Hey, Jordan here!
Today, I am headed to Redwood Valley High School to talk to a group of high school students about interior design. One of my friends from high school is a Family & Consumer Science teacher at the school and had me speak last year, which was so fun and I’m excited to go back today.
As I prepared for my presentation, I was reflecting back on how I became an interior designer and my journey to where I am today.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved interior design. When I was younger, I was always wanting to rearrange my room. I would come up with floor plans for my bedroom on grid paper and create presentations to convince my mom to let me rearrange my room.
My sketchbook in 2009
Then, one year for my birthday (I must have been 10 years old), my sister made me a design workbook that included cut out pictures of furniture, paint swatches, and sketch paper so I could design rooms for my family and friends. I would draw them out on my sketch paper and glue the paint and furniture selections to the side.
You can see on the corner of this one the little signature and date from 2009. Crazy!
First 3D Renderings
I moved my hand-drawn sketches to the computer once I got the PC game Sims when I was in middle school. While most people used it as an actual computer game, I would just design out houses for hours.
During my senior year of high school, I learned SketchUp, which is a 3D modeling software, and we all created a home based on a floor plan that we found online. During the second semester of the class, my teacher asked if I could create some designs for a few families in town who were wanting to remodel their homes.
Below was my first design for a client when I was in high school:
Heading to College
After graduating high school, I planned on going to college for interior design at South Dakota State University. While I loved my design classes, I had a hard time adjusting since the school was a lot bigger than my small town of 2,000 people. Halfway through my freshman year, I ended up transferring to a small private college in Iowa and changing my major to public relations and graphic design. I loved learning about consumer behavior, layout & design, and communications. Even though I knew I still wanted to find my way back to interior design, I am very thankful for what I learned in my undergrad, since I use so much of it every day at construction2style.
Internship at Holland House
While I was in college in Iowa, I worked at Holland House, which is an interior design firm and clothing, furniture & decor boutique. I learned so much from Marie, the owner and designer, and the other amazing women who worked there. It was so cool to be in the world of interior design and experience working on the retail side of the store as well. I loved walking in the store every day and even got to complete an internship at Holland House, which taught me so much about social media, marketing, and the design world.
During my time working at Holland House, I also got to create chalkboard art, which was so fun! How cute is this store?!
Meeting Morgan
About a year before I moved up to the Twin Cities, I came across construction2style‘s website and thought it was super cool and exactly what I was wanting to do. So, I emailed Morgan asking about an internship and we set up a time to meet. During August of 2016, I drove up to meet her in Minneapolis, which was 2 1/2 hours from my hometown. She was an hour late because she was getting her eyelashes done for the first time, but I was determined to stay and meet her since I drove all that way, haha. It’s something we still laugh about to this day!
We started chatting and clicked immediately. She had an event that night and asked if I could help out. I said yes and that’s where it all began. As I finished my last year of school in Iowa, I started working remotely on a few graphics and designs for the blog.
Design School
After graduating and getting married in 2017, my husband and I moved up to the Twin Cities and I started design school at Dakota County Technical College. They have an AAS program in residential interior design and it was the perfect fit for me. I loved learning about the technical aspects of design and gaining knowledge through hands-on experiences. While I was completing school, I also worked part-time for construction2style.
This was one of my favorite projects during my time at DCTC where we designed out an entire condo, including the kitchen, bathroom, furniture, and lighting plans. Since it’s a technical college, all of the classes were super hands-on. We got to visit showrooms around Minneapolis and St. Paul, learn from industry professionals that would come speak in our class and were encouraged to attend events in the design world.
construction2style
As I wrapped up school and increased my hours at c2s, I started working with clients, writing blog posts, and more. In August of 2018, I became the full-time interior and graphic designer at construction2style! Now, I assist clients in designing out their space, whether it’s a kitchen, bathroom, or whole home by creating mood boards, selection sheets, floor plans, and renderings.
In addition, I create designs for the blog including graphics, pins for Pinterest, and more. It’s so cool that even though I changed my major during college and wasn’t quite sure how my skills of graphic design and interior design would mix, it’s been the perfect combination. Ever since I was little, I knew this is what I wanted to do and it’s so fun looking back and seeing my story of becoming an interior designer.
Its a great post! Thanks for sharing