Project Insight with Bridget Thompson: Interview with an App User

This week, Planner 5D spoke with Bridget Thompson - better known on Instagram as @brdgt.ny who also happens to be a Planner 5D user! We sat down together to discuss her favorite styles, compromising on interior design ideas, and an insight into her latest project and the difficulties that she faced. Read on to discover a bit about Bridget, her projects, and more!

App Discovery and Beginnings

Everyone has to start somewhere, so we asked Bridget how she got interested in our App and her reasoning behind choosing Planner 5D. She explained that she has been using it for a while and her reason for downloading it is a great one!

I have been using the app for 8 months! …My partner gifted me a subscription for Valentine’s Day so I can actually practice by myself!

We love the idea of being gifted a subscription for something as particular as our app, this shows how one partner really knows the other!

Regarding why she is interested in this type of app/passion, Bridget gave us a little bit of background into her roots. She tells us how decor and design have always been a love of hers and how growing up she was influenced by those around them. She states that “I have always spoken about my love for decor and have always tried to elevate my space. I grew up around women who loved decorating and all in their own style.”

Design and Decor

We asked Bridget what she started with in regards to using the app to create and eventually design her own space and she shared with us that it was actually a way to help her partner implement his style in his new apartment.

My partner had just moved to London and it was his first apartment. I wanted to create a space that fit his style.

She continued on how she had shown her partner a few sample pieces and from here, she went her way. “I had shown him a couple of different interior design images and based on what he liked, I started to design.” Regarding what her partner liked, Bridget seemed to gravitate more towards the classics: “He kept gravitating towards midcentury living rooms, with darker woods which is why we went with the TV stand and the desk we did.”

Bridget continued by telling us a well-known staple of design was something that she knew to keep in mind, she said “Some of it was functionality as well, finding storage for books and collectibles...” and when it came to what she wanted for home, it was very clear and here is where the compromise came in with her partner's likes and their joint wants, “We knew we wanted to do a gallery wall and also wanted to go for an accent couch and were also on a tight budget. We wanted to ensure we covered all bases, mid-century furniture, accent couch, gallery wall, and storage. I chose very simple bookcases to avoid the space looking cluttered and added a glass coffee table so it doesn’t take away from the size of the living room. The gold accents in the room were also a nice touch we just agreed on as we started to add more elements.”

Latest Project

We asked Bridget to give us a little bit of insight into her most recent project and this project was actually a joint decision when they were designing the apartment together. Bridget tells us that “I always loved a gallery wall and we had tons of art to hang up and display. We never got the chance to hang it up before so we spent a lot of time buying frames and taking inventory of some of the pieces and ensuring they could fit.”  We love the idea of a gallery wall as this can work well in any interior, be it a wall of art, personal pictures of family and friends, or even your own photography - this is so amazing!

Bridget goes on to tell us that social media helped a lot when getting inspiration for the gallery wall and how her own collection gave her a lot to work with, “I went through a lot of Pinterest images of gallery walls and ways to hang them up. I just kept researching similar items and it helped that we had a lot of the decorative pieces in hand so we had a lot to work with from the start.”  The why behind the gallery wall? A love of colour. Bridget continues by letting us know that “I love a space with a pop of color and the gallery wall gave us exactly that!” In addition to this, she tells us that “I also wanted to get a green couch which made the place look cool and made it stand out.” From what we are told, the success of the wall speaks for itself as she says that “The wall is definitely the center of the space and we love taking pictures of friends and family on the couch whenever they are over!”

Challenges and Inspiration

When discussing this project in particular, we asked Bridget if she faced any challenges and she lets us know about a few! Regarding the gallery wall, Bridget said that because of the quantity of art she had to display, her main concern was making sure it didn't look cluttered. She told us that, “I’ve always leaned towards being more minimalist but we knew we had a lot of art to display on the walls, so I wanted to ensure it still looks clean and pleasing to the eye, not messy.” On the topic of this “mess”, she told us that another struggle was the size of the apartment, “The apartment isn’t that big and we had A LOT to fit in it.”

Bridget continued by telling us of another one of her struggles - one to which many of us can relate, these being measurements and how things don't always fit as you measure them! She says how, “We also didn’t do great with measurements so the table purchased was too large and we had to work with it, so some changes had to be made.” And in the end - as with most projects, your work is never truly done and Bridget lets us know that she is still on the search for a specific something. She says, “Finding the right rug is still a challenge for me!”

We wanted to know if Bridget had any particular interior designers or anything that inspired her and - like many of the influencers we speak to, she explained that social media is a great way to get inspired! She told us, “No designers specifically!” However, judging by the success of her gallery wall and her inspiration from Pinterest, we can see that social media is definitely an inspiration for her and many others - sharing a community with like-minded people is something you cannot put a price on!

The information Bridget has provided us with is incredibly useful and more so, interesting. It's always great to speak with someone so passionate about what they do as well as the tools such as Planner 5D, as it allows us to not only share in their passion, but learn from them, and pass this knowledge on to our users. We're sure with reading this you'll be desperate to get started on your projects with the app! Let us know what you think, we love hearing from you!