They wanted a contemporary kitchen. She wanted a lot of white. She likes everything to be very clean, and with white she feels she can get everything to be as clean as possible.

It's a very calm room. We used a lot of texture. We made a very contemporary quilt bedspread. For typical New Yorkers who have tons of newspapers and magazines and telephones and glasses... everything in this house is built like a ship. There's storage behind everything.

The staircase is my favorite thing in the house because it brings the light through. It's very sculptural.

We chose pretty much all the furniture. There are a few pieces of furniture that we inherited, but mostly it's all new.

We have a surround-sound television system and children's games, and it's kind of wide open so children can play in the family room and move right out to the outside.

I'm a freak of neat. The kitchen has to be clean.