There’s nothing like a challenge to add to the character of a new building.
At the new Blu Homes condominium development, 20630 Douglas Cres., in Langley City, the builders have given two students from the Interior Design program at BCIT a challenge. They have a space of their own to design as they see fit.
This is an opportunity for the students to add to their portfolio and step out of the classroom.
Kendra Redekop and Hannah Lang both were given $3,000 and one of Blu’s Sapphire units to design and outfit in little more than a month.
Redekop, 27, is a part-time student of BCIT’s Interior Design program. She also works full-time to put herself through school.
Though she has designed houses for herself and her family before, this was her first opportunity to take a brand-new space and see what she could make of it.
Her space, “Natural Chic” uses elements from nature including wood, stone and glass to create an open, warm space that flows naturally.
“Nature inspires me in a huge way,” she said. “This space is very indicative of that.”
To stay within the budget she was given, Redekop and her husband made a few of the pieces located in the unit. She also used Craigslist to save on many items, giving them her own personal touch.
After a month of work on her suite, Redekop’s final total cost was $3,024.
Hannah Lang, 21, attends BCIT full-time and is also in the Interior Design program. She describes her style as vintage-romantic and sophisticated with an “antique modern feel, but so that it is still livable up to the times.”
Her suite, “A Moment in Paris” uses deep tones and vintage pieces to create an atmosphere that blends together cohesively.
Lang spent her younger years rearranging her bedroom furniture and designing houses on the computer game “The Sims,” but she’s never had a space of her own, with a budget to command.
“Actually doing it in real life is different,” she said. “It’s interesting how everything comes together in the end.”
In order to stay on track with the budget, Lang prioritized her spending. “I made sure I had things like the bed frame and the tables before I did anything else, just to be sure I could make it.”
Her safe spending brought her final total to $2,996.
Trish Becher, who came up with the concept for the challenge and selected the two students, gave them full creative power over the space, telling the women to “interpret the space and do with it what you would.”
The suites were under lockdown until May 14, when Blu Homes hosted a friends and family event to showcase the students’ work.
“Their personalities were different enough that how they would interpret the space would be totally different,” Becher said.
Because the challenge was to design the space as they saw it for themselves or were inspired to, the students put themselves into it.
“This feels like home to me,” Redekop said. “Of all the spaces I’ve created, I think this one is going to be the hardest to step away from.”
The grand unveiling for the public will take place on May 28 and 29 from 1-4 p.m.