I think taking design out of the studio and really having a relationship with the people that you're making it for really convinced me of how powerful a thing design is. It's not just an aesthetic decoration.

That's my job. To imagine harder than you can.

There's a big difference between decorators and designers and the training is very different.

I think we typically, as Northerners, stereotype what the South is in so many negative ways. We kind of forget all the beautiful things that they contribute to make this country a country.

I'm so used to talk-show hosts just giving you a sound bite and not really being interested.

That was always my frustration with so many of these shows, because design is not an ambush... it's a relationship. You have to know how people move and live and work to be able to design for them.

I think that, in comparison, New Yorkers and Northerners are so guarded.