FSCJ Interior Design Stages HabiJax Home
Fans of competitive cooking shows will understand the challenge. Time is limited and so are the ingredients. Competitors must use their skills and creativity to assemble something that delights the judges. Along the way, twists are sure to come. Ready? Allez cuisine!
Students in the Interior Design Technology program at Florida State College at Jacksonville faced a similar challenge this spring. Guided by professors Laurie Taylor and Tessa Menotte, students shopped the HabiJax Restore on a single Saturday in March for their primary design “ingredients.” Brand new box springs, mattresses, and bedding are always in stock and easy to claim for the project. So are certain new furniture items such as rugs and sofas. Other furnishings and home decor items, however, are constantly changing.
On their shopping day, students found a beautiful console which they upcycled with brand new drawer pulls recently donated to the ReStore. They found like-new dressers and nightstands, along with artwork and lamps for the bedrooms. A pre-owned glass coffee table, it was decided, would work well for the living room. Two desks and chairs also got snatched up, as well as curtain rods for every room in the house.
One week later, students and faculty met again at a discount home decor store to find other pieces – such as stools, pillow covers and curtains – unavailable on their ReStore day. All these “ingredients” were then delivered to one of our newly built HabiJax homes. Now featuring wood-look vinyl plank flooring throughout the interior and Hardie board siding on the exterior, our homes look better than ever and have greater durability.
Not a few folks involved in moving the furniture wondered how it would all come together. A king size bed in the bedroom? Is the living room big enough for a giant console and a sofa and a love seat? But the “technology” part of the Interior Design Technology program had helped plan out the pieces in advance. The rooms came together quickly and nicely as our photo album below will show.
Upon being staged, photos and video were taken so that HabiJax can showcase the quality of our homes to prospective homebuyers. Then, a “HabiTour” was arranged for prospective homebuyers, partners, and friends. Finally, all the furnishings made their way back to the ReStore the next morning. The brand new patio furniture which had been on the front porch was sold that same morning to HabiTour participant who was so impressed by what she saw that she went by to buy those pieces for her own home.
HabiJax is grateful to Professors Taylor and Menotte and every student who participated – some in person and some online – in the staging of this home. The experience provided a hands-on challenge to these students and a chance to apply what they are learning in the service of Jacksonville’s largest non-profit builder of attainable housing. For this challenge, the “judges” (prospective homebuyers attending the tour) were very pleased indeed!
Every purchase at the HabiJax ReStore – your local home improvement superstore – helps families build homes for ownership in partnership with HabiJax. Open to the public, the ReStore sells new and pre-owned home improvement items at wholesale prices. The inventory changes constantly, as do deals and sales. You can subscribe to the ReStore newsletter to keep up on the latest changes. Or, come visit us at our consolidated location at 5800 Beach Boulevard.
