If you can give your walls history, it supports the action that's happening in front of them.

I don't even know of a room that doesn't have a flat-screen TV in it. These are things that just come in environments these days. And if you were going to walk into a space, where did you come from? Was there a bathroom around the corner? These are things that are authentic, and that's what makes successful television. It's not pre-produced garbage. It's believability and connection. The environment has to tell that story.

There was a period there where I was like, "No, no, no, this is crazy. I don't want to take any more drawing classes and talk about what looks best. I want to study math and psychology and physics and all these nerdy things with computers." That was fun and great, but that didn't work out. At the end of high school, I was like, "Uhh, what's easier? Drawing is easier, I'll do that".

The word "budget" is the idea-killer. It slaughters any idea.

I'm 36, and sometimes I'm working so hard I don't realize how much I've gotten done.

In New York, it's a little bit more formal, a little bit more decorated, and there's a real appreciation for traditional style. Out here, it's casual, fresh, new, and almost humble.

My approach is to 100 percent get the concept and the visual right. Get the client to love the space. Once they love the space, everything's possible.