Interior Design of my Home

In a little over a year, my lease on my teaching studio will be up for renewal.  But lately I've really been getting the itch to teach out of my home.  No more driving, no more staying out way too late, no more wondering if an owl has eaten one of my ducks because I haven't been home to put them to bed . . .

So after completing our first assignment for this unit, I thought it would be fun to look at the rest of my house from an interior designing perspective, with the goal of making it more friendly for teaching in.

Here's the view as students would walk up to the front door:

I love the covered entryway, which keeps the rain off as you're unlocking the door or waiting for someone to answer.











When students first walk in, here's what they will see:

One of the things I love about my home is the light.  We have windows in every room, a skylight in the kitchen, and no long hallways.  So even in our dark Pacific NW weather, we always have "light to walk towards."

I'm hoping this "arch", if painted a darker color, might act as a mental barrier to help keep students out of my kitchen.  In addition, it should help to divide the spaces, so the house seems bigger.

Looking over the banister, this would be my teaching area.  There is a large window, flanked by 2 smaller ones, to the left, which provide natural lighting, "light to walk towards."  Most likely, I would need to move my indoor plants outside, into a greenhouse.

The plan, eventually, anyway, is to replace the carpeting with the same flooring that is in our entryway and eating area.  This would make the floors easier to clean, but have the disadvantage of decreasing the perceived barriers between the two areas.  But one thing that could help, is getting a large area rug to place in the teaching area.

You can see in this picture how the ceiling in our living room is all the same.  While this isn't as cozy as having a lowered ceiling, there are physical spatial requirements.  My students always play standing up, and I have some pretty tall students.  Add the length of a bow to that, and I need a tall ceiling.  I also live in a manufactured home, so changing ceiling height just is not feasible.





However, the ceilings in either side of our house are lowered.  So while my students can't take advantage of the sheltered feeling, I can.

Another thing that was mentioned in Susanka's writings was a theme throughout the house.  Now, this is kinda dorky, but my husband is a huge nerd.  I'm not as big of one, but my favorite superhero has always been Batman. 

It's subtle, so most people don't notice it, but whenever I see one I always smile.

Now, obviously, before I start teaching out of my house, I have some work to do, but I think with the help of my new interior designing knowledge, I can make the experience more successful for me and my students.