Interior Design & Fashion Design

When I was a senior in high school I job shadowed a top interior designer in Charlotte. Her work has been in Architectural Digest many times and I was very fortunate to work under someone with so much talent. Now of course, like all young teenage girls do I changed my mind a zillion times about what I really wanted to do when I grew up. I knew two things to be true, I loved fashion and I knew I was very good at putting a fabulous outfit together and I also knew that I had great taste (If I do say so myself). As I got to thinking about having a career as an interior decorator I felt nervous and thought I would never be able to put an entire room together with luxurious fabrics and wallpaper. But, I thought to myself, that putting a room together was no different than putting a stylish outfit together. With this new concept in my mind I knew I could become an interior decorator if that's what I really wanted to do in life.

A room is very similar to an outfit. First you must decide who you "want to be that day" or the message you want to send when people see you. Do you want to be cozy, sexy, pretty, inviting or comfy? These questions are the same questions that most girls ask themselves when they get ready in the morning. They are also the same questions that an interior decorators asks their clients before they design the room. Other questions are involved as well, like what will the room be used for and who will most likely be using the room. I will include some pictures and break down the room and tell you what are the basic parts that hold the room together and what items give the room it's pop and personality. All of this can be related to an outfit.

The picture seen above is a beautiful pink and green room (Yes, I'm super biased because my fave colors are pink and green). The headboard is very similar to a pair of shorts I saw at J.Crew not long ago. In this bedroom, from what we can see, the headboard is the central component that holds the room together. Yes, it's a bold and dashing print but that's okay. When I say that their is at least one maybe a few items that hold the room together, I didn't mean they had to be black or somber, they can be peppy!!!!!! The fun and wild print for the headboard and bed skirt would be a dress if we were putting this together as an outfit. The pop in this picture is the hot pink throw that has been laid on top of the bed. In an outfit this would either be a shoe or a statement necklace or even a purse. The fun accent pillow with pink and orange, on the bed gives the viewer something else to look at. These could either be a fun pair of earrings with the outfit or something very small that ties the outfit together. See how easy it is to relate room designs to clothing?! I love it! This room is a little casual yet fun. A young woman would most likely wear the outfit that can be made out of this room. But lets look at a room that is even more casual than this and see what outfit comes out of that room.

This room shown above is a sweet little cottage living room. Notice how simple and plain the room is with not many statement pieces. Because all of the furniture is white, it really holds the room together. The pops of color are the floral pillows in the two chairs. The statement piece I believe is the blue ad white vase or even the pink roses on the coffee table. The decorator had a color palette to work with and with that he/she had to work with they created a cozy and comfy living room. It's very simple but the decorator added a few pieces to make the room pop. We do that with our clothing too. Take the little black dress for example. In this instance we are going to talk about a casual little black dress and maybe to make it look not so blah you add a small colorful necklace or a few bangles or maybe your favorite earrings, sandal or what have you. You can take a causal, simple and plain look and by adding only a few small things you can really make the outfit pop just like the decorator did with this room.

When I saw this picture on Pintrest, I had to make sure that I included it my blog tonight. This is a formal dinning room and when I first saw this I immediately thought of the Curtain Dress on Gone with the Wind. While this room appears very grand there isn't much to really look at. I think the first thing most people notice when they see this picture is the giant chandelier. The magnificent chandelier is the pop or the wow factor in this dinning room. If this room where an outfit it would be a beautiful emerald evening gown with a semi long train. The chandelier would be the gold and crystal statement necklace and they two back vases on the table between the windows would be the earrings for the outfit.

This cheetah chair seen above would either be an accent piece in a room or the wow factor. It's occurred to me that I have been using the word accent piece and many of you might not know what the difference between and accent piece and the pop or wow factor piece in the room is. An accent piece is a piece of furniture that compliments another piece within that room. The pop or wow factor piece might be this cheetah chair that is shown above. The wow factor piece is like icing on the cake. Just like in an outfit, you have accent pieces that will compliment what you're wearing and then there are statement pieces that give the outfit that wow factor.

 Now, I had to show this room! This lovely pink and green room is the dressing room at one of the Lilly Pulitzer stores. Leave it to Lilly to simply out do herself y'all! When you enter a Lilly Pulitzer store, it's like you've jumped into one of her colorful and fun printed sundresses. Her designs in this case are based off of her clothing designs. Clothes were the inspiration for her store across the country. It all started with a juice stand and now she's got a fun and preppy clothing empire! 

I hope this blog post wasn't a stretch for people to grasp but I think when you're designing a room it's easiest to think of it as if it were an outfit. I put an outfit together everyday and I like how I dress my body. It comes naturally for me to put together a super cute ensemble. Because I feel this way about clothing I know I could mix and match fabrics and designs to create a truly fabulous room. While I no longer want to be an interior decorator I am still majoring and hope to have a career in a truly aesthetic based world. I am an Art History major and will be starting my minor in History this upcoming spring semester. With this major I hope to one day either work in a museum, being a curator and giving art tours or working at an auction house like Sotheby's. With such a strong love for fashion, design and the arts it's only fitting that I am an Art History major and that I will be able to surround myself everyday by priceless masterpieces, even if I didn't design them myself. :)