Rose Bennett Gilbert is a professional journalist who has covered everything from the police beat to the Miss America Pageant. She first fell under the spell of the decorative arts when she was a college-age cub report interviewing old Southern houses for a series of features on Historic Garden Week in her native state of Virginia.

Since then she has moved to New York and written or co-authored seven books on interior design and decorating, including " "Manhattan Style" and "Hampton Style." She has taught at the New York School of Interior Design and been a guest lecturer at Parsons, the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and the Rhode Island School of Design in New Providence. As a lecturer on design and a television spokeswoman, she has traveled across the country to talk with America's homeowners about everyone's favorite subject.

In addition to writing for Copley News Service since 1988, she also contributes to top design, decorating and shelter magazines, writes travel articles for a London publication, and is 2002 president of the New York Chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association.