Flair-a primitive kind of style-may be innate, but I think knowledgeable taste is learned, the result of travel, experience, living, education.

Decoration is really about creating a quality of life, and a beauty in that life that nourishes the soul, that makes life beautiful.

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.

You cannot make a modern apartment out of a traditional space.

Design is defined by light and shade, and appropriate lighting is enormously important.

Design is about discipline and reality, not about fantasy beyond reality.

A good decorator not only plans and schemes, but he also knows how the job is done.