Last week I worked with a lovely woman who’d first called for help with her New York City apartment in the early 1980s when she was a new mother and shortly after I opened Use What You Have. After that, she moved to a house in Westchester County where she and her husband raised their two children. Then, two weeks ago the family moved back to the city to a glass-walled, high-rise condominium. We have worked together seven times in all, redecorating her various homes over nearly three decades, and now we have come full circle. Pretty cool.

The next day I worked with an interesting couple who have lived in a pre-war building on Madison Avenue for a number of years. They weren’t sure whether or not they’d be moving to California, until recently when they found they would be staying on the East Coast. They called me in: they were finally ready to commit and redecorate. The woman pole dances. She has her practice pole set up smack in the middle of her kitchen where she can swing around and around without banging into the fridge, counters, table or chairs. The ceilings are quite high so I suggested they hang the chandelier there too (which didn’t look good in the living room) since it would be out of the way and kind of cool with the pole, if you know what I mean.

The following day, a stylish new client greeted me by asking about my daughter’s wedding. When she saw the surprised look on my face, she revealed that she knew about the event from reading this blog and she’d also read all of my books, God bless her. During the course of her consultation – we worked on her living room, dining room, foyer, bedroom and kitchen – we talked about lots of other things besides decorating, too. For example, at one point, she opened her freezer to reveal her secret method for getting beautifully-ironed linens: she rolls up each piece while it’s still damp after laundering and she freezes it until she’s ready to iron. There they were: rows of rolled, frozen linens. Literally, beyond cool.

So, I ask you: Aren’t my clients cool?