Designer Meeting

Over Thanksgiving break, I had the opportunity to meet with Susanne Weaver, a close family friend who currently owns a small boutique in Spokane, WA. Prior to her owning the shop, however, Susanne used to be an interior designer in a small firm that operated out of San Bernadino, California. Most of Susanne's experience with design deals primarily with residential interiors, which proved her expertise to be most useful when I sought her out to review my Palouse apartment design.

Some things that we discussed were my concept and how it applied to my design as well as materials, lighting, and the designs of the common area and apartment. With my concept, she advised that I make my original ideas that I drew from the concept more clear in my designs, and to not take the lyrics from my song so literally. As for my materials, she really liked the combinations of textures and colors, however said that I needed to research my materials better for their intended use seeing as I had brought in a sample for the type of cabinets I wanted and the sample turned out to be for blinds (oops!). She also encouraged me to research other options outside of our research room.

When it came to my designs and floor plans, Susanne gave me simple ideas that I think can help improve my ideas now, as well as in the future with other projects. She suggested multiple solutions for alternative lighting, bathroom layouts, wall colors, material selections, storage ideas, etc. Although I did not change much with my design after the meeting, one suggestion was taken into consideration and inspired this change that I made to my kitchen.

 This is my original kitchen design for my cabinetry, which was created in an effort to look the same as my 2-BR kitchen design. Although Susanne liked the design, she still encouraged me to be more creative and not just create the "standard kitchen". She pointed out that with residential design, apartments especially, there is little room for personalization, because it poses the hazard of deterring potential tenants. It doesn't necessarily mean, however, that there is no room for creative details, which led to my final kitchen design.

With this

With this kitchen, I chose to change one wall of the cabinetry to open shelving that features a variety of storage sizes. In the meeting, we also discussed solutions for the ceiling height and came up with a lowered soffit that rests on the counters, which breaks up the wall a bit and helps the ceiling feel a little lower and the space more cozy. Another change I made after the meeting was lowering the ceiling in the living room, for the same cozy effect, while also creating a feeling of separation between spaces. Overall, the meeting was a great opportunity to find solutions for the questions that I had pertaining to my design, but I found that it was also a great way to get a professionals opinion and learn some common problem solving ideas for the future.

Palouse Kitchen Design



My revised concept statement goes as follows:

"Mimicking the staggered series of lines from the concept, materials and patterns were selected to provide stability and a sense of being grounded. The overall feeling is of comfort and solidarity, leaving the user at ease and at home."

With this design, I strived to incorporate both the rigidity and repetition of line found in my concept model as well as small areas with curvilinear lines. The juxtaposition in my concept was such an accurate portrayal of my song to me, that I found the integration of both forms very integral to my design. I kept the overall colors very neutral partly due to my own interpretation of how a home should feel. Neutrality and calmness are important characteristics that I associate with home and I opted for these when choosing my materials. I also considered the client, Seth's, request for more natural materials and used that idea as the foundation for my design decisions. The incorporation of small amounts of color, in this case a nice marigold yellow, was taken from my concept model color scheme.

An important goal with the space orientation, for me was to create small areas of interest within a large space. In the entryway I was able to create a desk/nook where bills can be paid or homework can be done. A bookcase on the opposite side of the entryway was included to estabilish a separation of space, entry from living. It also helps to break up the long wall and distinguish the main entrance door from one of the bedroom doors. I placed them close to avoid any conflicts with wall space in case a tv was placed on the east living room wall and then chose to add the open-sided book case.

With this project was confronted with several challenges surrounding the orientation of various elements of the space and how they communicate with each other. With each design decision, a result is created that had a direct effect on some other decision. Design is, in other words, a large puzzle. By spending copious hours researching the different options and solutions used by other designers, I was able to solve my own problems within this space as well as obtain knowledge that wiould easily benefit other designs. Though the design was difficult, it was all-in-all, a necessary learning opportunity that will improve my approach to design next time I am confronted with the chance to design a kitchen.