Introduction
Today's objective: Set the stage 🕺🏻💃🏻
Hi Coffee Loving Friend!
First things first — welcome to the newsletter and thanks for joining!
I know we're gonna have a blast designing & building (or enhancing) an amazing space for you to brew coffee each day! ☕️
A few house keeping issues to get out of the way ...
Reply to this introduction newsletter and say hello so your inbox knows its not SpAm or JuNk!
In your reply — it would be great to hear why you signed up and what you hope to get out of this?! Is your goal to build your dream coffee bar or do you already have a coffee bar you're looking to enhance or re-design?
Who am I
Just in case you missed it, my name is Mike and I'm the guy behind an Instagram channel called @coffeebardesign 🛋️. That's probably how you found your way here — but if not check out my Instagram page for lots of design inspiration!
I often get messaged on Instagram being asked coffee bar related questions. This was my motivation to formalize a newsletter as my aim is to provide a helpful resource for people to use.
I absolutely love design. I've always been interested in digital media design, graphic design, interior design, architectural design, product design ... you name it, I'm into it!
It's been over 10 years now that I've been brewing delicious coffee at home (no longer needing to rely on the Starbucks' of the world to provide my java). And it wasn't long after I started brewing at home that I naturally fell in love with designing my home coffee bar. I think I'm now on my 4th version... continuous tweaking of the space is part of the fun for me!
Let's talk about the elephant in the room ...
1. It's just a coffee bar right, how hard can it be?
The term 'coffee bar' is really subjective. Coffee bar's can mean different things to different people. The truth is, it's not that difficult to create a coffee bar of your own with no help from anyone. Simply mimic the design of someone else's coffee bar that you love the look of.
There's no reason why you can't put grandma's old electric coffee maker on your kitchen counter and be done with it... you got yourself a coffee bar!
However, for our purposes — we don't just want to throw a coffee maker on the counter top.
We want to design & build or enhance a space in your home that replicates a real coffee shop. Not just any café though. The place you visit that gives you those warm and joy-filled feelings as soon as you walk through the door. We want to create a space in your home:
- That you LOVE spending time each day
- That is the social center of your home where friends and family gather
- And where you can brew delicious coffee to be shared by all
And to accomplish creating a space like this — you may need a little guidance, which is exactly why I've developed this coffeebar.design newsletter.
2. How much is creating a coffee bar going to cost me?
We'll discuss project costs in more detail in a future lesson, but for now just know that the amount of money you have is never going to be a barrier to designing a space you love brewing coffee in.
If you don't have a lot of money to spend on your coffee bar then it's a really great idea to start small and simple and slowly enhance your coffee bar over time. With little money and using what you already have around your home it's possible to create a really beautifully designed space. However, if you do have a big budget to spend on your coffee bar then there's no limit to what you can create. And my hope is that this newsletter gives you lots of insight how to design your dream space.
3. Is this coffeebar.design newsletter gonna be a waste of my time?
I know I'm biased, but I think you'll get a lot out of this 7-newsletter course (with more content to be added in the future). It's difficult to communicate bigger and deeper design thinking through Instagram posts. This format will allow me to take a deep-dive into the design process and give you some really practical tools to help you create the coffee bar of your dreams!
And at the end of the day, they're just emails. You don't have to open them, read them, or respond to any of them. It's fully up to you how you want to engage — but to get the most out of this course it'll be great to have regular back and forth communication with you after each lesson.
Also remember this coffeebar.design newsletter is intended to be done at your own pace. Don't feel rushed or obligated to stay on any strict timelines. Although I'm assuming if you're reading this you actually want an amazing space in your home to brew coffee in each day!
So although the newsletters will continue to arrive with each lesson, it's fully up to you when to apply those lessons and actually design & build (or enhance) your dream coffee bar!
Remember … it's all supposed to be FUN
Creating or enhancing your coffee bar is going to be a really FUN and ENJOYABLE process.
We don't want to put too much pressure on ourselves to create a bar that we'd find in the pages of Architectural Digest.
Maybe after the 3rd or 4th version you'll get to that level of design, but for right now we just want to focus on creating an amazing space that YOU LOVE to spend time in each day.
The goal of this course is for you to end up with a beautifully created or enhanced COFFEE BAR of your own!
Here's what to expect as we design your coffee bar
For the next 5 days you'll receive my newsletters chalked full of information to help you design & build or enhance your dream coffee bar.
My intent is that you get all the info quickly so you can then take your time and digest the content. Then you're able to start the coffee bar design & build process (or enhancement/re-design process if you already have a coffee bar) on your own timeline!
Each newsletter also has a 'homework' section so this will give you time to complete the assignments — which is really just building or enhancing your coffee bar ... so it's homework you ACTUALLY WANT TO BE COMPLETING as you go through the process!
Don't worry about the timing, if you're not quite ready to design/build/enhance your coffee bar just yet, hold onto and re-read these newsletters until you are ready to go!
Each newsletter should arrive around lunch time (12:00 noon EST) so you have something interesting to read while on your lunch break sipping a coffee! ☕️
Here's what will be covered in each newsletter:
- Introduction: Set the stage (you are here📍)
- Lesson 1: What do I want
- Lesson 2: Planning the design
- Lesson 3: Building the foundation
- Lesson 4: Adding the gear
- Lesson 5: Making it personal
- Bonus: Secret design tips & tricks
After you receive each newsletter I'll ask you to reply with some feedback!
I want to make sure each newsletter is really practical and useful so you can actually create or enhance something meaningful in your home.
Your responses will also help keep you on track so this course is not just reading newsletters, but it's actually building something tangible in the real-world!
I hope you're as excited as I am to get started!
Thanks again for joining!
Mike
