Nate Berkus Quotes

Your home should tell the story of who you are, and be a collection of what you love brought together under one roof.

You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things.

It's important how we feel in our homes, because feeling good makes us more gracious. And that makes it easier to welcome others not only into our homes but into our lives.

Your home should tell the story of who you are.

I always want objects in my home that have a connection to me or something I've loved. It's still stuff, but it's stuff that has meaning.

In a minimal interior, what you don't do is as important as what you do.

If you actually keep things very organized and clutter-free, you can have more furniture than you think you can in a small space.

Everywhere your eye travels in your home, it should land on something that resonates with you.

In a modern loft, you can't just fill a space with furniture. Each piece has to be perfect.

Books are the heart of any home, and I spend hours going through books for design inspiration.

Everywhere in my house are these little things that have meanings and make me think of great memories.

As a kid, I think I rearranged the rooms of almost every house on the block.

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.

Home has always been one of the most important things. If I don't feel at home in my space, then I feel really unmoored.

You don't need to spend a lot of money on stuff when you have amazing architecture.

Design, to me, is part psychology, part sociology, and part magic. A good decorator should know what's going on in someone's marriage and how their kids are doing in school.

Before you begin designing or buying anything, you need to get real and ask yourself: What do you really want to use this room for? What do you want to do in this room but can't now?

About 90 percent of the pieces in my home are vintage, and I'm a ruthless editor. I only live with things that I love. There is not one thing in my home that doesn't have meaning to me.

I tend not to wear ties very often. I'm usually in old stuff: Hermes or Marc Jacobs boots and jeans and a T-shirt and a leather jacket or a jean jacket.

Color is a very personal thing. You need to make sure to choose a color that makes you happy. But I don't recommend accent walls - choose a color you can live with on all four walls.

I hate sets. I've always hated sets. I think that if you have a dining room set, break it up!

I think I was the only kid on the block who knew about furniture scale by the time I was 8.

When I see a wall that's hung with different objects, framed or unframed, what I like about it is its fluidity and rule-breaking nature. Just experiment a bit.

I live in a beautiful vintage building that was built in the heart of downtown Chicago.

I am not ever in the business of making anyone feel bad.

We're not handling things anymore before they arrive on our doorstep. I like to feel how thin porcelain can be, run my hand over a textile, see if I want to sit in a chair.

In a small space, you want to keep the bedding as simple as possible so it looks clean, calm and collected.

First and foremost, I'm a decorator and product designer. Everything I do, the television shows, the books, that comes from the design work. It's what I love.

It's my job to know what's available from every retailer, catalog, website, antiques mall, and craftsperson. A good designer or decorator has to have an almost encyclopedic knowledge.

You can find a lot of reasonable buys at Wal-Mart. But one key to making it on a budget is by donating your time and labor to the project. Do-it-yourself projects will always help you save.

I can look at a photo and the dimensions of any piece and tell you if it's going to sit well with the four other pieces in your room.

You can change the feel of your sofa by adding a thick, cozy throw and playing a couple of classic pillows off a more Moroccan-inspired one.

Go outside! I mean, even leaves from a park are beautiful in a clear glass vase. I'd rather see that than fake anything any day.

I got my first Charvet knit tie when I was 15. I actually stole it from my father. I love them because you can wear them day to night. They're French and preppy and have been around since the 1800s.

I love linen in soothing colors for any room in the house.

Mixing in some rusty oranges is a warm way to update your place for fall.

I'm interested in fashion; I buy fairly good pieces, and I think as I've gotten older, I've pared down a lot.

I can change a light fixture, and I can do certain things. But I'm really bad in terms of construction. I can't do any of it on my own.

I was barely in grade school when I helped my mother rearrange the living room furniture for the first time.

I'm not going to say paint is an easy spruce-up. It takes time, it needs touch-ups, and you have to be very methodical. But it is worth it, and it isn't particularly expensive.

People first. Dogs second. Things last.

I made my parents crazy. As a kid, I redecorated my bedroom every month. I would literally save my allowance and go buy things.

Layering in different patterns will keep things from appearing too studied.

I really can't live without my In-N-Out burgers. Honestly, I can't. Even when I'm doing the whole no-carb thing occasionally, I make an exception for these. They're too delicious to count.

I always had this New York fantasy of living in a glass high-rise.

A lot of guys go in immediately for status, as opposed to comfort and allowing their home to tell a story about them.

When you have a bunch of comfortable upholstered pieces, a single bronze or brass chair really turns the energy up.