One person's dream is another's nighmare

By Scott Beveridge

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – It would be spiffy to be able to afford a $4,000 instant coffeemaker to brew top shelf java in any kitchen.

The fancy machine is one of the luxuries on display at a "dream home" installed behind black curtains at the Pittsburgh Home & Garden Show this month at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Just how dreamy these surrounds are, though, is up to interpretation.

One of the first things that catches my eye is a lifelike sculpture of a tribesman squatting on the floor of what I believe to be the master bathroom. I'm taken aback because it looks as if an unwelcome guest is doing his business on the floor of what turns out to be a mediation room.

I can see myself tripping over this thing in the night, and cannot imagine trying to find my zen in the lotus position with it staring me down.

Moments later, two women pass by with frowns on their faces.

"This is supposed to be a dream home?" one of them says. "More like a nightmare," the other responds.

This display is the work of CJ Interior Design Studio of Pittsburgh, and it obviously put a lot of work into the details.

Yet, somehow the designers believe it is stylish to put plastic chairs beside a rustic wooden dining room table. That seems kind of cold and uninviting.

Everything else here appears to be rather expensive, down to the high-tech LED television in the bathroom.

This highbrow stuff is genius and pretentious wrapped in one fake 8-room residence. And, this probably is the wrong time for many people to tour such extravagances.

Some of my furloughed newspaper friends have yet to find full time work eight months after they received their pink slips. While this horrible recession appears to be lifting, they say there still are not any good jobs out there for them to secure.

To play it safe, I will keep my auto-drip coffeemaker that leaks from the bottom until the pot is brewed.

(The home show ends Sunday)