Grey walls, tall light wooden mirror, blank white pillows, knitted blanket, floating square shelves. She has a vision and now she is going to make it happen. 

Since seventh grade, Coppell High School senior Isabel Scates was attracted to interior design. 

“My mom was an interior designer and my dad has a construction management degree, so I grew up in a house full of people who are in the same field,” Scates said. “Throughout the years, I fell in love just by watching my parents work.” 

Her parents, Kristi and Aaron Scates involvement in her passion for interior design helped Scates strive towards making it her career. Scates followed through with this career option and started taking many art classes, into which she would incorporate interior design.

Isabel always finds a way to include interior design. For example, in her AP Studio Art class, although the class doesn’t directly relate to interior design she always likes to incorporate it into her projects.

Scates is currently working on a sustained investigation in which she finds significant concepts in each decade and incorporates it in her interior design. For each decade, she draws out a designed place (such as a restaurant or house) while including the impactful event.

“I would think to myself, during that period, ‘what was the most popular thing in the 1960s?’ And obviously, hair was very popular, so I thought a hair salon would be so fun,” Scates said. “For the 1950s, I did a soda shop. I’ve been playing with different types of places.” 

Scates’s personal style has also influenced her work. 

 “I like interior designing because of the way you can make the place feel; you can feel so many different emotions going into different rooms, and that feels special to me,” Scates said. “My style is Scandinavian and Bohemian, and I like to do restaurant designs. I’m mostly drawn to that.” 

Mrs. Scates admires her daughter’s work ethic, affection and enthusiasm towards interior designing, as well as her versatility and how she is always able to stand out in a crowd. 

“Isabel is prioritized, organized, goal oriented,” Mrs. Scates said. “She’s unique. She knows what she wants and what she doesn’t. There is no gray area with her. She can read a room without saying a word; she’s very intuitive. I’m thrilled she is interested in pursuing a career that our family is also passionate about.” 

Contrary to popular belief, interior design is much more than just painting a wall and decorating a room and only working with houses. 

“My mom was an office interior designer, and I know a lot of people just think of houses being designed but it’s interesting to find out all the different types of interior design place there are like airports, restaurants, offices, school, there so many different things,” Isabel said. 

Isabel’s close friend, Michka Gordon, adds that a big part of interior design is collaboration.

“A common misconception is that [interior design] is just decorating things, which is wrong,” Gordon said. “People think of it as, ‘I’m putting a bed here,’ and ‘I’m painting this color.’ A lot of the time you’re working with the architect and complete the room together.” 

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