I encourage people to bring back treasures from their travels—souvenirs that have meaning, not just things picked up at the airport. Group them into little curated collections: by color, by material, by theme. Don’t just scatter them about. Think of each grouping as a still life. Rearrange them, photograph them, play with the composition until it sings.  One of our bathrooms at home is a shrine to our travels in Africa and India. Door frame from Rajasthan, statues, beadwork from Benin, Yoruba, Congo, South Africa, shell vests from the island of Nias - topped off with the jungle birdsong music!

We all have collections of things, be they mundane things like handbags, objects collected on a trip, art from a beloved artist. Take those collections, however simple, and try grouping them... all things orange for example.  Or all types of human figures.  Or all elephants of different sizes and materials grouped together - that looks great too. Group, organize, reorganize, rethink, reshuffle,  take photos, study the photos for composition, adjust then show.

Invest in high-quality bedding, fluffy towels, and cozy furnishings to create a luxurious and relaxing atmosphere. Good bedding and towels can significantly impact both the visual appeal and the psychological well-being of a space.

Don't be scared to bring the outdoors in - and the indoors out! We spend most of our time outdoors, in the garden or on the veranda, enjoying the thousands of species of plants that earned our home the title of "Baan Botanica"

 I often design homes with shaded openings and cross-ventilation in mind. It’s not just sustainable—it’s how you make a house feel alive.

Above all, I design with narrative. Each room, each vignette, should whisper a bit of a story. Mix things up, have some fun. Clash a leopard print with a chinoiserie lamp. Hang a painting where no one expects it. But whatever you do—treat your pieces with care. Give them pride of place. Never, ever put something meaningful on the floor.

In the end, design isn’t just about how a space looks. It’s about how it makes you feel. And if it makes you smile—really smile—when you walk through the door, then you've done it right.