It’s such a surreal feeling to arrive at the site of the Solar Decathlon and see a house that we have been working on for two years right in front of me! The Desert Rose is real and much more impressive than the drawings, and we are in the middle of the desert building it. As the Interior Design Leader, we spent many hours deliberating about the colours of the exterior of the house, wishing we could see it in real life to understand the effect of the colours. However, seeing the second skin wall, the impact of the house was exactly as we had hoped.
An important part of the competition is to ensure our house’s interior complies to designs in the Middle East. Throughout the design, we made considerations for this, however once we landed in Dubai, it was essential that we check out the shops to ensure we had followed the design and find some last minute additions for the interior. Prior to leaving Australia, the colour of the lounge has been a common discussion point, with some people worrying about the gold colour choice, however we were extremely excited that the first shop we walked into featured three gold couches, one used the exact material that we chose! Confirming that even though we question our abilities, we do know what we are talking about. I was overwhelmed by and thrilled to see the eccentric patterns throughout the city, this again made us so proud of our decisions.
Day 14 has been extremely exciting, today we saw our outdoor lights and flashings go up, the courtyards are getting closer to being finished and our indoor plant life has been purchased. The Desert Rose has never looked more like a house before and the stresses from home about whether or not colours, textures and patterns work together have disappeared. We are hoping to move all of our furniture into the house tomorrow, which is super exciting and I’m looking forward to seeing the paintings and finishing touches bringing the rooms to life. I am extremely proud to be on the Desert Rose team and can not wait to begin sharing our home with the world.
– Meg Cummins, Interior Design Team Leader