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"View Slideshow\n\nWhen I begin with a new client, I always...\n\nDraw a furniture plan. I think with pen and pencil.\n\nThe mistake most people make when doing their own designing is...\n\nNot knowing how to prioritize, not knowing how to focus. As a consequence, I see my job as being, in large part, a filter for my clients' impulses.\n\nThe most unusual request from a client was...\n\nI wouldn't call myself jaded, but nothing seems unusual anymore. My feeling is, if it's important to the client, why not?\n\nFor someone who wants a big look on a small budget today...\n\nWell, there's always a can of paint\u2014go to town! Seriously, though, one of the biggest mistakes people make is to try to copy something expensive on the cheap, which inevitably ends up looking cheap. Don't just look\u2014think before you leap. Only do what is appropriate for the budget you have.\n\nOne of the best things right now to collect for an investment is...\n\nIf you like traditional, buy as much good-quality 19th-century furniture as you can before it becomes as untouchable as pieces from the 18th century have become. I happen to love authentic 20th-century furniture too, but it's more problematic, for reasons of preservation. What is unquestionably a desirable patina on an older piece can just look scruffy on something modern. The best advice? If you can afford it, buy what you like without thought of financial return and just enjoy it; some things can't\u2014and shouldn't\u2014be quantified or commodified.\n\nIn the area of home electronics, people are asking for...\n\nThe biggest flat-screen television that's about to be released, whatever size that is. There does not seem to be an upper limit to this.\n\nIn the next ten years the most important thing in design will be...\n\nFiguring out where to put the flat-screen.\n\nMy biggest design mistake was...\n\nWhatever it was, I hope it's safely in my past.\n\n My favorite room to design is...\n\nEverything except the kitchen.\n\nI change my own interiors...\n\nSome funny intermediate point between \"constantly\" and \"almost never.\" I'm a homebody who loves her home, and there are eternal verities I will always live with (this includes my husband). There are also things with which I'm always dissatisfied, and I'm always thinking of how they might be improved. This dissatisfaction causes a kind of creative tension that is really very useful; my apartment is not only my well-beloved refuge, it's a design laboratory, and I think my clients reap the benefits.\n\nThere are many rules designers should bear in mind. One is...\n\nListen to the client, and always remember that you are in a service business.\n\nThe order I follow when I design is...\n\nFurniture plan first, always, then fabrics, then paint colors. Lighting is also tremendously important and should be a considered part of the design from the very beginning.\n\nEvery home must have...\n\nBooks and art. Otherwise it's a furniture showroom and not a home.\n\nDesign likes and dislikes...\n\nLikes: I love anything that promotes ease and comfort.\n\nDislikes: I loathe anything just for show.\n\nMy personal dream house would be...\n\nA larger apartment in the building I live in now.\n\nWho or what has influenced my style...\n\nFirst and foremost, Mark Hampton. David Hicks and Albert Hadley have also been very important influences.\n\nThree essentials for entertaining are...\n\nA big, deep sofa, good conversation and an ice maker.\n\nIf I could live anywhere (other than where I am), it would be...\n\nAs I said earlier, a larger apartment in the building I live in now, but, OK, on a higher floor. Do you know of one? Otherwise, London or Paris will do nicely!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/hampton-article-012006>