APPLETON, Wis. — Polishing silver is part of the learning experience for Lindsey Peterson. She’s a student in Fox Valley Technical College’s interior design program.
“I’m very detail orientated. I love furniture and bringing furniture together and making a room beautiful,” Peterson said. “I think it’s really important to have a space where you feel safe and just very energetic, relaxing and fun.”
Peterson and some of her fellow students who are part of the National Kitchen and Bath Student Chapter helped with the design and decoration of the kitchen and dining room for the Victorian Christmas Celebration at the Hearthstone Historic House Mansion in Appleton.
“Some people think interior design is just picking out colors and picking out furniture, but there’s way more to it that just that,” she said.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports almost 9,000 interior design jobs open each year around the country. Jobs in the field are expected to grow over the next decade.
Lisa Martinek, an interior design instructor at FVTC, said the program has a placement rate in the 90th percentile for students.
“The need is there,” she said. “Most of our students place before graduation.”
Careers opportunities extend to both residential and commercial applications.
“Working for builders, retail. It could be furnishing, private individual designers, kitchen and bath designers,” Martinek said about graduates.”Flooring specialists. Plumping specialists.”
Kelly Gruber was part of the student team that decorated the dining room. The variety of career paths and elements of the field are appealing to her.
“Windows is just one thing. You’ve got kitchen and baths. You’ve got flooring. You’ve got paint. Draperies,” Gruber said. “There are so many different levels and aspects. You can dive into construction from the beginning to the advanced end where you’re doing the decorating and the art and all of those things.”
Peterson said she hopes to one day launch her own residential interior design business.
“I just want to help people create an amazing space where they can relax after work and enjoy time with their family,” she said.