Most of us have heard these words by famous American architect, Louis Sullivan. (Actually, his exact words were “form ever follows function“). I’m a huge supporter of this concept, especially as it relates to interior design. You see, great design should have a functional purpose. It should be practical and enhance the quality of life of the end user. The final form, then, should revolve around this practical purpose. So, basically, the design should result in something useful and beautiful. But we know this isn’t always the case. Many times we see a design that’s practical, but isn’t exactly beautiful. Other times we see a design that’s beautiful, but isn’t exactly practical (think dupioni silk sofas and cats). OK, but let’s just assume a design is both practical and beautiful. There’s STILL something missing! I say we take this “form follows function” idea a step further when designing interiors. A design should be practical, beautiful and PERSONAL!

Why personal? Because the space where we live, the place we call “home”, the place where we sleep, bathe, and kick our shoes off at the end of the day IS personal! When we design this intimate setting, we don’t want to just fill it up with a bunch of things, even if they ARE useful and beautiful! We want to surround ourselves with bits and pieces of ourselves, of our children, of our friends, of our trip to Paris last summer, of everything we’re passionate about. We want it to be filled with moments that tell our story, not meaningless furnishings that just fill the room and make it look nice.

“The design of your interiors should look and feel like YOU live there.” That’s MY philosophy. But it just so happens there’s a valid reason for this. Environmental psychology has shown us that the spaces where we live, work and play have a profound effect on the way we feel and behave. Yes, everything in your space from color, to texture, to placement of furnishings (and everything in between) affects your emotions! Wow. So doesn’t it make sense, then, to design interiors that create a positive emotional connection between you and your space?

Now, really think about it for a minute.  When was the last time you felt intimately connected to YOUR space?

The design of your interiors should be practical, beautiful and PERSONAL!