By Callie Taggart

It's not unusual for Shelby Castleton to arrive at the Interior Design Studio at 8 a.m. on Monday.

And leave at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

That's 30 hours, which calls for a lot of 64-ounce Dr Peppers, mile-long MP3 song lists on her laptop computer and a lot of energy.

With her headphones on, she listens to techno music as she sits at her large white art desk in the Sophomore Interior Design Studio, nestled behind the Ray B. West Building at USU.

Castleton, 20, of Layton, has been working at least 50 hours a week most weeks this spring to prepare her portfolio for Sophomore Review to apply for the Interior Design Program. Students are selected based on their talent and the quality of the work they do throughout the year. During the last few weeks, 45 students have been competing for 20 coveted spots in the Interior Design Program that Professor Darrin Brooks calls "one of the hardest and most expensive [at USU]."

Castleton estimates she has spent $1,000 or more on supplies this school year--including markers, colored pencils, paper, material, copies and just about any other art supplies you can think of. Students are also required to purchase their own laptop computer for the program, which could cost anywhere from $1,700 to $2,300.

After two years of dedication and thousands of dollars later, those who don't make it into the program usually end up pursuing a sales and marketing emphasis in interior design.

But Castleton doesn't seem worried; for now she is focused on one thing: her drawing.

She gets her scrutinizing eye no more than 2 inches away from the rendering, as she puts her blue mechanical pencil to the large white paper. She gets ideas from a page of a Better Homes Decorating Magazine filled with "French Country Romance" style.

The assignment she's working on tonight began with a floor plan that all of the students in one of her classes were given. Each was to choose a view of the room, and then complete a rendering that gives the illusion of three dimensions from that perspective. The students get to sketch the room as they choose, using their creative juices to determine use of space, furniture styles, and objects.

Next, the rendering will be traced with a fine black marker and the objects will be shaded with colored pencils.

Finishing the sketching part of her rendering won't take her all night, but Castleton needed to put together her portfolio for Thursday, April 3, and that would end up keeping her at the studio until 5 a.m.

She goes home and falls right into bed to recover after nights like this, but you have to wonder how she survives with such a lack of sleep.

With long work days cramping her lifestyle, Castleton said the hardest part of being in the interior design program is that she isn't left with much extra time--she's been on two dates the entire semester. Last year she high-jumped for the USU's women's track team, but gave it up this year for something she loves more.

"Now my only friends are [the students] in my interior design classes. We spend all our time together."

So much time, they seem like family.

Looking around the lively, busy, project-filled studio, you wouldn't think these students are competing against each other. Someone walks in with cinnamon rolls she brought home from work to share with everyone. One guy asks what the dimensions are for a standard fireplace, and a girl tells him 5 feet tall. "Where did you get that paper? I love it!" "Kinkos," someone says. "You should go get some."

Three days later, Castleton's living room rendering is complete. It is a clean, crown-molded, room with a glossy black fireplace and matching black lamps with vanilla-cream lampshades. There is a large and inviting, curvy gray couch with a chunky, dark chocolate coffee table in front of it. Lavender lilacs in a vase in the middle of the table can almost be smelled from the page.

Castleton is pretty satisfied with the finished product.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, "designers in this field must have a strong sense of the esthetic--an eye for color and detail, a sense of balance and proportion, and an appreciation for beauty. Despite the advancement of computer-aided design, sketching ability remains an important advantage in most types of design." Castleton has this sketching ability.

She has known she wanted to go into interior designer since junior high.

She said watching interior design shows similar to TLC's home design show Trading Spaces on TV when she was little

In high school, Castleton did an internship where she helped designed a 2,500-square-foot-house in east Layton that was built by high school students. She has also enjoyed spending time with her mom decorating her own house.

"I would much rather have a beautiful house than a nice car," she said.

"I would just love to have a beautiful place to go," Castleton said as she described the great effect design of a space can have on how a person feels.

Castleton's favorite work is her "Lauren chair," a living room chair she designed and then built a model of out of dark wood. It is upholstered with a gold-green colored cushion she sewed. Castleton also likes the watercolor of an elegant couch in Easter egg blue called "The Adelaide." One of her largest projects in the portfolio is her "Island Style" house, which consists of two-dimensional drawings, blueprints, realistic color drawings she created on the computer of the interior and even a realistic-looking model complete with palm trees in the yard and a tile roof that lifts off to display the inside of the house. Castleton likes this project because it is the best example of her personal style.

"I'm not necessarily a fan of very traditional or ultra-contemporary style. Although you have to design for the client, if I were designing my own house, I would do it sort of 'Californian' with lots of stucco, red tile roofs and Southern accents," she said.

One of Castleton's interior design professors, Darrin Brooks, calls her work "eclectic."

"It's modern but still traditional and likeable," Brooks said.

This semester, Castleton's interior design classes include Architectural Graphics II, Interior Space Planning and Human Dimensions, Computer Aided Drafting and Design and History of Interior Furnishings and Architecture II.

Castleton plans to graduate in the spring or fall of 2005.

"And after that, I just want to take a year off and relax!" she says.

But chances are, she won't hesitate to get working on her ultimate career goal.

"I'd like to design and organize the sets for photo shoots for interior design magazines and catalogs."

Professor Brooks thinks that with her talent she can go even further than that.
"The best thing about Shelby is she's teachable. She's always trying to push her own limits and create something she's never seen or done before. She is always trying to outdo herself," Brooks said.

And outdo herself she did.

After a few weeks of waiting and as a stressful semester draws to a close, Castleton found out she was selected for the Interior Design Program at USU.

"Things are going good. Now all I have to do is survive the next week and a half," Castleton said, looking forward to no-test week and finals.

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