Program Overview

Home Environment Project

The Home Environment Project is designed for individuals interested in designing their own space by creating a color scheme, selecting or creating new accessories for a room, or choosing new floor covering or window covers. This project aims to help participants master the elements and principles of design to make their space functional and aesthetically pleasing.

Project Overview

The project is divided into three levels: Starting Out (Basic/Level 1), Learning More (Intermediate/Level 2), and Expanding Horizons (Advanced/Level 3).

• Starting Out (Basic/Level 1)
  • Learn the language of design decisions, including basics of design elements and principles.
  • Plan and design your own space with new design techniques.
  • Uncover and compare costs that will impact your ability to create your space.
  • Practice choosing wall treatments, window coverings, and floor coverings.
  • Discover how paint, wall treatments, flooring, and window coverings create different effects in a room.
• Learning More (Intermediate/Level 2)
  • Get the "scoop" on furniture styles.
  • Plan your space using your needs, wants, and timeline to make choices.
  • Create design boards to visualize living space changes and plans.
  • Learn helpful strategies for developing shopping lists for your design project.
  • Coordinate fabrics and patterns.
  • Effectively reduce clutter and organize your "stuff."
  • Take care of your furniture.
• Expanding Horizons (Advanced/Level 3)
  • Select accessories to add the finishing touch.
  • Showcase your favorite room accessories.
  • Install bright lighting elements.
  • Create personality in a shared space.
  • Use natural resources effectively.
  • Be "in the know" about energy-efficient products.
  • Think about and use environmentally friendly practices such as reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink.

Opportunities to Explore

Participants can explore various opportunities, including:

• Contacting their local county NDSU Extension office to participate in Design Decisions camps and workshops.
• Working with their county NDSU Extension agent to get the Design Decisions trunk to their county for a class.
• Considering taking an exhibit or piece of their project to the county fair for judging and showing their family and friends what they learned throughout the year.
• Exploring online design career fields such as interior design, landscape architecture, professional organizations, home staging, community and regional planning, marketing, publishing, and advertising.
• Job shadowing professionals involved in design decision topics and environmental issues.
• Researching additional topics, including energy, lighting, landscape, recycling, and eco-friendly cleaning products.
• Gathering a group of friends interested in interior design and volunteering to redesign and rearrange a room at their school to make the area more functional.
• Working with local partners to establish a community day for the free disposal of paint and refinishing materials and solvents.
• Starting a wood salvage shop in which old wood furnishings and wood scraps are available for the public to reuse or repurpose.

Exhibit Ideas

Participants can create various exhibits, including:

• Taking photos of home decoration that demonstrate the use of design elements and principles.
• Comparing pros and cons of sponging, rag-rolling, stenciling, and stamping walls.
• Refinishing a family antique chair, table, stand, or dresser.
• Illustrating how various wall coverings and flooring have different effects in living spaces.
• Creating a poster that provides examples of elements of different furniture styles.
• Developing a design board showing how an existing floor plan can be transformed into a more functional floor plan.
• Comparing the effectiveness of different products in removing stains from hard and soft home furnishings.
• Illustrating the different effects of light quality based on bulb type, shade size, lamp height, and wall color.
• Identifying the pros and cons of starting an organizational business to help clients develop spaces for items they use and need.
• Using a model kit to build a solar home showing how the sun's energy can be used to heat a home.
• Showcasing a home improvement item created in their first, second, and third year in the project, describing the new skills learned, further developed, and layered in the project area.

Share with Others

Participants can share their knowledge and skills with others through:

• Communication: sharing ideas with friends on how to select a color scheme for their bedroom, creating a video showing how they made their home more energy efficient.
• Citizenship: assisting an elderly person with painting their living room, sharing with friends and family ways to keep living spaces safe, sharing with family and friends ways to make their homes more energy efficient, hosting a design class for family and friends.
• Leadership: teaching adults proper ways to dispose of refinishing and painting materials, working with a nonprofit organization in creating a functional meeting space floor plan.
• Entrepreneurship: designing, creating, and marketing soft furnishings and accessories to sell at local craft shows, starting a wood salvage shop in which old wood furnishings and wood scraps are available for the public to reuse or repurpose.

Resources

Available resources include:

• 4-H Resources: Design Decisions (CD109) (Grades 6-12), Design My Place DVD (CD110) (Grades 3-5).
• Recordkeeping: Planning for My Project Adventure (PA093), ND 4-H Project Plan (PA095), ND 4-H Plan of Action (PA096), ND 4-H Participation Summary for 11 to 19 year olds (PA098).