From the Hive: The Technical Table with Kylie

Hey there - It’s Kylie this week! I’m talking about the technical side of things here in the Hive. I’m sure you’ve heard me talking (if you’ve ever had a meeting with me!) about my love of the technical side of design. YES, there is a difference between the technical and the creative side!

Mary is our creative guru, as the Creative Director at the Bee’s. If you want a beautiful space, Mary is the one in the background who is digging up beautiful fabrics, tile selections, rug designs, you name it! I, on the other hand, am the person creating the drawings to go with it! That’s why we’re the Dream Team - sometimes it’s hard to find both a creative and technical designer - if you do, that’s AMAZING!!! Stick with them! Most of the time it’s hard to be a “left-brain” AND “right-brain” person. Some of that comes down to education and many design schools teach more of the creative things, whereas others give a more technical background (Shout-out to my alma-mater Michigan State University! Go Spartans!)

Ok, on to the fun stuff……..What do we help with on the technical side? Let’s go down the list.

The first thing we can help with is drawings. Drawings are SUPER important when it comes to demolition or construction of a renovated space or new addition. Contractors are in need of those drawings to take into the local town/city building department so that they can get a permit to begin work. If a design team is unable to provide those technical drawings, then they may recommend you to hire an architect in addition to your design team. (Don’t get me wrong - an architect is VERY important when it comes to structural modifications, construction details, and exterior work! If you want to know more about what each team player does, check out this blog article from our archives!) But if it’s a bathroom renovation or a renovation that doesn’t require structural work, then a technical designer should be able to create these drawings!

An example of our full set of permit drawings include the following (swipe through the full gallery below):

Once that complete drawing set is finished, the contractor can take it to the local building department to get it into the review process and obtain a permit. Not only that, with all the details on the drawings, the contractor knows what finishes, plumbing fixtures, and other items to order so that when demolition begins, the items are already on-site and they can move through construction quickly and efficiently! (That means less labor costs or delays and, let’s be honest, no one wants people disrupting their lives more than they need to be!) Let’s not forget that drawings also alleviate any questions that may arise during the construction process. The result, less time we need to be involved! (See a pattern here?!)

What if you’re not doing a bathroom that needs a full set of permit drawings? How can that help? Well, there are numerous ways we can use our technical expertise especially for you, the client.

The first way we can help you is if you’re doing a renovation or a new build and you’ve had an architect draw up the plans but you want a second pair of eyes on it from a furnished floor plan perspective. Why would I bring in yet another trade for my project? Well, take the example below. The architect had created AMAZING drawings for this new build. However, architects are not specifically trained in school on how to “furnish” an interior floor plan. THAT’S OK. They are worried about other things like making sure the house stands up structurally (I feel like that’s kind of important, don’t you?!).

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The images below show how we added furniture to the floor plans and found some areas for improvement. One of the best examples is in the bedroom. The architect added a lot of windows to bring in the natural light! We love that! The question we were left with was where to put the bed? As the plan currently laid out, left us with no wall for a bed. Therefore, our suggestion was to not lose windows, but to relocate! See how nice it is when we all work together as a team?

Finally, we can take those drawings and create photorealistic renderings with them. Having a hard time envisioning your space? Well, by providing our amazing renderer with our modeled drawings, we’re able to provide a perfect look into what your space will look like!

Take the below examples…the client wanted to see two different options. Using our 3D models, our renderer was able to expertly apply all the fabrics, colors, textures that we selected for the space and created a photorealistic rendering for the client to see!

Which rooms do you prefer? Leave us a comment below!

Kylie Bodiya