In my Sketchbook: Living Room by Sarah Richardson Design

As you might have guessed from my post about 3D CAD rendering, I'm at a point in design school where we have moved away from hand rendering and into digital rendering. I love hand rendering, however, and in an effort not to lose this capability, I have started sketching some of my favourite rooms designed by some of my favourite designers.

Today's room was designed by Sarah Richardson and was featured on Sarah 101 a couple of years ago. I have talked about this room before, here and here. It is a space I seem to keep coming back to.
I can't get enough of the palette! For me, it felt only natural to keep rendering skills fresh by illustrating this lovely living room.

image via HGTV

I hope you enjoyed this peek inside my sketch book! More to come.
xox

Personalized Pencils

For a long time I've wanted cute, personalized pencils. My initial idea was to get a set with a cute/quirky saying on them, but when I saw that A Blissful Nest was having a sale on completely customized pencils, I knew that I wanted to get some branded with the name of this beloved blog.
I decided to go with two sets, one in white and one in pink. They look so cute in their jar and I've given my desk a mini 'pink' makeover to tie it all together.

If you could customize your own set, what would you choose to have printed?
xox

Hospitality Project: Boutique Hotel 3D Rendering

It's been a little while since I've shared a school project with you. This term I did one that I'm very excited about, so I thought I would post about it! Our studio this term was hospitality, and as groups we designed a 7 storey boutique hotel. As a boutique hotel, we could go a little more themed compared to most projects, and my team decided to create the atmosphere of an old magic show with modern twists. 

I was in charge of the main floor, which included a reception area, small bar/lounge, and waiting areas. This term I also took a course on 3D AutoCAD modelling and rendering. I chose to model and render the hotel main floor that I designed, and I am so in love with the final outcome!

Everything you see in the image above I modelled from scratch using AutoCAD, including the original floorplan, the walls, ceilings, tophat light fixtures, sconces, textural mirrored desk, sofas, rabbit ear chair, windows, medallions and mouldings. The only exceptions are the barstools, bar accessories (bottles, etc.), laptop and large chandeliers, which I found blocks for. I then selected and added materials to every surface, many of which I inputted into the program myself because I could not find what I wanted in CAD's material library, such as the floor tile. Finally, I added all of my light sources and the city view out the window. I then took the final image into photoshop and added some silhouettes:

Working on something this detailed in 3D CAD is not without its challenges. The program becomes very slow because there are so many things for it to remember and regenerate with every little move. I had a crisis where all of my lights stopped working, even though they were turned on and still in place. It took hours and hours of hard work and patience, but it was worth it! I can't believe how far I've come in 3D modelling. Remember my first experience doing 3D digital rendering (using SketchUp) here? While those looked quite cartoon-like, this looks quite photo realistic. I'm very proud of it.

At the end of this week I will be done 8 out of 12 terms, and I have the options of finishing in only 11 terms due to transfer credits from my previous degree. This means I'm more than two thirds done my second degree! I am so excited. 

Have you learned any new skills that you are excited about lately?
xox

My First Vlog: Top Five Things to Bring to a Blogging Conference

Well, well, well, look who finally held up one of their blog goals that they've had for the past TWO years. It's me! Coming at you live through video. I'm so glad that I was finally able to put a quick video together. I think it's so fun seeing people on camera, and isn't it weird to hear someone's voice after you've been following their blog for a long time? 

I suppose I was inspired to tackle something on my blogging to-do list with Blogpodium coming up this weekend. I need to figure out a better lighting situation, but all in good time. I had such a blast at Blogpodium last year, but I definitely learned a thing or two about what to bring with you and what to leave behind. Learn from my mistakes last year in the video below!

Will I be seeing you on Saturday? I hope so! Let me know in the comments below!
xox