"Interior designer" and "decorator" get used interchangeably online, but they describe two different scopes of work — one includes floor plans and architectural coordination, the other doesn't. Hiring the wrong one for your project usually shows up mid-renovation, right when it's most expensive to fix. Here's how to tell which one your project actually needs.

There's a simple, logical system behind why certain spaces feel right and others put you on edge. Here's what's actually going on the next time you beeline for a banquette, want to bolt from an airport, or can't figure out why one room in your home never gets used.

Whenever I meet a new client at their NYC apartment for our first consultation, one of the first things I'm doing — before we've even talk about layouts, paint colors or furniture — is standing in each room, looking at how the light affects the space. Light is the single factor that will make a home look expensive and pulled-together if you plan around it, or cheap and vaguely depressing if you ignore it.