Feng shui isn't open to interpretation.
It's important to have a big-enough house in order to have space.
I'm never not planning for my future house. Most of the files on my laptop are devoted to different rooms in my dream house. I'm embarrassing.
I got into this little habit of architecture and building. I designed a house in Colorado and one in Hawaii. The idea is supposed to be build and sell - but then I can never bring myself to sell them.
But certainly in my grandmother's time - and when I was growing up, yeah, Demetrie's bathroom was on the side of the house, it was a separate door. Still, to this day, I've never been in that room.
When I left the work world, I started designing my dream house. I dived into architecture and bought seven vacant lots. My plan was to build one house, move in, and build the next. If the next was better, I'd move in and sell the previous one - so on and so forth.
I do know that I would never - though you should never say never - work with a decorator, because I don't want to see the touch of someone else in my own space.
While I was designing my home, I was living in different houses all around the world, and I saw thermostats that were just as bad as the ones in the U.S., or houses that needed them but didn't have them. I realised that this was a worldwide problem. I thought, 'Let's fix it.'
Your home should make your life easier.
I like to build houses.
Men have no concept of how to design things for the home. Women should design the things they use.
If i were asked to say what is at once the most important production of Art and the thing most to be longed for, I should answer, A beautiful House.
I would have, then, our ordinary dwelling-houses built to last, and built to be lovely; as rich and full of pleasantness as may be within and without: . . . with such differences as might suit and express each man's character and occupation, and partly his history.
Your home should be a reflection of how you want to live right now, and for the next phase of your life.
I'm a caterer, interior decorator - a lot of hobbies people don't know I do.
There has been a major shift in how we live in our homes. Everyone knows the kitchen is the soul of the house. It's more of an open-concept approach.
One of my weekend hobbies is to go look at old houses when there are open houses around here. Just to go look at the architecture. And you can see how many houses were built around 1977, the year where everyone said, "Let's put in these aluminum windows instead of beautiful hand-made wood ones."
It's not particularly fun to have to factor in step stools to almost all areas of your home.
The question that I can't shake - it's this question that keeps coming up for me - is What does the shared home of the future look like? People are sharing homes at a rate that no one ever predicted, but residences and homes weren't designed for it. They were designed around ideas of privacy and separation.
Designing a house is like doing a movie: Once you're done, you want to say, 'I hope you all enjoy it.'
I like interior decorating. I really like to build houses. And landscaping, I like that.
My biggest word of advice that I could give to people that are dealing with a home renovation or decoration is to not think about design as it's been presented to you before. I think everybody needs to start designing based on the moments they imagine having in their home and that is what has guided me as a decorator.
Dream Home' is uncomplicated with everyday language that resonates with homeowners. We also included hundreds of never-before-seen images.
I say homes are for families, and you have to make sure you design for the family, not just one person: kids, your wife, your grandparents need to be able to use it.
I don't believe in having spaces in the home that don't get used. We pay so much for square footage that to waste it is criminal.
