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Monday, August 13, 2012

Interior Design Course: Week 1

Here's a recap of what I learnt at the Interior Design Course I started last week


WEEK 1
Building Design and Planning
Reading and Amending House Plans
Identifying Housing Styles
Landscaping

The building design and planning stages is where it all begins so take your time to pick colours and what you want the builders to do and what you'll organise yourself. You can then ask them to take services off the contract and reduce the quote if you think you can get a better deal elsewhere (I can see myself doing this if I build).

Building companies want your money so they are going to push you into signing but the fact is they need to be patient because there is no way you can make such important decisions on the spot. Don't sign the contracts until you're ready and happy with the choices you've made.


We viewed house plans that were changed 3 times and how the house was redrawn, kitchen appliances moved, doors and windows changed etc. You can still see where improvements can be made to make the home more functional and I guess this is where planning and drawing a house at the beginning plays such an important part - once you've signed off on it that's it so best to get this bit right no matter how long it takes.


We learnt how to increase a plan by 1:5 (although this moved a bit quickly for me, but I have my notes and worked it out in the homework). Once to scale you can play around with furniture placement to see how everything will fit in the room. I can see this would be particularly useful if you were building a new home you could see where your couch would go, coffee table, side table and you would then know where you'd need electricity for lamps and feature lighting etc.

This was the homework to increase a room to 1:5 and place furniture inside and do the wiring for electrical points and lighting. We also had to do a landscaping brief (although this wasn't actually covered in the class as we ran out of time) I used the information in the file and my zillions of magazines to come up with something. I hope the landscaping is covered in the next session as I'll be pretty disappointed if it isn't seems as though planning the front design is pretty high on my to do list.



Lastly, we covered all the different house styles and why its important when renovating that you stick to the same theme as the home - don't renovate an old home and make it totally modern - keep some of the features of the home and renovate with a nod to the old and the new. This is harder said than done as of course I like the look of modern but I am being careful not to make our home too modern on the exterior - trying to keep it classic (which includes using cream not lime!) - I can always have fun with modern decor on the inside.

My favourite older style of home is Colonial which have the big bay windows


My favourite modern home is the Balinese Resort with the big grand entrances
and lots of outdoor living spaces


The ole Jarrah Jungle house is the Pre War style. Apparently it's an easy one to renovate - new roof, render the bricks and put in a high fence and hey presto! Hmmm we seem to be doing exactly that!

Our house before


Our house now rendered ... new roof and fence coming soon!


I can now clearly see how there is a process for all these things from the very beginning and planning everything down to your furniture placement and the style of home that you love so you can follow this through in your design.

Week 2 is all about floors and lighting

 
[My own images - file 1, file 2, file 3, our house before and now]

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6 comments:

  1. That sounds like an awesome course! I look at the prices people pay for some contracts everyday (we value their houses based on an 'as if complete' basis and let me tell you, people are being ripped off BIG time!

    Think this is definitely something I'll do once I'm finished with my valuation course.

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  2. Great review, I was looking forward to reading this. It seems you have got an aweful lot from the course already. Hubby and I have built new houses 4 times now, renovated a few and are planning the next one already. But always more to learn, I love it. It will be great watching your progress as you move through the course and apply it to your own home.

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  3. Sounds so interesting, can't wait to read more!

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  4. Wow, I love your blog!! Thank you so much for visiting me. Your newest follower. I want to visit Australia one of these days! So excited to see it through your blog. :)

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  5. Congrats on doing the course, looks like it's going to pay off for you. Your ideas look great. Can't wait too see how your ideas evolve.

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  6. What kind of course is this? I studied interior design in college. Is it a college course? -Sorry new to your blog and curious

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