This second series of “when did you know?” focuses entirely on our talented interior design team, each telling their story about when they first realized they wanted to be an interior designer.

 

“The moment I realized that I wanted to be an interior designer came after I had spent my entire childhood helping on many home improvement projects with my parents and older brother. Growing up in the Keesling household, there was always a weekend project to be done – and we all did our part to help. Whether it was painting a room, building new walls, or running electrical, we always had something going on. I loved every minute of it.

When I was 12 years old, we were upgrading the electrical from the old knob and tube, and (because I was the only one that could fit through the small hole to access the attic) I was the one to go in, pull the wire, and make the connections. Then, my dad and brother left for football camp one weekend — it was not even 15 minutes after they walked out of the door that mom and I started gutting the bathroom and did a whole overhaul over the weekend to surprise dad. I learned a lot from my parents, especially my father who said to me once, “find a career where you are not going into work, but merely starting your day and having a damn good time doing it.”

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“In high school I was really into art and taking all the art classes I could, as well as architecture and the technical aspects of architectural design. As a freshman in college I started classes at Heron Art School while taking art history courses along with the general classes. While I was going through my freshman year of college my mom, an elementary education teacher, was moving into her new elementary school. It was then that I realized how I really enjoy that process and seeing how a building develops. From then on, I knew interior design was a strong direction for me — the commercial side of design being my focus. While having art and general education credits established I found the best Interior Design program for me and moved on from there. Once in the Interior Design program the classes where challenging, but at the same time, it just all clicked with me. I knew I was making the right decision.”

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“I had moved back to Indianapolis from going to art school in Chicago for a year. I was working at Kinko’s (now FedEx Office), and one day I met a young lady who came to the store to make copies for a class project. She was an interior design student at IUPUI, and she explained that her assignment was to convert an old fire station into a condominium. I was instantly intrigued! I thought that if I could have a career in which I use my creativity in a practical way, that it would be very rewarding. I looked into the program at IUPUI and enrolled the following August. The rest is history!”