Interior Design Boards: Today and "Back in the Day"

As a member of the Corporation Board of my college sorority, I am involved in the current redesign of our house's living room. We are blessed with a beautiful, spacious, historic building that serves as a home-away-from-home to many vibrant young women.

The ceiling design in our foyer was painted by an artist who also painted the Nebraska State Capitol's rotunda. There are classic, wide mouldings, and the charm of a stately old house throughout. We "sisters" are very proud to have the chance to live in this home for an all-too-short period of our lives.

My vision for updating the living room honors the history, tradition, and function of the building,  while also breathing fresh life into the space. Working off of the muted colors from the foyer, I chose a scheme of teal, soft yellow/gold, and green with touches of muted orange. Transitional-style upholstered furniture pieces blend with modern accents (lamps, art, tables) to ease this space into the 21st Century.

Also, our sorority colors are dark blue, light blue, and gold, so this is a variation of the colors without being too literal.  I think the girls would love the fun ghost table, sunburst mirror, and playful designs of the patterned upholstery pieces.  It's important to retain the character and time period of the architecture with a few traditional, heavier pieces, also.  I think the balance works really well and adds a lot of interest.  We meet as a Board next week...we'll see what the other members think of my vision...

As I was working on this inspiration board, I thought about how much the design process has changed since I lived in that sorority house. I decided it might be fun to dig up some (very) old photos of projects I completed as an Interior Design student "back in the day." Please forgive the quality of the photos...they are extremely faded!

When I was in college, we weren't yet using computers...GASP!! So everything was done by hand. We gathered samples of fabrics, paint chips, floor coverings, photos of furniture, lighting, etc. and made drawings; then we set to work with our exacto knives and rulers. We also did all of our drafting the old-fashioned way (no AutoCAD back then!)  Both commercial and residential projects were a part of the curriculum, though I always preferred the residential ones.

We mounted everything on colored matte boards and labeled design elements with vinyl rub-on letters (or we hand-lettered in that "architect" style...there was even an entire class dedicated to learning how to print!)  We cut out "windows" for drawings, samples, etc. and added decorative lines with graphic tape. It took hours and hours and often involved many nights that crept into the wee hours.  Those deadlines came up quickly amid the fun and chaos of college life ;)

Thankfully, technology has made life much easier for designers and design students these days. And thankfully, too, styles have changed through the years. I mean, check out the Neoclassic furniture and colors I drew in the room below...apparently I was trying to be sophisticated or something?? Haha!

Thanks for looking back into the past with me today :)

Julie



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