'tis the season for finals!

I have Christmas shopping envy at the moment, my Christmas list will get done after December 13th - my last day of class!!!!!! I've never looked forward to Christmas this much before, except for when I was little and I got my Mrs. Beasly doll and my Cabbage Patch Kid, whatever happened to those?  I'm going to spike the hell out of some egg nog and have myself a party.


I'm working on two final projects at the moment, my color theory final and my studio final.  For my studio final, we had to design 3 rooms for a 30+ year old single person that can either love art, sports, or music.  Since I live with a 32 year old male obsessed with hockey, that is what my project is based on.  It was actually really fun coming up with the spaces, and it was nice to get some ideas from the bf. 


When I think of a bachelor pad I immediately think of rich leather and dark mahogany, so I did a big sectional in the living room and two beautiful dark leather swivel chairs.

I put some vintage magazines and bruins memorabilia in the built in bookshelves, and some old artwork on the walls, as well 2 boston garden chairs I found on ebay.

These chairs can be yours too for just $14,000, no problem - pocket change.

In the dining room I'm going with again some rich leather chairs, but I found this amazing contemporary dining room table that turns into a pool table.

So manly isn't it??

Back to my drawing board, 5 elevations done, 3 more to go, oh joy. Check back for pictures when my project is done!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

6 weeks left!

I can't believe I only have 6 weeks left in this semester, where does the time go? I really wish there were more hours in the day, mainly so I could get myself, my house, laundry, cleaning, etc. back on track.  I mean the last time I looked in the mirror I'm pretty sure I saw a uni-brow.  My house is a disaster but I really don't have time to focus on anything else except midterms, projects, and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, that show just makes me feel so much better about myself so I choose to watch that instead of going to the gym, it works just the same. 


Its my guilty pleasure, don't judge, we all have one right?


So my classes that are sucking the life out of me I'm totally enjoying right now are Color Theory, Interior Decoration Introductory Studio, and AutoCAD.  I also took a 6-week long SketchUp class which is over, I could have used another month in that class.


I LOVE my color theory class, I could study color for another year, there is just so much to learn.


Hues, chroma, value, saturation, tints, shades, tones,.....who knew color could be so complex? My favorite part of this class is the color journal we make weekly entries in, the only thing I don't like is that I have to constantly tear pages out of all my beautiful design magazines to put in the journal. All of my Elle Decor's and House Beautiful's are getting ruined, oh well, least of my concerns these days. And according to my dramatic bf we "get a new magazine in the mail every day", so not true but can you ever have too many? Nope.


My IDIS class is a lot of fun, although I feel like there is SO much to learn it's a little overwhelming. The other night we learned how to figure out how much fabric we would need when ordering for custom-made drapes.  The formula is really geared towards someone who has an IQ over 140, but there was one thing that the instructor said that really stood out.


"Make sure you have a manufacturer that does all the measuring and installation for you".


Sounds like a plan to me.


My midterms are over and now it's on to my final projects. Here's a glimpse of what my house looked like when I was working on my IDIS midterm.

I work on the kitchen counter - looks ridiculous right?


Good thing I'm not cooking much these days.

Oh and my dining room table, that's my desk.  


My AutoCAD class is actually a breath of fresh air, for some reason I'm pretty good at computer classes, although it's only been 2 weeks, I'm sure I'll be eating those words soon.


Off to do some housework, and by that I mean putting the clean laundry back in the dryer to fluff it up instead of folding it, works every time.


Thank God for my favorite shade of red.

Let's start at the beginning...

Let me start off by saying this is officially no longer the journey of a 31 year old and sadly say it's now the journey of a 32 year old.


That's all I'll mention about that topic.


(Although I did have a great birthday weekend with friends and family, and remember those boots I was so upset about? The amazing bf got them for me, he's the greatest human on the planet.) Aren't they beautiful? I'm wearing them right now with my pj's and my coffee, they're literally never coming off my feet.

So let me just back track a little bit here for all you lovely readers that have been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for my next blog post...


A girl can dream right?


Let's rewind to the summer, when I took my very first class.  I'm thinking it's going to be about fabric, plush pillows, maybe even a field trip to Home Goods.  I look at the list of classes I need to take...1st class: Drawing/Drafting for Interior Decorators. 


DRAWING?? Wait a second, my drawing skills are comparable to my 9 year old niece, and I'm pretty sure she can draw much better than me.  Ok deep breaths I can do this.  I go to my first class and the very first thing the instructor does is give us a list of items we need to buy at the art supply store. I can handle the shopping task....

• drafting board
• lead pointer
• architectural scale
• adjustable triangles
• trace paper
• vellum paper
• drafting dots (what is all of this stuff??)
• the list went ON and ON and ON

$300 later I leave the store. I have items that I can't even pronounce. 


This class was so ridiculously challenging.  There is a LOT of math involved, and a lot of visual, spatial, and perceptual planning...I had to dust off the right side of my brain. Remember geometry class - that was a good time right?  I spent many, many, many hours working on my drawings.  The first time I had to draw a staircase I literally just stared at it for about 2 hours (and cried a lot) before I could figure out how to actually put it on paper.  Drawing seems to come naturally to some people, I am definitely not one of those people.  Luckily, I had an amazing teacher who was very organized and very patient. (The teachers at the BAC are all so amazing and talented, I'm so jealous). 


So after LOTS of tears, sleepless nights, and 8 long weeks of torture, I was ready to turn in my final project: 


TADA!! My very first floor plan:

Rendered: ( A fancy word for colored )

My first elevation:

Again rendered:

Finally done!! This class was long and very hard, but very rewarding, and then I had the entire month of August to relax, sit on the beach, and drink lots of well deserved mojitos.


Then September happened. My next round of torture includes: Interior decorating Introductory studio, Color Theory, AutoCAD, and SketchUp.  Sigh.


I'll be sure to have lots of wine readily available for my daily meltdowns. I'll lead you into the next blog by saying I'm halfway through these classes and my left eye is starting to twitch...

Here goes nothing...

Welcome to my chaotic life.  I'm a 31 year old that decided to go back to school for interior design. Seriously, what am I thinking??

So the story begins...

I'll give you a little bit of background of myself.  I was living a very normal happy life, well, as normal as it can be. I had a cozy little job as a slave legal assistant for about 3 years. What is there not to love about that? You get to take the train into the city every day surrounded by the other pleasant people that love their jobs, their lives and seem to enjoy the commute just as much as I did. 

If you've never commuted full time using public transportation, let me spare you the details and sum it up in one word: horrendous.

There was a few things I did like about my job, I did love the people I worked with and luckily had great bosses, but I knew I was better than what I was doing.  My brain was shriveling by the second, I even did crossword puzzles daily to keep my mind stimulated (only the ones at the end of People magazine, I still have no idea how anyone can finish a crossword puzzle).  My ass was slowly growing into one of those dreadful secretary spreads and the day in and day out of the 9-5, non-creative job was starting to get to me.  What can I do though, quit my job in the middle of a recession? I don't think so. 

Then in January I was laid off. I immediately called my boyfriend hysterical, I was more upset about the fact that I was eyeing a beautiful new pair of boots that I now knew I couldn't get.  He came and picked me up and we knew I had enough experience and would be able to find a job soon. The problem was, I didn't want to go back to the corporate world, the thought of the train again made my stomach do flips..but here I am, 31 years old, what in the world am I going to do with my life?

I've always had a little obsession with interior decorating and design. I think it resorts back to my childhood - we moved about 300 times by the time I got to high school.  Why does everything always stem from your crazy childhood??

But thats a different blog, for a different day.

Even as an adult, I have moved several times and each time starts with a little meltdown I have trying to unpack the boxes, it's normal to want everything unpacked (and organized in its proper bins), along with things hung up on the walls, and curtains up the first day, right? My boyfriend and I have moved twice, and let's just say it's not pretty. Thank God I found out my brother is the same way which confirms its definitely from our childhood. (Sorry Mom and Dad - I still love you.)

And so it begins..I signed myself up for the Interior Design Certificate program at the Boston Architectural College. Its a 2 year program and I will come out a world renowned designer, don't forget the name Eileen Devine, I promise you I will be famous one day. I decided to write this blog since my boyfriend along with all of my friends are probably sick of listening to me vent about school, classes, and homework, this is my therapy, welcome to my journey for the next 2 years.