Me… Home Design
Jun. 30th, 2021 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arthur_p_dent(This week’s side note: I like the heading format I use for my “New Thing” posts, so I'm going to carry it over here - the name of the post, and then the topic. A bit of organization for me, and a bit more informative for you, the reader.)
Welcome to week two. =]
Home design (specifically, designing floor plans) was something I just started doing on some random weekend afternoon back in my teens. I remember we had a Reader’s Digest book about home architecture from the 50’s 60’s & 70’s. Each chapter started with a sketch of the outside of a house, and then discussed the design and style elements. I never read the chapters - didn’t care about that part of it. But I did start to imagine from the sketches just how each of those houses would be laid out on the inside, and one day I grabbed some graph paper, a pencil and a ruler, and started drawing floor plans.
One in particular was my all-time favourite. It’s been well over 30 years but I could sit down right now and recreate it almost exactly as I did back then. And if I were to build a house today, it would be this house. It was a 60’s style horseshoe ranch, set on a corner lot. One arm of the horseshoe was the 2-car garage, with the driveway coming off of the side street. The base of the horseshoe started behind the garage with the kitchen and dining room, followed by a 2-step sunken living room. The final arm of the horseshoe started with 2 smaller bedrooms along the back of the house, and the master at the front. Large windows in the living and dining rooms overlooked the back yard, where there was a large deck and in-ground pool. In the front, the horseshoe design of the house created a courtyard entrance, with a cement bridge spanning a large pond and waterfall feature. (like I said, I could draw it right now if I wanted)
With the benefit of hindsight, I can look back now and see that this was how I was able to express creativity. I’m a very left-brained person - analytical, linear, strong at using things like scale and spatial reasoning. If I were to try painting, I would end up with a lot of hard lines and stark colours, and would probably make Bob Ross want to rethink his statement that “anyone can paint”. But this was almost like a natural extension of my normal way of thinking, and became an art form for me.
Again with the benefit of hindsight, I can look back now and see some of the possibilities of how my life could have played out differently. This could easily have been a career opportunity. It would have meant attending different schools in different cities, meeting different people, etc etc. I’m not saying I regret the choices I made in life - but I do find it interesting to think about the different paths a life could follow.
I wish I knew what happened to that book. Every floor plan I did was kept in that book, folded neatly and tucked in at the start of the chapter it came from. The book, and all the drawings, disappeared years ago - probably along with all of the Reader’s Digest volumes of short stories that my parents collected back in the 70’s (anybody remember those?)
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Date: 2021-07-02 03:21 am (UTC)If it's alright to ask, why didn't you decide to pursue this interest as a career? Is is still something you do as a hobby?
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Date: 2021-07-02 05:35 am (UTC)>> If it’s alright to ask… <<
It’s always alright. I see it as part of the point of these posts. It’s one thing to reflect on things and to write about them, but interaction with others can bring more aspects to the surface that weren’t captured in the original post, or possibly even thought about.
Why didn’t I pursue this as a career? The honest (and slightly heartbreaking) answer is that it wasn’t until I wrote that paragraph last night, that I actually realized that this was a path I could have followed, and been passionate about for all these years. At the time, this was just a hobby, something to pass the time when there was nothing else to do. I would have had it on a list along side jigsaw puzzles, legos, and building model cars - not things that I would ever look at in the context of being careers. Oddly enough, this is something that I have picked back up in the past couple of years, although not quite in the same fashion. Instead of imagining a floor plan from scratch, I’ve been taking existing floor plans and modifying them with things that I see as improvements, such as room arrangements, kitchen and bathroom layouts, even tile patterns. Computers make it so much easier too.
I made the point earlier that I don’t regret the choices I made in life, and that still holds true. But until yesterday I didn’t even realize that this could have been an option, and that’s the part that kinda stings a bit.
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Date: 2021-07-02 06:58 pm (UTC)I can see why that would sting, certainly. It's one thing to look back and contemplate different paths that could've been taken and something else again to only realize upon looking back that a path was there. It is nonetheless interesting to consider how differently we all mentally categorize certain interests and talents. (Sort of funny especially since you mention LEGO, which is itself an interest with career potential, depending on how one wants to approach it.) Was it a hobby you kept to yourself? I'm a little surprised no one would've suggested you consider pursuing it.
Your new approach to the hobby sounds interesting! Do you think you'll ever share any of your work here?
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Date: 2021-07-03 03:58 am (UTC)Activities like puzzles, legos, etc, typically require and help develop characteristics that lend themselves to certain career paths - organization, analytical thought, pattern recognition, problem solving, following processes, etc. Aptitude testing prior to high school said I should pursue Engineering (no small wonder there), but I wanted no part of science classes, so I pursued Accounting instead (again, no small wonder).
I wouldn’t say that I kept any of my hobbies to myself, at least not intentionally. But at the same time, I was never one to say “hey, come check out what I’ve been working on” either. Plus, there was a lot of pressure on me to go to University and get a degree (I was the first in my family to have the opportunity and my parents weren’t shy about reminding me of that). So it’s quite plausible that doing this was either just not recognized by anyone, or was downplayed as a hobby and not really encouraged as a possible career path so that I would focus on “higher” education. With both parents gone, it’s a question I’ll never have an answer to, and certainly not something I’m going to dwell on.
If I can remember next week, I’ll take some screen shots that I can share. Everything is on my work computer (bad spot to keep it I know, but I don’t have the same program at home). I haven’t done much lately - many other “adulting” things on the go - but I’m quite pleased with the stuff I’ve done.
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Date: 2021-07-03 10:16 pm (UTC)Engineering was among the main things I had in mind when I pointed out the LEGO, along with design and art installation. I'm not surprised at all to hear-- not least because of your afore-noted list of hobbies-- that you would've been pointed that way by aptitude testing. I am a little surprised that it was the science classes that put you off, though I can't get a finger on the pulse of why that surprises me. Was it a general disinterest in sciences that you weren't interested in or something specific about the classes?
Ahh, yeah, it makes sense that people around you would've written it off, too, in that case. I feel like the potential for that kind of path wasn't as recognized at the time either, or at least was seen as a longer shot than a lot of other options. (I think maybe it only really seemed odd to me from a modern day perspective anyway; I'm now used to dealing with the "hustle culture" that examines any given hobby through the lens of potential monetization.) In any event, good choice not to dwell on questions with no answers.
I look forward to seeing those screenshots, assuming you remember them!
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Date: 2021-07-04 05:32 am (UTC)Science was one of those classes that I saw as just a “requirement”. Maybe is was the generalized subject matter, maybe it was the teachers I had, or some combo thereof. Regardless, I never had any interest in it. And without interest, I would never apply any more effort than the absolute bare minimum needed to pass and move on.
So, when the aptitude testing pointed at Engineering, I looked into the kinds of classes I would need to focus on through high school - multiple years of Physics, Chemistry, Finite Mathematics. Then into University, more and more of the same. I didn’t even want to take the two mandatory semesters of general science in high school - there was no way I was going to subject myself to any more than that voluntarily.
Another contributing factor was that I was notoriously lazy as a student. I didn’t like putting effort into any subject. For the ones that came easily to me, there was no issue - good grades basically just happened. And I guess that’s kind of how I ended up on the path I did. It was essentially the path of least resistance. A goal I could attain while doing the least amount of work along the way.
Well, you wanted rambling - I think I came through for you. =]
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Date: 2021-07-05 01:36 am (UTC)Stealing this! It's even almost my name XD
That all makes sense and I can definitely relate. Math was my favorite subject in school until it got to a level where I had to put effort in, something I'd never really learned to do. I was one of those gifted kids who never developed good study habits and got anxious when I had to try to accomplish something, haha. Sounds like you might've been in a similar category? My youngest brother is currently in school to be an engineer and just based on what I've heard about the curriculum, I certainly don't blame you for washing your hands of the idea. Nor for wanting to move along with minimal effort, come to that!
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Date: 2021-07-05 01:52 am (UTC)Pretty much sums me up too. =]
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Date: 2021-07-06 12:56 pm (UTC)Yay!!! I finally figured out adding an image! =]
Did this all in Excel. The left is the original that I created from a paper sketch. The three after that are with my revisions, showing different aspects. For the record, this was version 8 - I kept making changes along the way until I was happy with the result.
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Date: 2021-07-07 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 04:32 am (UTC)Now? If not then I don’t know what the problem is. I can see the image in both comments on my end.
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Date: 2021-07-07 09:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-07 10:38 pm (UTC)I uploaded the image into DW. The first time I copied the image URL and pasted it in the post. The second time I copied the thumbnail URL and pasted it. I’mobviously doing something wrong but it’s not obvious to me just what that something is.
Edit: the file was set to Access List only. I just changed it to Public. Hoping that was the problem and it’s fixed now. 🤞
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Date: 2021-07-08 03:40 am (UTC)It looks really good :D I especially like seeing the original draft and revisions as well as the final(?) draft; it's cool to see how you tweaked things and brought it all together with more details. Really shows the thought that went into the design. I hope you'll share more some time!