by Gina Dreher
Hey there! I’m Gina. My background is in photography and graphics, not architecture or interior design…but Greyten gave me a desk and a marketing title anyway. Now I spend my days nodding at words I don’t understand, Googling things after meetings, and slowly figuring out what everyone around here is talking about. These are my findings. (Here’s a link to my first post that explains a little more!)
I have discovered that the architecture and design industry has approximately 47 different words for things I thought were the same thing. I’m going to impart my newfound knowledge on you all so we can all be competent, enlightened individuals together!
BLUEPRINTS vs PLANS
Apparently “blueprints” is an antiquated word and no longer used in the industry. They are “plans”, friends. PLANS. Need a blueprint of the layout of your new house? NO YOU DO NOT. You need Plans.
ARCHITECT vs INTERIOR DESIGNER
I mean, I did know the difference here, but the thing I learned is that they can be oh so picky when it comes to what you call them. They went to a tonload of school for that degree, people. Get it right, gosh. (muttering incoherently)
DECORATOR vs DESIGNER
I almost lost a finger over this one. Do not EVER call an interior designer a decorator. That is a quick way to make an enemy. My designer friends are deciding wall placement, flooring material, functionality and layout of spaces. Decorators come in after to make the space pretty. Maybe I should become a decorator. How fun does that sound?! Decorating by Gina. Gina’s Decor and More. Decorate Your Space with Gina. Gonna workshop that one. Watch for it…
RENDERING vs PHOTOGRAPH
Renderings didn’t exist in my life before I started working here. You can render meat, right? Like, you might say to your husband, “go see if that meat is done rendering.” Or is that tenderizing? Isn’t there also a rendering when it comes to YouTube videos? Or is that buffering…hmm. Who can say. Well, I bet a lot of people could actually say, including Google, but what fun is that? Renderings in architecture and interior design are PLANS (see above) that have been made into virtual photos, basically. Almost like a cartoon of the space. (I’m really not explaining this well…). Photographs are, well I don’t need to tell you what a photograph is. Cheat sheet: renderings are what the space COULD be; photos are what the space IS.
ELEVATION vs FLOOR PLAN
Okay so this one is still newer to me. From my understanding (I have decided NOT to Google a single thing for this blog post, so please don’t use this as a source for your research paper), an elevation is the outside view of the front of the house or building. So you can see how it will look as an overall exterior. The floor plan would be the drawing (you might want to say “blueprint” here, but remember what you’ve learned, Class) of the layout of the space, as if you were viewing it from above.
I think.
RENOVATION vs REMODEL
Renovation is to remodel what decorator is to designer. Renovation is all about the looks and about refreshing your space. A remodel is more in-depth, it might involve moving walls or adding a new room.
RENOVATION – could be done by a decorator
REMODEL – you need Greyten. Obvs.
I’m going to post this, and then wait to hear allllllllllllllll the feedback from my coworkers about what I got wrong. But I think I did pretty darn good. I will get back to you.
Now go forth! And use your newfound knowledge for the betterment of society!
