Albert Livingston Hadley Jr. (18 November 1920 – 29 March 2012) was an American interior designer and decorator.
Too much of what passes for design now is theater. It's one thing to be eccentric- and by the way, most eccentrics tend to be rather well-educated people - and quite another to be a faddist, by which I mean someone who tries to conjure a totally foreign aesthetic in a misplaced environment.
We're all collectors by nature. But if you're talking about an orderly life, there has to be a stop sign somewhere. Building a collection requires a strong constitution and the ability to resist.
Flair is a primitive kind of style. It is innate and cannot be taught. It can be polished and refined. When a person has flair, a grounding in the principle of design, and self-discipline, that person has the potential of being an outstanding designer.
To create an interior, the designer must develop an overall concept and stick to it.
A lot of people worry about the ' wear and tear ' on furnishings. I feel it's more a matter of people treating the things that surround them with respect.
Nothing comes cheap, though the educated eye will always spot very nice things for the least money.
Decorators should always remember that letting a client see too many beautiful things is a pitfall.
Design is defined by light and shade, and appropriate lighting is enormously important.
Decorating is not a look, it's a point of view.
After the design is firmly fixed, the decoration is added. Decorating is the final enhancement.
So many people arrange furniture in order to see what's going on outside. But why? The view isn't going anywhere.
The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive, civilized, meaningful environment, not about fashion or what's in or what's out. This is not an easy job.
An interior designer must be able to clarify his intent keeping ever in mind that decorating is not a look, it's a point of view.
Forget the floor plans. Arrange the furniture where it is the most comfortable and will look best.
You cannot make a modern apartment out of a traditional space.
Design is coming to grips with one’s real lifestyle, one’s real place in the world. Rooms should not be put together for show but to nourish one’s wellbeing.
Beige is atmosphere. It's bisque, it's ivory, it's cream, it's stone, it's toast, it's cappuccino. It;s well, it's magic.
Make your home as comfortable and attractive as possible and then get on with living. There's more to life than decorating.
Flair-a primitive kind of style-may be innate, but I think knowledgeable taste is learned, the result of travel, experience, living, education.
I have always believed that the more educated the clients are, the easier they are to work with. Clients with a knowledge of decorating, and an ability to articulate what they want from the finished project, make the designer's job easier.