At home with Thomas Berolzheimer

Thomas Berolzheimer is a film photographer, coffee enthusiast, and most publicly known as the co-conspirator (and husband) of Julia Engel, founder of the sensational lifestyle blog Gal Meets Glam.

Passionate about getting his morning cup just right, Thomas recently shared a few coffee making tips (and summery kitchen photos) on Gal Meets Glam. Read our Q&A with Thomas below to learn more about their story, their routine, and to be inspired by their beautiful home.

How did the two of you meet and how did Gal Meets Glam come about?

We met in college at the University of the Pacific in California. Our grandparents had been trying to introduce us for years as we knew each other’s families but had never met. It wasn’t until our best friends, that were dating at the time, introduced us. We’ve been inseparable ever since.

Gal Meets Glam started when Julia came home from class one day with the idea that she wanted to start a fashion blog. Naturally, I was recruited to be the photographer and, within about a week, Julia decided to go all in, every free moment we had we spent on the blog. Fast forward seven years later and we’ve launched our own line of dresses and we now have a team of five full time people.

Tell us about your new kitchen remodel. It’s amazing!

We lived in San Francisco for 6 years, but knew we didn’t want to be there long term. It wasn’t until we took a three day trip to Charleston, SC that we finally found somewhere we could see ourselves buying a house. We bought our house knowing we wanted to make changes to it. In our house, the kitchen is really the focal point. I love to cook and we love to entertain. It also connects to an outdoor patio and we wanted it to feel like you were outside when you were in the kitchen. So we approached the renovation thinking we wanted to maximize the natural light coming in and have it be an amazing spot to cook, entertain, and even lounge.

Describe your perfect day.

We love the intersection of travel and photography. So our perfect days start with an early rise to capture new places in beautiful morning light before most have begun their days. We follow this with finding a great local breakfast spot again followed with more exploring. Of course, we have lunch afterwards. Our afternoons we spend relaxing or catching up on work. Finally, we get dressed up and finish the night going out to a romantic dinner.  

Why Ratio?

I love a good pour over but the setup time and clean up always got in the way of the joy of drinking it. As soon as we moved back into our renovated house, Julia gave me the task of finding a great looking coffee maker that could match our kitchen. After all, we’d just spent a year on renovations to make our house look the way we wanted, having a beautiful coffeemaker didn’t seem like too much to ask. But I really couldn’t find anything that looked great and could make enough great coffee for a few people. That’s when I discovered Ratio. We love it and get so many compliments on it, first on aesthetic and next on flavor once I offer to make them coffee. Julia is also loving that she can easily make coffee herself and that I’m not making a huge mess. Plus with the Ratio Kone Filter I don’t have to worry about running out of paper filters.

What’s your favorite place in the world to drink coffee?

This is a tough question. While we both think you can get better coffee in the US, there’s something so nostalgic about sipping espressos sitting outside at a cafe in Paris.

Follow Thomas on Instagram and enjoy he and Julia’s adventures together on Gal Meets Glam.