Think about your morning. The familiar path from your bedroom to the kitchen…the sound and smell of the coffee brewing. The morning light that skates across the kitchen counter, the surface glittering in the warm light. You smile as you run your fingers across the natural stone, whose veining and color you love at this time of day.
Your lights adjust softly to the morning brightness, without you lifting a finger.
The sunlight continues to fill the room, and before you know it, the lights have adjusted completely off. You love it when you can work completely by natural light.
Before you know it, you’ve prepped your meals in an effortless flow around the room. Everything was where you needed it. You didn’t have to hunch down to pull out the pressure cooker, or clatter the plates, knives, or cutting board. Cabinets all slide smoothly and close silently. The kids are still asleep in their beds.
This is a small picture of what I call luxury. Because I firmly believe that luxury is measured in the JOY you get per square foot of your home. It’s when your home supports your routines so seamlessly that they become rituals of ease and pleasure.
This is what I call The Everyday Rituals Hypothesis.
And here’s what you need to know about it!!
Where “Luxury” Went All Wrong
For decades, the interior design world has tried to sell luxury as a look. Sometimes, by brand names. More recently with bright colors and glossy surfaces. Imported stone. Brass fixtures so bright they could double as mirrors!!
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE materials that make you gasp. But a home filled with them can still leave you uninspired if the design doesn’t fit the rhythm of your life.
I’ve walked into “luxury” homes that cost millions and found kitchens that no one wanted to cook in. Can you imagine?! Or, picture a lighting fixture that looks exquisite in a magazine but casts ugly shadows in person. There are sooo many spaces that photograph beautifully and live poorly…
Luxury without joy is just spending money to spend it.
The homes that stay beautiful over time are the ones that feel AS good to live in as they look.
What my Everyday Rituals Hypothesis really means…
Every home is full of rituals. Think about your own rituals and get out a pen. Write them down!! These are the small, repeated gestures that define our day. Brewing coffee. Taking off shoes at the door. Turning on a bedside lamp.
Home design has the power to make those moments effortless and downright pleasurable.
Like…
- When you open a drawer that glides instead of jams, that’s design doing its job.
- When your shower feels like an exhale at the end of a long day, that’s luxury at work.
- When the first light of morning filters through your automated blinds just as you sit down at your home office desk, that’s where design and life meet.
My Everyday Rituals Hypothesis reframes home design as a measure of joy per square foot. That’s my metric that captures how your home actually feels to live in. For YOU to live in. Every inch of your space should contribute to calm, pleasure, or purpose, or a mix of each!!
How Design Turns Habits Into Rituals
There’s a difference between routine and ritual, by the way. A routine simply happens by habit, whereas a ritual happens with intention. Design is how I help you bridge the two.
These small, daily interactions I’ve been describing? They create emotional consistency. They tell your body, you’re home now.
When everything in your home supports you quietly and consistently, your habits become rituals, and your space becomes a true sanctuary…
Why No One Else Talks About This
Most of the design industry celebrates what photographs well. Perfect vignettes. Trending palettes. Staged spaces that whisper “aspirational.” This is what sells on Pinterest and Instagram…it started with design magazines, but social media has made the trend worse.
Because, do we live in an app? No! We are REAL people with REAL preferences living in REAL homes. Design that’s meant to be lived in is an entirely different art form. That’s the blind spot in what the industry calls “luxury” today. And it’s why I’m so tired of that word being overused!!
And now, that’s why I’m measuring luxury differently.
How to Experience Return on Enjoyment® in Your Home
To make this shift in your home, you can start small. Choose one space you use every day: your kitchen, your bathroom, or your entryway. And ask yourself:
- Does this space make my routines easier or harder?
- Do I feel calm when I move through it?
- Is there one thing I could change to make a ritual here feel better?
(By the way, you can organize your thoughts answering these questions AND more in my Home Elevation Planner.)
Maybe one answer is as simple as updating your lighting. Maybe one is bigger, like rethinking your layout. Or maybe it’s time to reimagine an entire room so it supports how you actually live today.
Why don’t you pick a space and find out?…
Start Designing Intentionally
Luxury is something you feel.
And when that feeling repeats itself in satisfying ways throughout your home, all day long, you elevate your whole life. Every sound, every surface, every detail becomes a source of joy. That’s one source of joy you have total control over!!
This explains the art of designing for Return on Enjoyment®, and it’s what true luxury design should always deliver.
Talk to our team about where your home currently falls short, and what your idea “living your best life” FEELS like. Your home should support the life you want to live!
Let’s make that joy measurable—one square foot at a time!!
About the author:
Robin Burrill, RID, NCIDQ, ASID, IDS, CAPS, is an award-winning professional kitchen, bath, and interior designer. Robin and her husband, Robert Mathews, have owned Signature Home Services, Inc. for over three decades, establishing a superior in-house team with a widespread reputation for delivering meticulous design to their many repeat clients.
In 2022, the national publication, Kitchen and Bath Design News magazine, named Robin to their Top Innovator list in recognition of her achievements in the field of kitchen and bath design. In 2024, she was named one of the Fall 2024 Market Pros and “tastemakers” by ANDMORE at High Point Market. Also in 2024, Fixr identified her as one of the Top Professional Interior Designers for their nationwide audience. At the start of 2025, she then acted as one of Dallas Market’s “Style Eyes” at Lightovation and Total Home & Gift Market.
Over her extensive career, Robin has been quoted in Architectural Digest and Forbes multiple times; her design work has been featured in top national trade publications; and she has been interviewed for Designers Today magazine’s “Profiles in Design” video series, among others. Widely respected for the depth of her knowledge, Robin is a sought after speaker and judge for many design industry events.
In 2023, Robin designed a bench for Charleston Forge, making her foray into product design. Robin currently serves as a volunteer on the board of the Dallas/Ft. Worth chapter of the Interior Design Society.
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