A PERFECT MATCH.......NO, NOT FOR ME.....

Since finding myself temporarily in the great state of Florida and returning to a retail store, the ever constant M word (MATCH) gives me pause.  When it comes to design, I threw that word out and buried it ages ago (maybe as early as my first year as a professional designer, in 1975).  Not only is this a no win scenario - that perfect match is sure to create an interior that looks right out of a furniture store.  Since, in my view, the best interiors are always the ones that are as Billy Baldwin said, "above all else .....personal (sic)".........one can only imagine how discordant this needle in a hay stack search is to me.

Madison Avenue may support the package deal with everything a perfect match, but as a designer, I do not.  I continue to say there is no genius in perfection, and a perfect match is one of the best examples.

Here's my best advice to those who fear anything less than that perfect match; choose what you love.  Let that be your first priority - let your close second be how what you love fits with what you have or where you are going.  Using this formula, I have always found that things have a way of fitting beautifully together - with the elements of personal taste, appropriateness and the desire to achieve an interior with that great triumverate of comfort, function and aesthetic.

Above:  A favorite project for the Symphony ASID Showhouse in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Alexander Julian, celebrity guest for the show, wanted to purchase the carved pine pedestal, sadly, sold the day before.