"A person's home -- what it looks like, where it is, how it's lived in -- reveals more about him than absolutely anything else in the world," says New York designer Elaine Griffin.  "Think about it:  you change clothes every day; you eat a different food at every meal.  But you head home to the same house night after night.  Feed someone, change his evening.  Change his clothes, you impact his day.  But when you change a person's environment, you change his life.

"Stylewise, it's important that your house reflects who you are:  where you come from, where you've been, where you are and where you're going.  We want your home to be warm, we want it to be inviting, and we always want it to look like you and like nobody else -- you are the soul of every room in your house.

"My work as a decorator aims to implement a refined version of the client's own vision for his space, whatever the look, feeling, or style.  Dictatorial design is a no-no -- the decorator's hand should enhance a client's personality, never eclipse it.  Whether classic or contemporary, super mod or timeless antique, I'm about creating elegant, effortless-looking interiors that seem to have naturally evolved over time; warm, richly-textured rooms so delightfully inviting that one wishes to never leave them."

A Yale-educated native of Georgia (B.A., Art History) who studied postgraduate at the New York School of Interior Design, Elaine began her design career in the office of architectural behemoth Peter Marino, following a nine-year career as a publicist in New York and Paris.  She is a contributing editor of Elle Decor and is ranked as one of House Beautiful's Top 100 American Designers.  A participant in the 2003 Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse, Elaine's work has been featured in publications including Elle Decor, House Beautiful, the New York Times, Daily News and Post, Southern Accents, New York magazine, and Oprah's O at Home. 

She has appeared in design segments on Everyday Elegance with Colin Cowie, the Maury Povich Show, the W.E. network's She-House Cinema, Fox 5's Good Day New York and ABC Family's Bachelor Pad.  Elaine shares her expertise seasonally with America as the exclusive on-page design consultant for the new Spiegel catalogue.

To review the designer's portfolio at the Franklin Report, please visit www.franklinreport.com and click on New York designer portfolios.