In New York, you have thousands of buildings that have never been renovated, that have horrible designs, that are really cramped and terrible.
I wanted my closet to look like a boutique.
Ultimately, the number of books always exceeds the space they are granted.
The sky is the limit as long as you keep the rooms practical, and I have become better at that since I had children. Function, form and organisation are all important.
Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space.
I have a very big apartment in Paris but you can't really move around there anymore; piles of books everywhere. I don't want any more books. I have too many books; sometimes I have to buy another copy of a book that I know I have somewhere in my house or office because I can't find it.
Enough small empty boxes thrown into a big empty box fill it full.
Quite a few books about decluttering are published in a year.
Once you learn to choose your belongings properly, you will be left with only the amount that fits perfectly in the space you own.
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.
I often need a limited space. It's like having a house to roam around in and reinvent and have things to happen in, kind of like a French farce. Doors opening, doors closing, new people arriving, and disappearing, and so forth.
I live in a little studio apartment, so I try to keep the space super clean at all times.
As a designer, the mission with which we have been charged is simple: providing space at the right cost.
The more I examine the issue of clutter, the more effort I put into combating it, because it really does act as a weight.
Our beds are empty two-thirds of the time. Our living rooms are empty seven-eighths of the time. Our office buildings are empty one-half of the time. It's time we gave this some thought.
There's something I call 'Moving Day,' which I've done for the last 20 years. Look at everything in your home, then think about how you could combine things in a different way. Maybe you break up your night tables and use one in the family room; maybe the dining room sideboard becomes a console table for your television, with storage underneath.
If you live in a small space, you should do the things that make it feel luxurious.
De-cluttering can be overwhelming, so start with that one small thing. Clean out your junk drawers. It can lead to so many more beautiful things. Start there, and you'll find yourself cleaning the whole rest of the house.
Small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind, large ones weaken it.
I recommend tidying by category, not by place. For example, instead of deciding that today you'll tidy a particular room, set goals such as 'clothes today, books tomorrow.'
To allow millions of people to live together on limited land, we have to go to the sky; we have to build a high rise. But we can still build nature and social space into the towers. Each family can have their own courtyard in the sky.
If you actually keep things very organized and clutter-free, you can have more furniture than you think you can in a small space.
I'm a New Yorker; my oven is used for storage.
There is a method to the madness when it comes to placing everything in your refrigerator.
With small spaces in particular you have to really follow the rule that if it's not absolutely beautiful or absolutely functional, then get rid of it.
