Interior Design Degree - Your Options When Deciding a Career Path As an Interior Designer

Are you interested in becoming an interior designer? This chosen field can provide you a chance to create inviting and beautiful set-ups, whether it be in homes or offices. It's an exciting task that allows you to use your creativity as you arrange and create a one of a kind room, home or interior area that people will love. Trying to enter this field can be a tough and competitive but if you're passionate about designing and creating works of arts in rooms, you can get a rewarding and exciting career. When entering college and studying to go into this field, you have the choice and freedom of choosing exactly what path you want to take and what you want to achieve. There are many types of interior design programs and degrees. Here are the four types of degrees:

Certificate:

A certificate or diploma helps gets students geared to the different elements of design. This tends to be a one year program where as a student, you'll get to learn about basic concepts and ideas. With this diploma, you can continue to achieve other diplomas for careers such as Computer Aid Design, Kitchen and bath design, Architectural drafting, and more. This degree is great for people who are interested in interior design but still need more time and information to decide where they want to go with it.

Associate:

When going towards an Associate's degree, students are presented with three different associate degree programs. These include Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science and Associate of Arts, which all vary depending on your school. After completing this program, usually after two years, students can choose to go towards a bachelors or can begin a typical job involved within interior design industry.

Bachelors:

Usually a four year program, getting a bachelors degree can be an intensive process but is aimed at students who want to do big things in their future within this industry. With this program, you can receive Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, or a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The great part about earning your bachelors degree is that you can qualify for an interior design certification, usually done with an exam. After completing this program, students have the option of going into any interior design field of their choice.

Masters:

Choosing to go for a masters requires learning advanced design concepts, analytical and research skills, acute and independent thinking while studying other design related concepts. This program is meant for those who are interested in the details of graphic design and would like to get a higher level job and has the greatest potential for cutting-edge careers.

Home Interior Design Adds Beauty to the Comfort of Your Home

For anyone who would like to become an interior designer, there are many interior design programs you can enroll in from the comfort of your own home. Home study interior design programs can develop the natural talent and creativity for anyone with the inner drive to become an interior designer. These programs provide several levels of certification, which include interior design certificates, associate degrees, and bachelor degrees.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics state that people completing an interior design program need to have the following core subjects in any home study interior design program:

    CAD (computer-aided design)
    Drawing and Art
    Spatial planning and awareness
    Colors and fabrics
    Furniture design and layout
    Ergonomics and assisted living
    Psychology

Quality home study interior design programs provide courses in the use of color, texture, and furnishings for creative decorating. Additionally these courses cover topics such as accessories, lighting, and painting to meet client desires for unique interior designs. The skills learned in these courses can lead to careers as:

    Show homes and property developers for builders
    Providing services to clients in selecting furniture and specialized furnishings
    Working with manufacturers in planning effective use of space in homes, offices, and other settings
    Assisting design and architectural firms with new designs, such as green designs

When selecting a home study interior design course there a specific features of a course which must be considered prior to enrolling in the course, these include:

    All the requirements listed above by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
    What specific requirements are necessary for enrollment
    Does the company provide employment assistance
    What computer skills, equipment, or software are required
    What professional organizations recognize the certification received from the program, for example the American Society of Interior Designers
    Length of program
    Exit exams, quality programs have exit exams to meet certification
    Methods of communication with instructors

Additional characteristics and attributes necessary to become a good interior designer and should be part of any home study interior design program include:

    Understanding structural and design architectural plans
    Health and safety codes
    Building codes
    Ability to communicate clearly and concisely with clients and contractors
    Ability to listen to clients and solve problems
    Management issues of project details and deadlines
    Ability sell their ideas to clients through proposals and presentations

An interior design career is intense and rewarding to creative and artistic designers. The ability to visualize a room from drawings or walk into a room and visualize the design concept from start to finish is critical. To be successful, an interior designer must be organized, proactive, and communicate well. Home study interior design is a great way to get the career you have always wanted.

Living Room Interior Design - Tips That Leads To A Relaxed Visit

Your living room interior designs should be something that you really like. That is why it is important to consider the homeowner's personal interest and styles when it comes to living room interior design.

There are several things you have to consider before coming up with living room interior design. Here's the list:

1. Organization

Have you ever wondered why interior designers and decorators seem to work on designing and decorating homes so easy? It is simply because they have a process to follow. They are organized with their plans that they incorporate the elements of designs in a timely manner.

So before you start incorporating your living room interior designs, ensure that everything is all planned.

2. Color

The color spectrum of every material used in your living room is an important factor to consider when incorporating living room interior design. It is best to use colors in a discreet, natural range so they can perform their tasks as backdrops or settings for striking information displays and environments.

Moreover, considering appropriate choice for colors when creating living room interior designs tend to offer a relaxed atmosphere to entertain visitors during their stay.

3. Furniture

Comparable to the outlook structural design, the well thought-out utilization of the furnishing elements in the living room, such as sofa, accent chairs, coffee tables, etc., correspond to a central and significant detail within the living room interior design.

When equipping your living room, make sure that the furnishing details are applicable and should match the other elements in the living room interior designs.

For example, it is best to combine materials in glass, metal, and wood; glass, metal, and dyed plastic; or glass, wood, metal, and dyed leather for your sofa, accent chairs, and tables.

4. Dividers

Your living room, without proper wall dividers will look barren and bleak. To soften the look, it is best to come up with living room interior designs that will enhance the vertical architecture of the room.

The desired items for dividers are materials with etched, brushed, or matte finish as well as metallic items.

Dividers tend to create special enclosed areas within the living room. For example, you can use dividers to separate the living room from the other parts of the house. In this way, you can easily set the area apart from the others without having to spend more and consume more spaces.

Bedroom Interior Design - 4 Themes Ideas For Decorating Your Bedroom

There are a number of bedroom interior design ideas that can be incorporated in the renovation or design of your room. Before you start searching for ideas however, it is good to first take note of your personal preferences with regards to your bedroom. Apart from the actual design, take note of the various needs and functions that is essential in designing your bedroom.

A good place to begin your search for bedroom interior design ideas is a rundown of architectural design periods or eras for a design theme. You may adopt an Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Gothic, Oriental, Modern theme, and the like.

1. Egyptian theme

Gold is a popular color for the Egyptian motif because that was how magnificent pyramid interiors were. For this theme, you may also incorporate Egyptian writings and images that were prevalent in tombs and pyramids.

2. Greek and Roman theme

These two are alike in a way, and the Romans were said to improve a number of Greek arts including architecture. Both used columns, and if you have a big space then this is one of those good bedroom interior design ideas to work on.

3. Gothic

Choose this theme if you like the color black, gargoyles, and an eccentric looking bedroom. If you are looking for bedroom interior design ideas that make an impact, then this is certainly one of those.

4. Oriental and Modern

These two design influences can pertain to the Japanese way of designing. However, oriental can also garner influences from other Asian countries and modern design can also be free from any oriental influences. Moreover, modern design can be reflected by the use of industrial materials as well as the use of the minimalism concept.

Decorating your bedroom with a period theme in mind is just an example of a long list of possibilities for bedroom interior design ideas. There are lots more and you'll soon be overwhelmed with all the options you can do to your bedroom.

Tips to Enhance Your Ability and Perspective in the World of Interior Design

Your ability, enthusiasm to learn, creativity and exposure are different factors that make learning interior designing a simple or difficult task. This article helps us understand the basic elements of interior designing that would aid us to further research them completely to enhance your perspective and ability in the world of interior design. Let us start with suggestions on starting with the research. A good starting point for these newbie interior designs can be shows on televisions that are specific to books, subject, magazines and other professionals on interior designs and so on. The other source that doesn't have any limits in exposure and for no cost except for the time is your eye. Eyes are excellent tools for learning and understanding interior design and also for applying it successfully. Eyes become a terrific resource as eyes are similar to ears in the symphony of interior design. Eyes have the potential to look at any design element and transfer the information to the brain considering all the colors present in the design, layout, and textures and if the overall look is pleasing. Mastering the potential to look at a specific scenario or setting and explore the key elements involved in its success visually, you are still huge steps ahead in the learning journey of interior design.

Get an example of a design that has a pleasing appeal to your eye. Such designs can be found in magazine, book or even in our day-to-day life. When you close and open your eyes, the first thing or item you look at would be considered as your focal point. In magazines or televisions discussions, it is wrongly referred that the focal point is already appointed which is not true. For one, the view of a room might give a distinct thought and for others, they might stare at the fire mantle for their warmth and being a secure place and for different people their focus point would change accordingly. The point of focus in a room is that area of the room which attracts your attention on getting into the room and other placement activities happen on the area of the focal point. Lot of strategic planning is based on this focal point when we plan for a creative layout for the room. Hence, understanding the importance of the focal points is instrumental in interior design learning.

Certain structural and architectural parts of the room need more attention in comparison with others. This is one reason which makes people understand incorrectly the focal points concept. In the process of learning and understanding interior design, you also understand how important it is to balance the architectural focal point understanding and the living ones. Some people do naturally elevate towards various objects and activities in the room. Human element and basic understanding are both the key element for success in interior design.

After you have go the basic to a medium level of understanding of the various focal points and the items placement around these places, the other important aspect of learning interior design is representing the objects visually. Shape, texture and color are the basics of this category. Color is the way the light reflects off when you see an object on to your eyes. How do you feel the object visually is texture. The fundamental makeup of the object that is reflected visually is Shape. Right combination of these features would result in harmonious environment visually. The few terms that we need acquaint ourselves as a process of interior design are listed further. First terms that pops up in your mind is 'Gaudy' is a room or space with colors represented boldly, an excess usage of textures and overuse of untraditional and modern shape are all the reasons that would cover this title. The term 'Simple' is used to refer the use of neutral and light scheme of colors along with little interruptions of straight line and light textures. The basic element for a successful design mix would be the term 'Simple'. Start in a simple manner and build it to match your level of comfort complexities. This part of interior design wouldn't flow as naturally as other when you start learning interior design. It's very likely that it would be more understanding that one will develop along with the time and kind of exposure he get to various aspects of interior design.

The History of Modern Design: Expert Advice From One of the Best Interior Designers

Design is all around us, whether we are aware of it or not. Any time a human being has applied paint to a pot, adorned a garment, or manipulated a surface to make something utilitarian more pleasing, design has happened.

As societies and civilizations have developed and changed, the definition of what is beautiful changes too. The rich and ornate baroque of the 16th century led to the lighter, more refined and neo-classically influenced style of the 17th century. What once was thickly carved and often gilded became a softer, painted surface, with less elaborately carved details, still highlighted in gold leaf perhaps, but not so extravagantly.

In the last part of the 19th century, the heavy and pervasive ornamentation of the Victorian era led to a reactionary series of design movements that stripped away the layers of color, pattern and texture of that time and asked the world to look at things with new, more informed eyes.

The Arts and Crafts movement, which had a strong beginning in England during that time, fostered sympathetic colonies of artists, craftsmen, architects and designers in America and Europe. As a reaction to the mass-produced products of the Victorian age, these groups encouraged the hand-wrought object and venerated the individual artist, who often found inspiration in motifs of the natural world.

But things took a major shift at a remarkable school in Weimar, Germany. Called the Bauhaus, it was a place where all the old means of learning were thrown out and the students were taught to look at the world from the most basic elements of color, shape and form, as well as the nature of materials - wood vs. steel vs. glass, etc. In addition, they studied the function of an object or building, before applying any form or style to it. It was a remarkable time and place, with the most energetic and passionate individuals coming together.

Within those plain walls a rich design stew was concocted. For instance, furniture was formed out of bent chromed steel tubes with wicker seats. These chairs are still in the designer's lexicon and are still looking crisp and new. Pottery and china, silver serving pieces, woven and printed fabrics, typography and ultimately architecture too were the curricula of this remarkable place.

Artists that taught in the school are names that are familiar: Klee, Albers and Kandinsky. Architects Gropius and van der Rohe headed the school at different times.

Many of the faculty ultimately came to this country as Europe and Germany became less hospitable to artists and other free-thinkers. They settled in design and architecture schools, and had a profound influence on the development of cities, buildings, and interiors and what we have come to call Modern Design.

One of the things that Modern Design has done is open up the box that is the room, both literally and figuratively. A great example of this is the use of glass. Glass is now able to be made in large sheets, and in contemporary homes and buildings sometimes the entire wall surface is glass. Other materials such as steel and concrete are used in similarly innovative ways.

When we think of Modern Design we think of bright, open spaces, often lightly colored, and embellished with furnishings that are simple but bold of line, and art that is colorful and strong. In Modern Design, fewer pieces are used but each piece has its own interesting character and uniqueness.

Sometimes, whole rooms are created with all new and custom furnishings, with each piece being designed for that particular client or project. These rooms, as period rooms from other ages, have a consistency and cohesiveness that is special and powerful. One can think of great rooms in museums or mansions, where all the furnishings are from the same period, and they have a powerful richness and satisfaction. New rooms can have this same strength where all the furniture, rugs, lighting and art are created and assembled to make an environment that is greater than the sum of its parts.

If you are ever in Chicago, try having lunch in the restaurant in the modern art wing of The Art Institute and you will see how fabulous a tightly designed room can be. This recent addition is by the internationally acclaimed Renzo Piano and the restaurant is named for him. The room is one of those places where every surface and fixture is just right. All glass and white with a pale wide plank oak floor, the expansive space is subdivided by graceful banquettes, the tables are topped with pale white resin slabs, the china and silver are all simple, unique and contribute to the experience. The ceiling is simple and plain, and provides lighting, ventilation, sprinklers, speakers and security, and yet is detailed in such a masterful fashion that one is unaware of all those necessities unless you look for them. These sorts of experiences inspire designers to continue improving and refining what we do as well.