Interior Decorating (Diploma)

Program Overview

Humber’s Interior Decorating diploma program combines essential creative and practical elements with insights into current design trends. You will learn to:

• Cultivate your creative abilities by exploring and ideating clients’ needs and passions to transform their living/work space
• Develop, articulate and document your designs to create unique spatial concepts for residential environments 
• Discover unique residential trends by creating and transforming spaces in various design sectors focusing on the residential environments with opportunities in kitchen/bath, DYI's, staging, real clients and specialty design challenges
• Hone your artistic talent and develop your professional skills to launch your career
• Implement a versatile combination of presentation skills to generate solutions through hand and computer drafting, craftsmanship, sketching, hand and digital rendering, and graphic skills and layouts
• Use the principles and elements of design to formulate original concepts and apply them in 2D and 3D residential design solutions

You will learn from practising professional experts in our design studios. Studio classes provide hands-on experience and training using market-specific materials and trends. Guest speakers, trade shows, field trips and international adventure opportunities await you. Using the latest technology, you will explore the world of design and discover furniture, finishes, lighting, millwork, textiles, objects d’art and essential elements that evolve into unique and extraordinary living spaces.

Our program will complement your creative and technical expertise with essential business training in how to run your own enterprise and manage your own projects. Additionally, you will learn how to understand specifications and how to communicate design ideas effectively to real clients.

Round out your interior decorating education in interior detailing and construction documents along with learning about interdisciplinary platforms and stakeholders (architects, engineers, trades, clients and contractors, and more). Launch your career knowing how mechanical, electrical, plumbing services and building methods work together cohesively on an entire residential design project.

Semester 1

• DEC 108: Colour Theory and Application
• DEC 109: Sketching Interiors
• DEC 111: Drafting Interiors
• DEC 112: Design Fundamentals Studio 1
• WRIT 120: Technical Reading and Writing Skills

Semester 2

• DEC 150: Interior Decorating Studio 2
• DEC 151: History of Furniture
• DEC 152: Residential Finishes
• DEC 155: Computer Drafting 1
• GNED 101: An Introduction to Arts and Sciences
• WRIT 220: Technical Workplace Writing Skills

Semester 3

• DEC 204: Interior Decorating Studio 3
• DEC 212: Interior Styles
• DEC 216: Computer Drafting 2
• DEC 219: Digital Communications 1
• Select 1 from the following courses
• GNED : General Elective

Semester 4

• DEC 250: Interior Decorating Studio 4
• DEC 251: Professional Business
• DEC 252: Interior Systems
• DEC 256: Digital Communications 2
• Select 1 from the following courses
• GNED : General Elective

Your Career

Interior decorators work with clients and provide consultation on programming and throughout the installation procurement phases. Decorators work with concepts, styles, colour schemes, space plan layouts, elevations, perspective sketches, lighting, furniture, millwork and architectural detailing, materials and finishes, kitchen and bathroom design, accessories, and much more.

Interior decorators can provide conceptual sketches and generate working/detail drawings using computer-aided design drafting tools (CADD);  they can also provide other design services to their clients including product specifications, as well as cost estimates.

Graduates have gone on to become interior decorating magazine editors-in-chief, featured magazine interior decorators, TV personalities with their own show, guest TV decorators, newspaper feature article leaders, interior decorating business owners, event planners, managers of decorating retail stores, design consultants (both domestic and international) and buyers to name but a few.

Graduates also work with:

• Detailing experts in millwork companies
• Event planning firms
• High end furniture companies as design consultants and product launchers
• Interior decorating and design firms
• Kitchen and bath design centres
• Lighting consultants
• Media, including magazines, blogs, tweets, and other social media
• New home developers and model home décor
• Print magazines and online media
• Residential design firms
• Retail and wholesale showrooms
• Specialist designers in carpet, tile and upholstery
• Staging experts for real estate
• Television/set design