited to show you guys the real thing now! (And how this colour will be applied!)
Ciao for now, have a good weekend!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Whats Your Type?

Do you know what type you are?
Turns out I am Plastica.
Do yourself a favour, take a break, turn on your speakers and head over for tea with this classy gentleman.
He'll figrue you out in no time. Then come back and tell me!

I love cool stuff like this. Internet rocks.

Thank-you to the Make Something Blog (rocks) for the link to the Pentagram site.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Directed Studies Day 6

So my concept has changed slightly. Basically, I'm thinking more of a rainbow and how that it's the outcome of grey and dreary rainy skies (Vancouver!). Corny, I know, but I think, as a concept, it works. I am envisioning:

- drawing the eye upwards using interesting lighting techniques, colours/patterns on ceilings
- bright, colourful and open space
- curved hallways
- use of glass, like the raindrops that refract light

I also want it to be modern and chic in a way. . .I was thinking of using a lot of black and white to contrast large, bold swipes of colourfulness. Stripes of colours on ceilings?

The reason I came to this concept was because of my original concept; it was just a step too far for a concept, and did not identify with where the center would be. It has to celebrate the historic and cultural background of the area and mine was headed more toward that of another country. So I just took the good bits; the contrast I saw in the tango photos, the passion, the colour, the 'art in an unexpected place' concept. And came up with rainbow. ( Gag.)
I hate how tacky it sounds, so I ask you this: Can you come up with a 'cool' (for lack of a better term) way of describing my 'rainbow' concept?


PS I am long past the excited stage...I was pretty frustrated last night and earlier today trying to fit ALL the rooms (I won't bore you with the details, but it's a lot) into the space of this existing building. Anyways, that's Interior Design school - I would love to see how easily my instructors could put together this project; like, am I stupid or is this really a huge challenge?!


Please comment, I need help, ideas, input, a good laugh, a link to something cool ...you get the picture.... thanks!

Monday, March 8, 2010

You Are a Part of Something Beautiful


I thought this was good... even though at the beginning of the song I thought it had a weird sound. It grew on me as it went on, and it ends up being pretty deep and...beautiful.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Directed Studies: Day 1

I don't know where to start on how excited I am right now!
Here are some hints as to what my Interior Design Project is:


http://www.downtowneastside.ca/
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/carnegiecentre/

Yes, it is a Community Outreach Continuing Education Centre in Vancouver's Downtown East Side :)
Its a place where people of the community can come to receive guidance, education, and art classes in a safe, social area. It will also have an attached tiny apartment. And that is basically it. Imagine reception, classrooms, library, and art display areas as my design challenges. This is SO different from anything I've had as a project before and I'm beyond excited to get started! I have 8 weeks and tonnes of work to do!

Before even knowing this was going to be the project, I did a lot of concept brainstorming and was especially inspired by these photos of people doing the tango on the streets of Buenos Aires (well thats where the searching started; Buenos Aires photos). And now I have a concept on day 1 of my project! This is such good of news, because honestly, concept is everything and last time I wasted waaaaay too much time not being sure of this. (as many of you might remember!)

The concept means the space can be bright and cheery and energetic and dynamic and cultural and textured and also have a sleek artistic side, as the tango does. It's such a good combo in my mind. :)


Time to get started!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

yabidabidoooo

View an Etsy Front Page Treasury List - The Vault on Craft Cult
You can click the link or you can go see the newbie hangin' out on my right column there. And then wait for it....wait for it.... DOOR KNOB!

I was an "alternate pick" for the front page, which means my item showed up after other ones sold :D
Still didn't sell the door knob though.

But go dust & dawn!
- it took me so long to figure this out! I couldn't figure out how I had so many more views yesterday on Google Analytics (on which I also watch who comes to this blog, so if you think you could hide forever, think again!) but then I found it on craftcult.com so it all made sense. :) -
Other news:
I'm all signed up and ready for my class to start tomorrow morning. I am itching with excitement to find out what type of Interior I will be designing this time! Be prepared for me to switch back into designer-blogger-mode, as seen August 2009.

Monday, March 1, 2010

1940s Hair

Check out Casey Brown of "Elegantly Amused" on YouTube for hair tutorials!

My Before & After:
After trying the front bang-curl part about four trillion times, I finally settled with it like this, but my hair really doesn't do that 'neat and tidy' look she does so perfectly!

So fun though! You should check out her YouTube channel and blog and Etsy shop and whatever else she's got linked from her blog. Pretty neat chicky!