Patrick Sutton has a set of core beliefs that he says guide his interior designs. They are:

Sense of place is necessary "A project should feel like where it is. Having traveled as much as I have, you see why certain locations have a quality about them. And people choose to live in those places for those qualities. New York isn't the Eastern Shore."

A house should be a home "Our houses should reflect the way we live. A house should not be frozen in time. And there is nothing more inhospitable than a modern house that has severed itself from its history."

Clean, not cluttered "I hate clutter. Most of the projects I do have an uncluttered freshness."

Embrace joy "I like to live well. You need to embrace that. And you need to bring joy to a space and be able to see it in a new way. A dinner party in a garden room, for instance."

Comfort comes first "People want to be comfortable. They want to live an elegant lifestyle but they want it to be comfortable."