This was a truly exciting and inspiring week for Grace an I at Chango & Co. On Monday, we met our official bosses for the first time. As I was getting ready, I was extra thoughtful about my outfit choice as I was so nervous about what Susana and Josh (the head designer and general manager of the company) would think about my personal style. After looking at all of Susana's finished projects and all of the "Behind the Scenes" pictures that Josh takes and posts to the website, I was in awe and admiration for the impeccable style that they both have. Walking up to the front door I was overcome with nerves and thoughts about what my first words and interaction with them should be like. As soon as we walked inside, she greeted us with a big smile and a excited, friendly hello. We immediately got to talking about all of the different projects that we would be working on, and the five different installations we would be a part of. She informed us that it would be an extremely busy summer, but we would have as much responsibility within each project as we were willing to take on. This made Grace and I so excited to begin working, and thankful that we found a firm whose bosses were so willing to trust us in the design decision making process. The very first job she gave us to do was put in a drawn floor plan into CAD and begin space planning for the project. I was surprised, although very pleasantly, that she was so willing to hand this job over to us as our first project. Later in the week we presented our space plans to her, and we all three sat down and chose the best ones for each room. Our next task was then to find furniture pieces and design some built-ins. Again, we were pretty much handed and trusted with another big job. As the week came to an end, we were finishing up some CAD layouts and designs for a big set of built-ins and a fireplace wall in that house.
The real highlight of our week though, and the best bonding time with our boss that we shared was when we all took a 3-hour road trip to Connecticut to check on the progress of a summer house in Litchfield. This house was not what I was expecting when I pictured a summer home. This house was massive! It looked as if there used to stand a smaller plantation house that had been added onto multiple times since it was originally built. Because it was so old, Susana knocked down some walls and doors and gutted the entire kitchen in order to open it up and get rid of asbestos damage. The house is pretty empty right now as they are finishing up painting the walls before they start the kitchen installation. There are plans to build a big back porch over looking the huge amount of green grass land they have in their back yard. We are going to do the final installation the first week of August, and I cannot wait to see what it looks like. Going on this site visit gave Grace and I an insight of how designers interact and work with contractors, painters, window treatment finishers, plumbers, electricians, etc. She was so knowledgable when she was speaking with them, and knew exactly what she wanted them to accomplish. It made me grateful that we learn all of the information we do about construction and mechanical issues because it will actually come in handy later on in our careers. Here are some pictures of what the house looks like now:
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