Interior design students create living rooms

Interior design students are having complete creative freedom when it comes to applying what theyve learned to design living rooms.

Sarah Drake

Interior design students are having complete creative freedom when it comes to applying what they’ve learned to design living rooms.

Sarah Drake, Guest Contributor

From the walls to the furniture, interior design students are using the principles and elements of design to create a 3-D model of a living room.

“The students are designing and building a 3-D living room,” interior design teacher Kristi Swinnea said.”The purpose of this project is for me to see if students know how to use the elements and principle of design while creating the living room, all while being creative.”

Students have to make everything for the project, like the furniture and decorations, come with creative techniques to make those things.

“They use methods like wood craft sticks for flooring and/or walls, fabric for flooring and/or walls, making blinds out of craft sticks,” Swinnea said. “There are many many other methods, it’s nice to see the students be able to think of unique ways to make what they need for the project.”

From the perspective of the students, they have full creative control and are able to see their ideas being developed.

“Pastels and gray scale is what my group is going for the color scheme of our living room,” senior Lexi Gray said. “I like this project because I think it’s fun to see everything we’ve been sketching on paper to be actually implemented into something.”

But with all the creative freedom, it comes with its obstacles.

“I do, I wish we were given more specifics or were able to do it on our own so our personalities could shine through a bit more,” junior Caroline Wolfe said. “It was difficult for me to compromise with my group. I think we all had different ideas and different styles. Something that was easy was actually thinking of the stuff, the execution made it hard. Overall though it is a very fun project and has its challenges.”

Ultimately the goal is for the students to further their understanding of interior design while being creative.

“The goal is for students to be able to exercise their creativity while learning to make something using materials they have,” Swinnea said. “Also working together as a team, using their problem-solving skills, and working with a group to finish a project in a timely manner.”