House Beautiful: The Great Lady Decorators

House Beautiful’s online magazine featured 9 quotes from decorators who were pioneers in the interior design industry. The quotes are taken form a new book by Adam Lewis call  The Great Lady Decorators.  Read below for all the quotes.

It was delightful to read about designers who had the same position decades ago

At Deb Reinhart Interior Design Group we especially like Dorthy Draper’s comment, number 9.

Function is the key consideration for architecture.

This supports the partnership between an architect and an interior designer.

  • How people live is a specialty for the interior designer.
  • How the house is built is the primary specialty of the architect.

Our team relish working with not only our clients, but the various experts who make a home unique to them

We invite you to submit to us:

I wish my home had __________ in the architectural features.

9 Timeless Design Rules

1. "Every room has a mood or personality…and it is this that one desires to develop." —Eleanor Brown

2. "Make the husband happy, and the job is done." —Frances Elkins

3. "Believe in optimism and plenty of white paint." —Elsie de Wolfe

4. "If you make a compromise — selecting something cheaper than what you really like — it compromises you, because you are never really happy with the result." —Rose Cumming

5. "There is one fundamental fact about lighting: Where there is no light, there is no beauty." —Ruby Ross Wood

6. "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." —Sister Parish

7. "Crossing too many t's and dotting too many i's make a room look overdone and tiresome. One should create something that fires the imagination without overemphasis." —Nancy Lancaster

8. "Love is essential to the decoration of a house....A room must say, 'My love is here,' or 'My love has just left,' or 'I'm waiting for my love to arrive.'" —Madeleine Castaing

9. "Too often when we're buying or building a house, we do not consider each room. We are carried away by one charming feature and are blind to details that will give us trouble later on." —Dorothy Draper