Quotes by Nate Berkus - Page 2

Buying found objects means repurposing something that was already made years before, sometimes decades before. It strikes a nice balance between the new and used equation we should strive for in our lives.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Balance
Buying
Decades
Found Objects
Mean
Nice
Our Lives
Strikes
Strive
Equation
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I didn't necessarily want to be famous growing up, but I knew I would be a good famous person because I'm not offended if somebody comes up to me and knows things about me and wants to engage me in a conversation.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Famous
Conversation
Growing Up
Offended
Want
Would Be
Good Me Person
Good Famous Me
Engage
Famous Person
Necessarily
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In design-speak, 'a library' means a room lined with books, floor-to ceiling, but it all depends on the space you have. You may have a free-standing bookshelf of your favorite books if that's all you have room for.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Space
Book
Depends
Library
Mean
Books
Ceiling
Favorite
Lined
Room
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You can't be around Oprah and not have her influence you, and I don't mean that because she's doling out the free advice. I mean it because she is someone that leads with truth and follows her heart. She's a force.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Advice
Force
Heart
Influence
Mean
Follows
Leads
Oprah
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I've always felt that color is intrinsically personal. It evokes a tremendous amount of emotion. If there's a color you respond to, that's something you can incorporate into your home. No one can tell you it's wrong.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Home
Amount
Color
Emotion
Home Always Your
Tremendous
Respond
Incorporate
Tremendous Amount
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You don't have to paint your walls lime green just to try to have your home feel decorated. If you're a classic dresser or preppy dresser or a modern dresser, you wear a lot of black - whatever it is - your home should reflect that as well.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Home
Black
Classic
Green
Paint
Preppy
Wall
Decorated
Dresser
Wear
Lime
Reflect
Walls
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They used to tease me at the 'Oprah' show, 'Are you really going to do another white Shaker kitchen, with white subway tile and stainless steel appliances?' And my answer is, 'I can vary it a bit, but I'm never going to err from classic materials.'
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Appliances
Classic
Kitchen
Materials
Steel
Subway
Tease
White
Me I Can Never
Bit
Show
Err
Oprah
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Thread count is actually a lie. Just because a thread count is 1,500 on a set of sheets doesn't mean that they're well-made sheets. Truly, the quality of the cotton and the quality of the way something is woven is much more important than thread count.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Quality
Cotton
Important
Lying
Mean
Sheets
Thread
Woven
Lie
Truly
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When you buy things that are expensive, like a sofa or something that really feels like an investment, you need to keep it as plain as possible, as simple as possible. Make sure that it's a clean design that will work with whatever style you want it to.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Design
Clean
Expensive
Feels
Investment
Simple
Style
Sure
Buy
Possible
Whatever
Plain
Sofa
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Even as a 10-year-old, I remember trying to explain to my mother and stepfather how upset and frustrated a messy room made me. But they just couldn't grasp it. They wanted me to be playing with baseballs and frogs while I wanted to be scouring garage sales.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Baseball
Frogs
Garage
Messy
Mother
Remember
Upset
Wanted
Years
Explain
Grasp
Room
Sales
Stepfather
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The Things That Matter convincingly lays out Nate Berkus’s philosophy that things do matter. Our homes tell our stories, they reflect the places we’ve been and the people we’ve loved along the way—and there can be no more beautiful design for living than that.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Home
Beautiful
Philosophy
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One of the biggest lessons I've learned during my time on 'Oprah' is that everyone wants to be heard. We all want to have our humanity acknowledged - to have others see us for who we truly are. We all want to know that we are valued, we are heard, we are understood.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Heard
Humanity
Lessons
My Time
Understood
Want
Acknowledged
Biggest
Valued
Oprah
Truly
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I think that a lot of guys reach for electronics first, but the truth is that you can never keep up with electronics. You buy a flat-screen TV, and then six months later, there's one that has 3D and Blu-ray and all this business, and that is just going to keep continuing.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Continuing
Electronics
Guy
Months
Six
Thinking
Truth Is
Buy
Reach
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My favorite thing about decorating is mixing different periods and styles. If you have something that's old, and you really do want to mix those styles, then you have to add something that's obviously modern with it. You can't put a kind of a mediocre thing in the middle.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Add
Decorating
Favorites Things
Mediocre
Mixing
Periods
Style
Favorite Thing
Mix
Obviously
Styles
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In every interior my firm and I design, we are always reaching for vintage pieces, and materials that feel classic and timeless. It's how I feel about fashion as well, and definitely one of the intentions I had when designing the layette collection. I'm not a fan of trends.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Design
Classic
Fashion
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I didn't grow up thinking I'd be a decorator. Design is my greatest passion, and it naturally just pulled me down the path. Same with TV. Being famous or having a show was never the motivation. I got a call and was swept up by the challenge of that first small space redesign.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Design
Famous
Being Famous
Growing Up
Motivation
Passion
Path
Redesign
Tv
Naturally
Challenge
Decorator
Grow Up
Pulled
Swept
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'Priced to sell' - just the phrase makes me smile. When a dealer says all the items in his booth are priced to sell, he means he's tagged them as aggressively as he can to get you to buy them. Don't worry, though, I still haggle. You have to. That's the point of a flea market.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Dealer
Fleas
Items
Mean
Tagged
Worry
Booth
Buy
Sell
Flea
Market
Phrase
Says
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I see it every day: People trying to create a home that somebody else tells them they should have. I don't care if it's a magazine or a bossy friend - when somebody says, 'This is what's elegant, this is what's trendy,' if it doesn't represent you, you're not going to be happy.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Happy
Home
Bossy
Care
Don't Care
Elegant
People
Should Have
Trendy
Home Day People
Be Happy
Friend
Represent
Create
Every Day
Magazine
Says
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I believe your home tells a story about who you are and who you aspire to be. We represent ourselves through the things we own. I don't believe in trends. I believe in collecting things that you connect with. We should surround ourselves with things we care about, that have meaning.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Home
Aspire
Believe
Care
Collecting
Collecting Things
Should
Surround
Trends
Home Believe I Believe
Things
Who
Own
Through
Connect
Represent
Ourselves
Meaning
Story
Tells
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The truth is that things matter. They have to, they are what we live with and touch each and every day. They represent what we've seen, who we've loved and where we hope to go next. They remind us of the good times and the rough patches and everything in between that's made us who we are.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Love
Life
Meaningful
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When I take on a design project, I have to jet from the bookstore to the hardware shop to the lamp store and back again just to collect a small portion of the many items I need to fill a home. But, when you hit the flea market, they're all right there. From booth to booth, you have the bases covered.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Design
Home
Bases
Covered
Fleas
Hardware
Items
Jet
Again
Hit
Bookstore
Collect
Project
Fill
Small
Lamp
Market
Shop
Portion
Store
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About 80 percent of the stuff I live with is old. I like letting things take on the character they’re meant to have by really being used. … when you own things that have the imperfections they deserve, that they’ve earned from a well-lived life, it frees you from feeling as though they’re untouchable.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Character
Feelings
Imperfection
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Working on 'Big Give' was an opportunity that I felt compelled to do. It was my chance to share in showing people how they can give big in their own life, to send the message that giving goes way beyond the gift of money. We want to share that the best thing you can give is your time and understanding.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Opportunity
Compelled
Giving
People
Share
Understanding
Life Time Best
Beyond
Life Best Time
Send
Showing
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I knew that I was a gay boy fairly early; what was interesting to me was that my mother didn't know. She made me play baseball - I had no desire to do that. I said, 'Mom, I don't like direct sunlight, I don't like bugs, I don't like grass, and I'd rather be in the house playing with your fabric samples.'
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Baseball
Bugs
Desire
Direct
Fabric
Grass
Interesting
Sunlight
Mom Your Me
Fairly
Boy
Early
Mom Gay Me
No Desire
Play Baseball
Samples
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I knew that I was a gay boy fairly early; what was interesting to me was that my mother didn’t know. She made me play baseball - I had no desire to do that. I said, ‘Mom, I don’t like direct sunlight, I don’t like bugs, I don’t like grass, and I’d rather be in the house playing with your fabric samples.’
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Mom
Baseball
Mother
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I have a large watch collection, and classic watches are especially important to me. I had a silver Rolex, and I actually gave it to my little brother. He wears it every day. He's an actor, so whenever he goes to an audition, he can look down, see it, and it gives him confidence. It was a great thing to pass on.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Confidence
Great
Brother
Classic
Giving
Important
Little Brother
Silver
Little
Thing
Great Me Look
Had
Actor
Great Me Confidence
Actually
Collection
Audition
He
Every
Day
Down
Watch
Every Day
Great Look Me
Look
Gave
Gives
Goes
Great Thing
Him
Large
Pass
See
Wears
Whenever
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I do shop online! But I’m shopping online mostly in the home categories - One Kings Lane and Gilt. At a lot of architectural websites, I buy a lot of hardware for cabinetry like hinges and things like that from England. So you know for me, I shop at Net-A-Porter, but I don’t really shop that much for clothing online.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Kings
Home
Shopping
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I do shop online! But I'm shopping online mostly in the home categories - One Kings Lane and Gilt. At a lot of architectural websites, I buy a lot of hardware for cabinetry like hinges and things like that from England. So, you know, for me, I shop at Net-A-Porter, but I don't really shop that much for clothing online.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Categories
England
Hardware
Hinges
Online
Shopping
Architectural
Home Me Know
Clothing
Gilt
Lane
Mostly
Shop
Websites
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As a designer, everything is always about aesthetics mixed in with functionality and having that visual appeal. But you learn fast as a new parent with an infant that if it’s not deeply practical as well, then forget about it. Style wise, I wanted to design items that would work well in any nursery - regardless of gender.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Wise
Design
Parent
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I like my house to be unique to me. Sure, I've bought plenty of things out of a catalog, but the way I put them together in my home is special. You might have bought your sofa at a major home decorating store, but the rug you found at the flea market is so unique, it takes your room from 'carbon copy' to 'simply yours' in no time.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Home
Carbon
Decorating
Found
Plenty
Special
Special You
Unique
Time Home Together
Bought
Catalog
Copy
Simply
Flea
Major
No Time
Room
Rug
Sofa
Store
Yours
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I was a boy with one dream and one dream only: I wanted - no, strike that, I was desperate for - a room of my own. You see, in those days I shared a room with my little brother, Jesse, and it wasn't pretty. He was the Oscar to my Felix: messy, careless, and just a little bit sticky - exactly the way a kindergartner is supposed to be.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Dream
Boys
Brother
Careless
Desperate
Little Bit
Little Brother
Messy
My Own
Sticky
Boy
Pretty
Bit
Days
Exactly
Exactly The Way
Just A Little Bit
Room
Oscar
Shared
Strike
Supposed
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We hold back our true feelings and beliefs, whether it's from a sense of being polite or fear of hurting someone's feelings. But what I have seen on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' is that no one benefits from holding back and keeping things bottled up inside. So I pride myself on speaking my mind and not being afraid to give honest feedback.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Being Afraid
Benefits
Feedback
Honest
Hurt
Mind
Polite
Pride
Speaking My Mind
Inside
Afraid
True
Back
Seen
Show
Bottled
Hold
Hurting
Oprah
Oprah Winfrey
Sense
Speaking
Whether
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Twitter is a place where you share your thoughts, yourself... you don't want a plain white backdrop for that. You want the entire page to say something about who you are. Designer or not, if the urge strikes you, go for it. Put up that watercolor you've never shown anyone. Take a photo of that hat you just knitted... whatever it is, share it.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Backdrop
Designer
Pages
Share
Strikes
Want
White
Thoughts Yourself Your
Twitter
Photo
Entire
Go For It
Hat
Watercolor
Page
Plain
Thoughts
Shown
Urge
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There's something I call 'Moving Day,' which I've done for the last 20 years. Look at everything in your home, then think about how you could combine things in a different way. Maybe you break up your night tables and use one in the family room; maybe the dining room sideboard becomes a console table for your television, with storage underneath.
Nate Berkus / Interior Designer
Home
Moving
Thinking
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Nate Berkus Quotes - Page 2

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