In the winter months, it’s even more important to create a homey, warm space for family and guests. What is your top advice for designing a cozy, inviting living space?

I suggest using that fireplace! So many people do not have vented fireplaces, and therefore the heat can be obnoxious.  Lower your thermostat and open some windows if necessary in advance of your company, and use the beauty.  A hearth is truly a home.

Holiday décor can easily enter the realm of ‘hokey’ or contrived. What are some important tips to keep in mind when decorating a sophisticated interior for the holidays?

Scale, balance and quality apply as key ingredients to ANY design, so if your eye cannot see it, hire some help! Overdoing it is definitely a no-no.

If you could change one element of a space to improve a visitor’s overall first impression, what would it be?

Lighting, as usual for me, is the most important element of a space. Lighting can set a mood for even the dullest of interiors, and make it look warm and inviting.

Are there any design trends you’d like to see disappear as quickly as they came? 

Widely spaced nail heads over folded under separate bands of fabric on a chair or sofa detail is just a cheap way of dealing with a difficult craft.  Please, vendors, take the high road and go back to well-controlled folded-under edges of the continuous fabric body and then apply the nailheads.

To learn more about Deborah A. Noland, visit her website and Haute Residence profile, and visit her on Facebook (Noland & Associates) LinkedIn (Deborah Noland Witherington).