I ran across a Great Article

I ran across this great article in Desert Companion magazine. If you've never heard of it, that's okay. It's a magazine that's a guide to living in Southern Nevada. The Article was titled "Interior Monologue" and was about a designer named Roberto Leyva. He is a high end designer and when I say high end I mean this is the type of guy that sees a $10,000 lamp and thinks "Wow that's cheap". He has amazing taste and I wouldn't want him anywhere near my Chateau Ghetto! I'm pretty sure it would kill him anyway, like Superman with Kryptonite.

In this article he gives some advice to the homeowner. I'm a Homeowner (or a slumlord I'm not sure which). Or maybe his advice was to people with style. I don't have style but I try to fake it! He gave three tips.

1.     Live well - and pass it on. "We should all begin our own family traditions of living well. Just like a good watch, a sofa can be handed down to our next generation" I agree here totally! I have a desk we use as our dining room table. It was hand made by my Great-Great Grandfather in Denmark. It is beautiful and timeless. One of these days it will pass on to Goo or Baby Gouda depending on who loves it the most.

2.     Make a statement. "There are items to furnish your home - and then there are items that define it."  My house makes a statement. "Kids live here with construction workers!" I'm working on changing this one.

3.     Spend now - or spend later. "Quality is unmistakable. A quality product is created to last you for many years. Fabrics can be removed and replaced if (you) need to, materials used are of the highest quality possible, the finished details are obvious in the way the items are stitched and put together. Cynical, vulgar, mass produced merchandise has poor finished details altogether." This one I learned from my mother and have been trying to teach C this for years. That conversation goes like this…

Sher: No we are not buying a couch from the thrift store!

C: Why not?

Sher: Because people give the crap they really want to throw away to thrift stores because they are dumb enough to think they are gonna get a tax break.

C: Do you think you're too good for thrift stores?

Sher: YES! If I make money and want to spend it on a new couch I want one I can guarantee no one has peed on!

That usually ends with us not talking, but I clipped the article and am gonna give it to him. Maybe it will carry more weight coming from Roberto Leyva?