Forget the floor plans. Arrange the furniture where it is the most comfortable and will look best.

Decorators should always remember that letting a client see too many beautiful things is a pitfall.

....the designer must be able to see - make a concentrated effort to absorb the essence of the project. Seeing is a very difficult thing to do. Most people "look" at a lot of thing but never "see" anything. Looking is emotional; seeing is an intellectual process.

To create an interior, the designer must develop an overall concept and stick to it.

Decorating is not a look, it's a point of view.

The one thing I never get involved with is selecting art or pictures for a client. This is a very personal thing. If the clients have pictures, I will hang them. When they do not own pictures I leave the walls blank.

When Van Truex defined the difference between designing and decorating, he used the analogy of preparing a roast of beef. Design, he said, is the preparation and cooking; decorating is the final seasoning, the savoring.