Behind every attractive room there should be a very good reason.

It has not been an easy cross to bear. It has caused considerable confusion. My husband constantly complained about the awkwardness of being married to a woman whom he called Sister.

Even my aunt Joan, hopelessly sentimental about every member of our family, admitted that I was hideous.

You can never achieve anything in a house unless you have things that have been passed down and you find a place for them for yourself.

Home, the idea of home, is my principal purpose. If people have bought a house as an investment or chosen the furniture because they'll be able to sell it for more, you can tell in two minutes. You know, our parents didn't buy a house as an investment. They bought it as a place to bring you up, to give you roots.

I think everyone must have a first memory of some house, some room, a vivid picture that will remain deep down in one forever.

Innovation is often the ability to reach into the past and bring back what is good, what is beautiful, what is useful, what is lasting.