Interior Design Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old interior design quotes, interior design sayings, and interior design proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive, civilized, meaningful environment, not about fashion or what's in or what's out. This is not an easy job. Albert Hadley
Decorating is not about making stage sets, it's not about making pretty pictures for the magazines, it's really about creating a quality of life, a beauty that nourishes the soul. Albert Hadley
An interior designer must be able to clarify his intent keeping ever in mind that decorating is not a look, it's a point of view. Albert Hadley
Understanding the person or people living in a home is a far greater need in design than focusing purely on the aesthetics. The home is designed around emotional needs. Amanda Talbot
She well knew the great architectural secret of decorating her constructions, and never condescended to construct a decoration. Anthony Trollope
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle
Great buildings that move the spirit have always been rare. In every case they are unique, poetic, products of the heart. Arthur Erickson
Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style. Billy Baldwin
A design isn't finished until someone is using it. Brenda Laurel
Details are not details; they make the product. Charles Eames
Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is. Charles M. Schulz
Decorating is like music. Harmony is what we constantly strive for. At home, we want a peaceful atmosphere where the objects are the notes and nothing is off-key. Charlotte Moss
Have you ever noticed how some rooms exude a certain energy, warmth, and a harmony of spirit? If you have, then you have experienced the language of the home. A language softly spoken, and universally understood. Charlotte Moss
Design should never say, "Look at me!" It should always say, "Look at this! David Craib
I'll always put in one controversial item. It makes people talk. Dorothy Draper
It is just as disastrous to have the wrong accessories in your room, as it is to wear sport shoes with an evening dress. Dorothy Draper
Innovation is often the ability to reach into the past and bring back what is good, what is beautiful, what is useful, what is lasting. Dorothy May Kinnicutt
Furniture is needed for practical reasons, and because it must be there, it may as well be as pleasant as possible to look at, and in a less definable psychological way, comforting to the spirit. Edward J. Wormley
Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan. Eliel Saarinen
There never has been a house so bad that it couldn’t be made over into something worthwhile. Elsie de Wolfe
It is the personality of the mistress that the house expresses. Men are forever guests in our homes, no matter how much happiness they may find there. Elsie de Wolfe
Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness. Frank Gehry
Form follows function—that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union. Frank Lloyd Wright
The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life. Frank Lloyd Wright
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Henry David Thoreau
Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration. Jeffrey Zeldman
Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent. Joe Sparano
A room should never allow the eye to settle in one place. It should smile at you and create fantasy. Juan Montoya
Home is the nicest word there is. Laura Ingalls Wilder
The home should be the treasure chest of living. Le Corbusier
Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. Leonardo da Vinci
A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed, and in the end must be unmeasured. Louis Kahn
The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life. Marie Kondo
Real comfort, visual and physical, is vital to every room. Mark Hampton
The life of a designer is one of fight: fight against the ugliness. Just like a doctor fights against disease. For us, the visual disease is what we have around, and what we try to do is cure it somehow with design. Massimo Vignelli
I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That's art to me. Maya Lin
Your home should tell the story of who you are, and be a collection of what you love. Nate Berkus
As an architect, you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future which is essentially unknown. Norman Foster
One of the great beauties of architecture is that each time, it is like life starting all over again. Renzo Piano
For me, design is like choosing what I'm going to wear for the day – only much more complicated and not really the same at all. Robynne Raye
Have no fear of perfection You’ll never reach it. Salvador Dali
Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works. Steve Jobs
Design is an opportunity to continue telling the story, not just to sum everything up. Tate Linden
Our opportunity, as designers, is to learn how to handle the complexity, rather than shy away from it, and to realize that the big art of design is to make complicated things simple. Tim Parsey
Interiors speak! Rooms emphasize whether one exists or lives, and there is a great difference between the two! Van Day Truex
The main purpose of my work is to provoke people into using their imagination and make their surroundings more exciting. Verner Panton
Curiosity about life in all its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people. Leo Burnett
For such an art nothing patchy or scrappy, or half-starved, should be done: There is no excuse for doing anything which is not strikingly beautiful. William Morris
Architecture is basically a container of something. I hope they will enjoy not so much the teacup, but the tea. Yoshio Taniguchi
Architecture is really about well-being. I think that people want to feel good in a space... On the one hand it's about shelter, but it's also about pleasure. Zaha Hadid
To create an interior, the designer must develop an overall concept and stick to it. Albert Hadley
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. Steve Jobs
For a house to be successful, the objects in it must communicate with one another, respond and balance one another. Andre Putman
All rooms ought to look as if they were lived in, and to have so to say, a friendly welcome ready for the incomer. William Morris
No pattern should be without some sort of meaning. William Morris
I am going to make everything around me beautiful, that will be my life. Elsie de Wolfe
One should never be the oldest thing in one's house. Patsy Stone
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams
Fashion and interior design are one and the same. Iris Apfel
We shape our homes and then our homes shape us. Winston Churchill
Design is defined by light and shade, and appropriate lighting is enormously important. Albert Hadley
Interior design is a business of trust. Venus Williams
Interior decoration partly thrives on being social. Nicholas Haslam
Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose. Charles Eames
The details are not the details, they make the design. Charles Eames
Design is coming to grips with one's real lifestyle, one's real place in the world. Rooms should not be put together for show but to nourish one's wellbeing. Albert Hadley
You can never judge a paint hue by the liquid color in the paint pot. You must apply it to a wall, wait for the paint to dry, then decide. Dorothy Draper