Back to Main Page

The following industry leaders served as the distinguished panel of judges for the Prettiest Painted Rooms in America competition:

Scott M. Ageloff, IDEC ASID AIA

Scott Ageloff is Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the New York School of Interior Design. Prior to his position at NYSID, Mr. Ageloff was Associate Professor of Interior Design at Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York, where he served as Chair of the Arts Division.

Mr. Ageloff received his undergraduate degree in architecture, with honors, from Carnegie-Mellon University and Masters of Architecture from Yale University, studying with architects and designers such as Frank Gehry and Caesar Pelli. Prior to graduate school, he was a Fellow in the Luce Scholars Program of the Henry Luce Foundation during which time he was a working member of the Architects Group Forum, an architectural firm in Seoul, Korea. He has twice been awarded grants by the Illuminating Engineering Society. He is licensed to practice architecture in New York and New Jersey, and is a New York State Certified Interior Designer. He has served as a grader of the NCIDQ exam and is a site visitor for FIDER.

Mr. Ageloff is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers and former treasurer of its New York Metropolitan Chapter. He is also a member of the American Institute of Architects, and has served as a member of the National Board of Directors of the Interior Design Educators Council. Mr. Ageloff has served as treasurer and as a board member of Interior Designers for Legislation in New York. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Since 1977 Mr. Ageloff has practiced as an architect and interior designer with firms in Pittsburgh, Seoul, New Haven and New York and in 1987 established his own firm, Ageloff & Associates, specializing in high-end residential and contract interiors. Ageloff & Associates, is listed in the Franklin Report as one of the top such architecture and design firms in the New York metropolitan area and the work of the firm has has been twice published in the New York Times.

back to top

Mario Buatta

Mario Buatta is one of America’s foremost decorators. He was born in New York, studied architecture at Cooper Union and attended Parson’s School of Design in Europe. After an apprenticeship in the decorating department of B. Altman & Co., he became associated with several decorating firms including Elisabeth Draper, Inc. He formed his own decorating company in 1963.

A multitalented and internationally renowned designer with an ageless outlook, Mr. Buatta has created his own unmistakable style, which he calls “The Undecorated Look.” His general approach is to provide a maximum of comfort by using an expertly balanced mixture of contemporary and antique furnishings placed against backgrounds that reflect his extraordinary sense of color. He is a well-known master of his subtle color mix and his exciting use of color has often been compared to that of the painters Matisse and Bonnard. His use of mixing pattern on pattern is done so with the eye of these masters. The result of all of this is that the eye is more aware of the overall glow of tint, rather than of individual colors. The same is to be said for his use of chintzes with textures, patterns and stripes. His unerring sense of detail, as well as the selection and quality of his furnishings, is apparent in every room – down to minute detail.

Mr. Buatta explains that “A house should grow in the same way that an artist’s painting grows; a few dabs today, a few more tomorrow and the rest when the spirit moves you. When the painting is completed (as no room ever should be) it never reflects the artist’s original conception. A room should come together through this process, as the people living in it grow, and where their needs and paths take them, in order to achieve the ultimate timeless undecorated look.”

Mario Buatta’s impressive list of past and current private clients includes Mariah Carey, Henry Ford II, Malcolm Forbes, Barbara Walters, Nelson Doubleday, Mr. and Mrs. Si Newhouse, Charlotte Ford, Billy Joel, Hilary Geary and Wilbur Ross. His commercial design contracts include Swifty’s Restaurant (with Anne Eisenhower); The Executive Offices of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York; the decoration and design of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum Galleries in Wilmington, Delaware, which houses their line of reproductions. He has completed the redecoration of Blair House – the Official White House Guest House in Washington, D.C.

His rooms have repeatedly been on display in designer showhouses around the country since 1969. Examples of Mr. Buatta’s work may be seen in recent issues of House & Garden, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, W, Metropolitan Home, Elle Décor, Town and Country and other national and international home furnishings and lifestyle publications. Other interviews and photographs of his work have appeared in The New York Times, Avenue, New York, USA Today, The Washington Post, The London Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph, Vogue and many others here and abroad. He has written introductions and forwards to several design books and his work appears in others including in and on the cover of The New York Times Book of Design and Decoration and the House and Garden Best in Decoration book. Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Digest Paige Rense interviewed Buatta for a feature in her latest book, Decorating for Celebrities. Photographs of his own apartment were selected by Collier’s Encyclopedia Yearbook as an example of a return to the traditional design with modern comforts and colors. He was interviewed and published in John Cornforth’s book The Inspiration of the Past and featured in the Colefax & Fowler Book of Decoration, where his work was shown to be the same decoration and philosophy as that of his mentors, John Fowler and Nancy Lancaster. It was, in fact, the flat of Mrs. Lancaster that sent him back to England to further his studies and to relate himself to the direction of their work. Best known for its work in the late thirties and primarily postwar decades, Colefax represents the style now known as “The English Country Look.” He was profiled in Manhattan, Inc., a business magazine, in an article entitled, “The Prince of Chintz Ruffles New York Society” and featured him on the cover decked out in a suit made of chintz. His version of an Absolut designer series ad featured a facsimile of an Absolut bottle three times the normal size filled with potpourri (his own “The Smell of Honeysuckle” by Aromatique) and topped off with a shade of ruffled chintz tied with a Buatta bow. Buatta has also appeared on TV and has been featured on NBC’s Today show and others.

Known as “The Prince of Chintz”, Mario Buatta has designed four lines of floral chintzes with two books of correlated wallpapers and borders, which have all been enthusiastically reviewed in the U.S. and abroad. He has designed other related furnishings such as furniture for John Widdicomb Co., lamps for Frederick Cooper, pictures and wall décor for Frame Picture Enterprises and Vogue patterns for Home Décor. He travels the country to lecture at design centers, women’s clubs, antique shows, universities, museums and professional organizations and to make personal in-store appearances. He also travels the entire United States and abroad to confer with clients’ needs in their homes. He was a featured speaker at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as many appearances in other lecture series. He was the recipient of the 1990 Burton Holmes Award of the International Platform Association for bringing great beauty and humor through the film lecturer. For this he received a large silver Paul Revere Bowl, which is now filled with another one of his home fragrances, “Holiday Forest.”

Mr. Buatta holds Honorary Doctorates in the Fine Arts from Wagner College, Pratt Institute, and received the 1992 Augustus Saint Gauden’s Award for Professional Achievement in Art and Architecture from the Cooper Union Alumni. He received the 1992 Cartier “Pasha” Award for outstanding professional achievement and distinguished public service, was recently named “Dean of Design” by the Chicago Merchandise Mart and was honored as one of House Beautiful’s 2002 “Giants of Design.” Buatta has received the National Bed and Bath Association Design Award for his fabric and bed linen designs and, most recently, was honored by the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, for the “Pioneer in Home Design” award.

back to top

Clodagh

Clodagh is an internationally renowned Irish-born designer known for her unique blending of modern technology, primitive materials, and ancient techniques. With an emphasis on the inventive and sustainable use of materials, her work creates calm, low-maintenance environments that get their character from unexpected design elements, innovation use of light and space, and the incorporation of global influences.

Clodagh began her career in the fashion industry in Ireland, starting her own company at age 17. Within two years, she was one of the country’s leading couturiers. She then transitioned into architectural design where she opened a design studio and showroom and landed many projects ranging from hotel and spa complexes to landscaping and interior design.

Today Clodagh Design employs over 25 interior designers, architects, industrial designers and cross-discipline professionals. The architectural and interior design studio has completed major commercial, residential, retail, office, salon, spa and corporate image projects worldwide. In addition to the W Fort Lauderdale Hotel and Residences, Clodagh Design is currently redesigning a major resort in Orlando, Florida, as well as the Goldeneye Resort in Jamaica. Other projects include distinguished commercial and residential properties around the world. Clodagh Design also completed the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon and Spas in the United States and Europe, Vibrato, a high-profile jazz restaurant in the Hollywood Hills, and the Avan Villa Hotel in Armenia. Of two recently completed spa projects, the Nemacolin Woodlands Spa in Pennsylvania has been named one of the top 100 spas in the world, and the Sasanqua Spa on Kiawah Island won the coveted Gold Key Award in Hospitality 2004.

Clodagh Signature, the licensing and product design division, designs furniture, lighting, bath, accessories, hardware, textiles, and carpets for licensees such as Ann Sacks, Boyd Lighting, Dennis Miller Associates, Projects USA, Visual Comfort, Tufenkian and Lees Carpets. In September, Clodagh launched her new Clodagh Spa Collection for Boden Furnishings. Clodagh Signature also designs brand identity, packaging and graphics for many companies including Awake Cosmetics, a division of Kose, Japan's second largest cosmetics company.

The Clodagh Collection Showroom is a gallery and retail showroom dedicated to Clodagh’s own design resources which include works from admired artists/artisans, private label and licensed products. The collection features furniture, fine art, and home accessories and is open daily to the public and trade.

Over the last 25 years, Clodagh has earned some of the industry’s most coveted awards. Among her many, Architectural Digest has named her as one of the ”World's 100 Leading Interior Designers ” and included her in its special issue "100 Years of Design”. She was also chosen to be one of Interior Design magazine’s ”Top 100 Interior Designers in America” as well as a member of Interior Design’s ”Pioneers of the Industry ”. Clodagh has been inducted into Interior Design's Hall of Fame and was recently inducted into Hospitality Design’s prestigious Platinum Circle. In November Clodagh was honored by the New York Chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association with induction into the organization’s Circle of Excellence for her “enlightened design.”

Clodagh’s work has been widely published in such national/international magazines such as Architectural Digest, Interior Design, Elle Decor, Metropolitan Home, Vogue Deutsch, Brides and New York Times Magazine. She has also done numerous broadcast segments for HGTV and the Fine Living Network as well as, ”Ultimate Kitchens” on Food Network and ”Style with Elsa Klensch” on CNN. In October, Clodagh was featured in a segment of STRIPPED! for the Style Network.

A retrospective of Clodagh's design work is shared in her bestselling book, Total Design, currently in its 3rd reprint.

back to top

Elaine Griffin

“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. “Even the creative chameleons who reinvent themselves daily head home to the same abode night after night. Feed someone, change his evening. Change his clothes, you impact his day. But when you change a person’s home, you change his life.

“Stylewise, it’s important that your house truly reflects who you are: where you come from, where you’ve been, where you are and where you’re heading. We want your home 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, 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 opened her own firm in 1999. Elaine is a contributing editor of Elle Decor, is ranked as one of House Beautiful’s Top 100 American Designers, and designs the Good Works Makeovers for Oprah’s O at Home.

A participant in the 2003 Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse, Elaine’s work has been featured in publications including Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Southern Accents, The New York Times, Daily News and New York Post, and New York magazine. 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 design advice with America seasonally as the exclusive on-page interior design consultant to the new Spiegel catalogue, and is the designer of the Fall 2006 Southern Accents Showhouse at Hampton Island, Georgia.

back to top

Louis Gropp

Louis Oliver Gropp, who has been the editor-in-chief of House & Garden (in the 80s), House Beautiful (in the 90s), and Elle Decor (in 1990), is often called the Dean of Design Journalism.

Now retired, he is on the board of the New York School of Interior Design where he interviews design professionals in a spring and fall public lecture series called "Dialogues on Design".

Loius and his wife Jane live in New York City where their two daughters and their husbands are raising the Gropp grandchildren, twin boys and a girl. When not at home, the Gropps travel here and abroad, often with a focus on design.

back to top

Michael Payne

Michael Payne, host and interior designer of HGTV’s "Designing For The Sexes", obtained a bachelors degree in physics and mathematics from Southampton University in England. After ten years in the computer industry, during which he was transferred from England to the United States, he pursued a career in interior design and graduated from the UCLA interior design program in 1980.

While attending UCLA Michael gained design experience working with a Los Angeles-based design firm that specialized in high-end, international clients. He founded Michael Payne Design in 1980, offering interior design services to clients on a national and international basis. Incorporated in 2002, his firm now offers design consultation services to private clients. In addition, Michael teaches an interior design seminar at UCLA. Michael entered into a furniture design partnership with the Powell Company in 2004 and the initial Michael Payne Collection by Powell was introduced at the High Point Furniture Market in April 2005. The furniture is available in furniture stores nationwide.

Michael is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and is a Certified Interior Designer in the State of California.

In addition to "Designing For The Sexes", Michael has been on numerous network television programs and on radio stations throughout the country, and has been the featured speaker at various national home shows, design events, museums, conferences, corporate events, and charity functions. He has also been the subject of newspaper and magazine articles across the United States and has authored "Let's Ask Michael", published in the spring of 2003.

Michael and his wife live in Los Angeles. Their son also resides in Los Angeles. An avid runner, Michael has completed six marathons and numerous 10K races. His interests include gardening, automobiles, and antique toys.

back to top

Debbie Zimmer
As decorative painting consultant with the Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute, Debbie Zimmer is on the cutting edge of the latest interior painting trends such as color, decorative techniques, gloss levels and quality issues. Debbie combines her knowledge of paint chemistry and her talent for decorating to educate homeowners on how and why to use quality paints and coatings when decorating the interior of their homes. Debbie's expertise, combined with her friendly, energetic approach, enables her to translate the sometimes technical facts of paint performance into information that is understandable and useful to all.

Today, as part of the Paint Quality Institute's public information program, Debbie travels the country appearing on television shows and conducting seminars for magazine editors and newspaper feature writers. She has appeared on the Home & Garden Television cable network as well as on local broadcast news and talk programs across the country. Debbie has also participated in stories in consumer magazines such as Woman's Day and Better Homes & Gardens, and has authored many articles on interior and decorative painting. Through these interviews and articles, Debbie is able to help educate homeowners and contractors on the many advantages of using quality paints and coatings for interior painting, including how-to information for many of the decorative techniques and faux finishes that are so popular today. 

Debbie's experience in the paint and coatings industry stems back to 1980, when she began her career with Rohm and Haas Company as a researcher, evaluating application and performance properties of paints and other coatings. Since that time, Debbie also has been involved in marketing and advertising for Rohm and Haas Company. In addition, her education in paints and coatings includes studying decorative painting techniques with fine artists and professional painters.

back to top