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Show -r Wednesday, April 11,2007 Take Note: IE LIFE The Interior Design Senior Exhibit is today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Twain Tippets Exhibition Hall. Each student will have his or her own display. Admission is free, 797-1769 features@statesman.usu.edu Focus: Decorating Btf- BY BRITTNY G O O D S E U JONES Staff Writer Audrey Merket said she didn't think slanted ceilings were a problem. That is, until her husband, who is about 1 foot taller than Audrey, moved in. "He's hitting his head on all the corners, and he can only walk down the middle of the hall because of how tall he is," Audrey! a junior in English education, said. Noel Merket, a senior in English education, said the 357-square-foot apartment he lives in with his wife has its ups and downs. "We have a garage to hide things so that helps," he said. "But we can't invite a lot of people over." Decorating and organizing small spaces is often a challenge during college years while living in rooms or apartments the size of a normal family room. There are still ways, however, to show personality, comfort and organization, all of which can help a space feel a little bit bigger and a little bit more like home. Darrin Brooks, assistant professor in interior design, said a common mistake of decorating small spaces is buying furnishings that are oversized. "They end up eating the space," Brooks said. Since most apartments do not allow residents to paint the walls, Brooks said great artwork can help decorate the walls and help a room feel more inviting. Other things such as the right bedding, lamps, a shelf and the way books are organized can also help a room seem comfortable. Each apartment blueprint is different, however. "Ask yourself how you can make it intimate, warm and inviting," he said. Audrey said the hardest part of decorating such a small space is trying to hang pictures on slanted, limited wall space. Since nails aren't allowed in the walls, Audrey said they use "tacky stuff" to hang posters. KayLyn Jack, a senior in elementary education, said filling up her white walls with pictures has helped her apartment look cozier. "I think a lot of pictures help, especially if you have the space to fill up your walls," Jack said, "I even made paper construction decorations to put up." The best part, Jack said, of living in a 400-squarefoot apartment is that it requires little cleaning time especially since she and her husband do not have a lot of clutter. Inviting people over, however, is a different story. With only a couch, bed and table as their main pieces of furniture, Jack said entertaining people can be difficult. "If we have lots of people over, we can't really use the table, so we just use the living room and have people hold their food," she said. Like Jack, Audrey said entertaining is often difficult. With only three regular stools and one camp chair, Audrey said only three people can be invited over at a time for entertaining. Brooks said eliminating a lot of the clutter is what can help make a small space appear efficient and clean. Mies van der Rohe, an architect from the early 20th century, used the philosophy of "less is more," Brooks said. "We like stuff," he said. "We buy too much stuff." Editing and "paring down," Brooks said, can help create a more open • SMALL SPACES see page 7 • • • Jamie (ranef)amiecrane@((.usu.edu SOMETIMES IT CAN BE HARD fitting everything into a tiny apartment. For Noel Merket, a senior in English education, hitting his head on the ceiling is an obstacle he faces at his home. Even with limited space, however, it's still possible to have a clean, uncluttered apartment, students say. Interior design major high tech and time intensive Brooks said. to recognize that," Brooks To succeed in that process, said. students in interior design Students in the senior Students better watch who must be fluent in AutoCAD studio said once accepted, they call "decorator." and be able to draft a buildit is necessary to put in long One of the most expening that could actually be hours and sacrifice sleep to sive, time-intensive and constructed. They must keep up with the course load. competitive majors on camunderstand building code "I think yesterday alone pus, interior design apparand lighting and electrical - oh my gosh, this is so sad ently involves more than just systems. They must be able - I think I worked 15 or 16 watching paint dry. In fact, if to choose carpets and fabrics hours on my project," senior all majors were like interior that will be durable, furniHaley Neil said. design, 60 percent of USU ture that will be comfortable, "Yeah, that sounds about students would be rejected and still style them to be normal," responded senior from their program by sopho- beautiful on a budget. Kasey Golightly. more year. Last week, Brooks and Neil said the time spent "It's not all the fun and four other faculty members on projects is a result of the games people think it is. conducted the sophomore design stage, which takes We're not just in a fabric review, which is the process several weeks to get right, room picking out fabric all through which students and then the rendering stage, day," said Liz Rich, a senior are accepted to the stuwhich is the physical draft in interior design. "It's defidio emphasis of the major. created for potential clients. nitely more technical than Fifty sophomores turned in "You design for like two to what people think." 10 projects each and were three weeks, and then you're USU's program is the only judged based on design abili- trying to make that into four-year accredited interior ty, technical ability and moti- something tangible in like, a design program in Utah, vation. Brooks said 20 of the week," Neil said. "The design according to Darrin Brooks, 50 students were accepted. stage is most important. I an assistant professor. And as Those not accepted can go don't think people actually the program has gotten betinto the sales and marketknow what we do." ter, it has also gotten tougher. ing emphasis or change their Projects cost more than "The caliber of the promajor. just time. Each project can gram is becoming nationally "We just want to set people cost $50 to $100 each in known, and it makes for a up for success, so if it's not a printing costs and supplies, very competitive process," good fit, we want to be able and all the students are B Y JEN BEASLEY Staff Writer Tyler Larson/tmlarson@(cusu.edu STUDENTS MAJORING IN INTERIOR DESIGN may go on to work for architectural firms after earning degrees. At USU, they spend a lot of time drafting on AutoCAD and doing time-consuming projects. required to buy a high-end laptop to design with. Golightly said though the program requires a lot of him, he never gets burned out. "I'm always thinking (design)," he said. "Like, watching a movie, people are like, (Ooh, look at the love scene,' and I'm like, 'Ooh, look at the hot chair in the background.'" Brooks said most of the program's students go on to work at architectural firms, designing the functionality of things such as where outlets are located in a room. "Our job is to make an . office and a house efficient," Brooks said. "If a space is really aesthetic and looks pretty, but doesn't function, the client isn't going to be happy." Brooks said another big part of the interior design program is teaching students about safer, higher quality products, such as flame> INTERIOR DESIGN see page 7 |
