My Life as an Interior Designer

I've thought often about doing one of those a day in the life of posts of my typical days but always shy away because I think my every day is pretty regular. Lately, I've been having more and more conversations with people talking about how fun it is and interesting it is to really learn about what other people do at their jobs. Kevin and I both know what each other does but I don't really know how his whole day really breaks down, and neither does he of mine.

Well today's post for the Blogtember challenge (catch all the prompts here) we are sharing:
"When I grow up I want to be..."

Growing up I wanted to be a teacher. I spent probably 98% of my time babysitting so that seemed like a good fit. I sat down one afternoon with my little sister, ten years my junior, to teach her the ABCs. That quickly failed and with it my dreams of being a teacher.

At some point I found myself completely obsessed with the TLC channel in the summers, being most infatuated with Trading Spaces. Over time that love took me to HGTV, which I promptly hooked onto and have indefinitely left myself hanging on.

I can't really remember when I decided on interior design but by my senior year of high school it was the only major I was looking into. There wasn't a question or doubt in my mind about it. That was the Lord of course.

With my mom an artist (faux work, murals, etc) and generally working for interior designers, and my dad in commercial fence and generally working with blue prints, I like to think I my choice of interior design was a collaboration of the two.

Well God lead me to OU which is good because at the time I had no idea what CIDA accredited meant nor that I should have looked for it. I graduated from an accredited school though, one of the best in the country, BOOMER SOONER yall!

Generally, interior design programs are taught with greater emphasis in commercial design. As it was, that's where most of my training was rooted. I dropped the idea of being a residential designer fairly fast and sought out commercial design. After working for the University collectively for three years (intern & full time) I left and went to a private architectural firm, which is where I am today.

My firm focuses on education, ranging everywhere from the littles in elementary to the big kids at universities. We have a few other side projects but the majority of what we do is in education. If you would have asked me in school if I wanted to design for educational environments I probably would have promptly said no. The glamours life of designing hotels and the like sounded more intriguing to me.

The Lord always knows better though, and now I can't imagine myself anywhere else. See I came full circle. I wanted to be a teacher but the Lord knew that wasn't my field. Yet He still lead me to a place with children/kids! I may not be teaching kids, and I know without a doubt in my mind that I will never be cut out for that, but I am designing for them! Two of my passions collided into one. That is only by God's design.

Around 7:30am I pull into the parking lot at the one-story business building my boss helped to design now several years ago. We occupy one section of it. I walk in, most of the lights have been turned on by the time I arrive. My interior designer director is generally already seated at her desk. I push power on my computer and wait for it to turn on while I pull items out of my lunch bag destined for the fridge. Items deposited in the fridge, I log in and check email. Since we leave at 5:30pm there generally isn't a whole lot awaiting me. I get to work afterward. That can look like checking a furniture budget in excel, or working on drawing details in AutoCAD, red-lining plans, or creating a furniture spreadsheet, maybe choosing paint colors, or trying to find the right wall covering, assembling a materials board or writing specifications...any number of things really will fill my time until lunch, and post lunch I'm back to it until 5:30pm.

A day in my life looks different every single day. It's pretty rare that one day looks exactly like the last. That is part of what I love. I love being creative, mixing it up, and doing what the Lord has given me talents for every day.

When I grew up I became an interior designer, exactly what I was always meant to practice.