The past seven years, our family lived in Austin in a home designed by the inimitable Darryl Carter, one of AD's Top 100 Designers. Getting to work with him (and his talented team) was a dream come true. Our two year collaboration was a daily design education. He taught me about scale, space planning, color, texture, restraint and the creative process. I can't overstate what I learned, but here l distill my education into three, powerful design lessons.

Start with the envelope. One of the challenges of design is knowing where to start. I read about one designer that starts with the rug. Another begins with a floor plan or the largest piece of furniture. These strategies are not wrong, but they are the opposite of Darryl's approach. Rather than starting in a room, he begins outside of it.

Darryl starts with the "envelope". I observed this on his first visit to our home. I invited him inside. He asked to walk the perimeter. I asked about his thoughts on the living room. He asked about the light. One of Darryl's unique gifts is his ability to see everything inside out, or rather outside in. 

Create a moment. There's a quiet power in good design. Using only visual cues, design can inspire a stranger to stop, look and take a breath. Darryl calls this phenomenon "creating a moment", and it is arguably one of his greatest talents.

In our crisp, white entry, Darryl installed a grid of 9 abstract black and white paintings, all matted and framed in white. He juxtaposed them with an exquisite Empire commode, gilded candelabra, primitive African child's bed and oversized mirror. The effect was mesmerizing. 

Nothing is sacred. In Darryl's 19th century Virginia farmhouse, he irreverently painted his 100+ year old hardwood floors white. In our home, he asked if we really needed a dining room. He then made the front room of our traditional, Georgian home a children's playroom, complete with hanging bubble chair. At the Kip's Bay Show House, he hung two antique oil paintings, a portrait of a man and a woman. Despite the quality of the art, he added a streak of white paint across their mouths and cheekily dubbed them the "Happy Couple".

Darryl's designs can be subversive and witty. He doesn't limit whimsical jesters to low cost items. He is democratic in his approach to reinvention. Anything - no matter how precious - can be destroyed or brought to life. It all depends on how you look at it.

Darryl is my mentor, inspiration and friend. There is magic in the way he sees the world. I am forever grateful to him for teaching me to see through his outside in, downside up and simply fun lens! (*If you are in DC, be sure to check out Darryl's boutique. And if you are anywhere else in the world, pick up his latest book, The Collected Home.) XO, L