- September 29, 2022
- Juliane
I am a coffee snob. I have a favorite roaster, Copper Horse Carriage House Blend, which we discovered on a wonderful trip to the Finger Lakes. We grind our own beans at home before every pot. I use a cast iron kettle to heat the water on my stovetop. The kettle was a recent Christmas gift and is red just like my new Hubbardton Forge kitchen table light. We have a Cuisinart Insulated French Press with built-in scale. When we want more coffee than one carafe, we use our vintage blue cornflower Corningware stovetop percolator. None of this is fast, not particularly convenient, or inexpensive, but it does make a heck of a cup of coffee.
My morning cup of coffee is important to me.
It starts my day off right. I don’t consider the expense of mail order whole bean small batch roasted goodness an extravagance. It’s a necessity. The few dollars more, and 20 minutes of time to drink something that I love and enjoy every morning is worth it.
Maybe you have a Keurig, and what you love about it is the speed and convenience. They’re inexpensive, readily available, easy to use, and fast. If you need a cup of coffee, it will make one, and you can drink it. It gets the job done. If I am out of town, and its my only option, I will drink it. It’s still coffee and it will wake me up.
Can you see the difference in these two?
I mean, yeah, they’re both a hot tasty beverage, but if you had to do a taste test, you could definitely tell which one was which. But honestly, some people don’t care that much about their coffee. Sure, getting a nice Starbucks beverage is a treat, but most days, just a regular cup of coffee will do just fine. What type of coffee do you like? Maybe you’re drinking your Maxwell house at home, but you always enjoy getting a specialty coffee whenever you travel for work. You might even be a tea drinker.
Now, let’s think about the furniture and accessories in your home….What are some of your ‘Gourmet’ pieces? What are some of your ‘Keurig’ pieces? Are you happy with them? Do you wish you had something more gourmet? Do your gourmet piece bring you joy, or are they too much time and effort to really enjoy (by being fragile, hard to clean, or does it make you nervous to use them because you’re worried that something might happen to them)?
Whenever I am working with a client it is vital to discover which items they see value in and what just needs to get the job done.
One of the most common items in a room where this line of reasoning comes up is area rugs. If you can’t tell the difference between the hand-knotted New Zealand Wool and Silk piece of art and the machine made alternative in the same colors, why spend the money… You’ll just worry about keeping it clean or if your tastes change, you’ll feel terrible about switching it out. Same goes for artwork. There are a lot of beautiful inexpensive pieces that can be curated and displayed to look amazing in a room. You can also choose to only buy original art from galleries.
There is no wrong solution.
And sometimes, there are different levels of these types of choices in the same room. But not too much…that’s a whole other blog post 😊 What IS important is that you think about the value you place on the pieces in your space if you’re going to be doing some updates. And if you’re working with a designer, it’s so important that they ask you about your furnishings investment level and expectations. The best design means nothing if it’s not the right fit for your home, family, and lifestyle. The most important opinion on how your home feels and functions is yours.
All this talk about coffee and furniture means it’s time for me to make my afternoon Nespresso Ristretto Macchiato with sugar free White Chocolate syrup and wrap up the next design board presentation! Cheers!
