Tuesday, July 19, 2011

My Childhood Drawings

When I was little I'd draw all the time. But unlike most tots, I wouldn't be found drawing ponies, hearts, or butterflies.  You'd find me with my graph paper, napkin, old receipt, plain white paper, or my kids menu at a restaurant sketching floor plans! I'm talking seven years old and drawing blue prints to houses I'd never seen before. I'm not sure what it is about houses that intrigue me so much, but I just remember being in my own zone when I would draw. Sort of like another land, thinking up real homes with real live people in them.  That would explain why each bedroom had a child's name in it.  After I drew the plans, I'd go to my room and build them out of my Jenga blocks. Following the completion of the plans, I'd find anyone who would listen to me give the "grand tour" of the new home.
I guess I was destined to go to school for interior design! My floor plan drafting class a few quarters ago was by far my favorite class.  Drawing floor plans for homework? Yes, please!
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A few days ago I was cleaning out my room and I found a folder filled with my old floor plans.  They made me laugh so much, I figured I had to share with you!


The pictures are shown in order of when I drew them {youngest to oldest}


1. This is by far the funniest one.  I have no memory of drawing this {I swear!}, but this is Santa & Mrs. Clause's house in the North Pole. See for yourself! Can we just talk about this windingggg staircase to the left by the "Entry for Elves".  Wow.  And if you can even remotely follow the floor plan, you'll notice those stairs and the really short stairs in the middle of the image end up on the same floor. Ahh, didn't quite get it yet! #blessmyheart
Age 9
The highlighted part is Santa & Mrs. Clause's quarters and the rest is the Elves. You know, just to clarify (;
2. Next, I got really into detailing the bedding and furniture I placed in the plans. I think I was working on my cursive...
Age 10
Lots of hearts and lines and shading.  If you look close you can see that I named the children Aliya, Alexis, Caleb and Colby. Clearly the room with the heart bedspread is the Master (:


3. Now I started using graph paper.  I was getting serious, ha! Straighter lines and a key on the right hand side so you know what type of flooring is where...not sure how I came up with that system!
Age 10


4. My final floor plan for my drafting class:
Age 19


Phew! I've come a long way.  Thankfully, so has my handwriting! As I sat on my bedroom floor going through all the old drawings, I was just smiling. I can't believe something I enjoyed doing when I was 9 will be what I do for the rest of my life!
Have you ever found something from your childhood like this?
Haaaapppy Tuesday!
Love,
Photobucket

42 comments

  1. oh I love those drawings - so cute and interesting that even so young you were destined to be a designerx

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  2. That is the cutest thing! Such a blessing to know your calling at age 9!

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  3. oh my goodness. you were precious then & are precious now! these. are. awesome.

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  4. Hahaha that is so awesome! I love the most recent one - Can I live in that house?! Hahaha.

    I used to write elaborate letters to the tooth fairy drawing pictures of how I thought her house and "heaven" looked. My Mom saved all of them!

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  5. That's precious!! Believe it or not, I used to do the same thing...except I was drawing additions to our house! I never realized what that meant until I wound up in design school!!

    xo

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  6. I actually find that really sweet...that from such a young age, *this* was your passion! And yes, my dear, you have come a long way! (c;

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  7. such a treasure. you should frame some of these to remind you that you've always been in love with this craft <3

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  8. I love these floor plans! I used to draw mall floor plans and only put my favorite stores in the mall haha. Too bad I don't think I saved any of them. I just asked my dad last week if he would scan a few of my childhood drawings. I have some pretty sweet drawings of my bird and golden retriever.

    I bet it's really fun for you to see your progression. Thanks for sharing these, they're so fun to look at!

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  9. Oh Michaela hahaha I am so glad that you still have those old floor plans you drew when you were younger, and love even more that you shared them with us! :) Seriously so fun!

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  10. Awww I LOVE this! Your designs were great even when you were little :)

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  11. This is seriously precious!! How funny that you were doing this at such a young age!! Definitely doing what you are meant to be doing!!

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  12. Oh my gosh, you are way too cute. I love this! I love looking back at things I clipped in ninth grade for weddings too. Somethings are still classy now; but most not so much :) hehe love you Michaela! xoxo

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  13. Love this!!! How cute are you? I LOVE looking at floor plans...I remember when my parents were remodeling our house and I would just pour over the blueprints. These are all great...especially the last one with the chevron carpet!! love! :)

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  14. I used to do that too! My dad would make up "clients" for me, and I'd have to design their perfect house. And I just graduated from Clemson with a degree in Architecture!

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  15. That is the ahh ha moment when you realize you are doing exactly what you should be! Too cute!!

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  16. Ahhhh!!!! This is ADORABLE!!! I love how you saved them all... what a neat thing to show the kids!! :) So so precious!

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  17. This is so neat! Such great memories I'm sure!

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  18. you were destined to be an interior designer :)

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  19. This is SO awesome! I can't believe you started drawing at such a young age! It's great that you still have them!

    xo, Ana

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  20. i love that you're going to love your career so much! such precious drawings :)

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  21. That's so sweet that you have your childhood drawings. Changing countries at the age of 15 meant pack light, leave everything behind so I do not have anything from my childhood other than my two dolls that I had since the day I was born.

    Very cute! You were destined to be a designer at young age!

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  22. this is precious! I have pictures of my teacher's desk with papers.. etc. Now, i get to live my dream!

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  23. You are so precious! Natural talent, my dear:-) xoxo

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  24. This is absolutely incredible. I never thought that a child would be drafting floor plans. You have a serious skill!

    http://www.glamkittenslitterbox.com/
    Twitter: @GlamKitten88

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  25. omg that is the coolest thing ever! to be able to see where u started and where you are now...and to have a dream that you had since you were little being fulfilled in your adults years. so amazing.

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  26. That is too funny! I actually remember doing the same thing -- I would also plan out subdivisions too! That's so great that you kept those! You need to frame them!!

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  27. WOW!! crazy how detailed these drawings and floor plans are!! hehe

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  28. I used to do the same thing! I'd make up families that live in them too! Now I'm an Architect Tech and design houses for a living!!

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  29. Haha! Those are quite complex homes too. I did the same thing with Barbie weddings. I'd dress all the guests and the bride and set them up for a wedding. Then I'd lose interest.

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  30. Just darling. You need to frame those. I remember doing something similar with wallpapering and making tiny pictures to hang in the barbie dollhouse. It was all about the decorating for me! :) See you tomorrow . . what what??!!

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  31. omg! this is the sweetest thing ever. I love all your ideas and I love that you have those drawings from when you were little!

    very sweet!

    xoxo, chrissy
    The Perfect Palette

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  32. I love seeing all of this progress! It's amazing how you had such a passion for this at such a young age :)

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  33. This is so cute!! This actually looks like a lot of fun!

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  34. That's so sweet! It's special that you still have some of those childhood drawings. Don't know if I kept mine. (The downside of being a purger to the core.) Love your blog!

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  35. That's crazy that you had that bent from the get go! So interesting. I wonder how my obsession with drawing cats as a kid brought me to be a graphic designer. ;)

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  37. I did the same thing when I was little! I didn't end up going to school for interior design but I sometimes feel I may have made a mistake. Love your blog by the way!

    -Emmy
    www.sprinklesoneverything.wordpress.com

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  38. amazing how our personalities are developed so young. and amazing how talented you were at such a young age (and still are!) :)

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  39. My childhood drawings progressed through various stages:
    1)Squiggles
    2)Stick figures/ houses (vague, from the front, with chimneys)/perhaps skyscrapers
    3)vehicles (from the side)/ clumsily drawn people/ charts and graphs/ early maps
    4)Designs done with BIC pen/ more three-dimensionality/ more of a cartoon flavor/ illustration of ideas and diagrams/ more complex ideas/ outlined or fancy letters in my writing/ continued transportation drawings.

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  40. anyhow, I found your drawings' evolution to be interesting because a) I like looking at evolution itself and b) I went through a whole pile of my own drawings after hurricane Irene. Nice work, Michaela :)

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Thank you for stopping by! If you have a specific question, please email me at hello@michaelanoelledesigns.com. I always reply to emails! Have a blessed day! xoxo

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