He started his career by working with the antiques dealer Gep Durenberger and with the New York designer John Saladino. He has been running his own interior design business since 1990.[2]
In an interview with The Washington Post, he describes his style as "updated traditional"; in fact, his work blends vintage and contemporary looks with elements such as "Georgian antiques, Uzbek suzani textiles, 18th-century Chinese wallpaper, sun-bleached Moroccan carpets and a dash of Anthropologie and Pottery Barn".[3]
Architectural Digest included Smith among its "AD 100", its "selection of the top architects and interior designers" published in the magazine in recent years.[4] Its editorial "profile" of Smith characterizes his style as "a blend of classic European style and American modernism".[5] Smith was also named 2003 Designer of the Year by Elle Decor.[6]
In 2008, Barack and Michelle Obama appointed Smith to redecorate the residential quarters of the White House.[9] During this project, Smith worked with Michelle Obama and White House curator William Allman to select art on-loan from museums to be displayed in private quarters and elsewhere.[3]
In February 2010, President Obama appointed him a member of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.[10] Smith's makeover of the Oval Office was revealed to the public in late August 2010.[11] Dominated by shades of taupe and beige, the designer redecorated the bookcases with Native American baskets and ceramics from the National Museum of the American Indian[3] and installed "a rug woven with quotations from Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and others; two fawn-colored cotton-rayon sofas; two elegant midnight-blue lamps by Christopher Spitzmiller; and an extremely contemporary mica coffee table from Roman Thomas, a New York furnituremaker".[7]
Smith has authored several books on interior design including: The Curated House: Creating Style, Beauty, and Balance, Building Beauty: The Alchemy of Design, Kitchens and Baths, Houses, and Elements of Style.[12]
