After reading the messages here, I have to say: you guys make a lot of valid points.
But although “Artistic Inspiration” is a nice concept, the way that it is implemented now makes a fine item more of a burden than a blessing.
If I want 20 dinner tables and 20 chairs for in my castle, I would like 20 matching sets, please. My carpenter gets cracking and gets me… 11 chairs, 9 fine chairs, 15 normal tables and 5 fine ones. This annoys the crap out of me, and frankly more resembles a bug than it does a feature.
Now I actually had the same idea. I don’t even think it really needs to require an extra item, since the extra time it takes to “recraft” everything would be a high enough price in my eyes.
This would mean that “Artistic Inspiration” wouldn’t be a thing anymore. Instead, couldn’t it just be “Experienced carpenter” or something like that?
The carpenter is constantly honing his skills, gaining the ability to utilize saw, hammer and nails in never before seen ways!
Right now fine items get crafted on top of the ordered quantity so you shouldn’t have that problem. Then again, crafting fine items does take up resources, doesn’t it? That’s the only reason I could see where fine items could be slightly annoying.
EDIT: I sincerely apologize. I just tested it with chairs, and it went exactly as you said: fine chairs got crafted on top of the order. I could have sworn the earlier example I gave (the 20 chairs and tables) got split up…
This doesn’t take away the fact that for example without any fine window frames in stock, you cannot design a building with fine windows. The workaround for this would be to just order some windows and hope for some fine frames: after that, you can choose to use them. Still a bit annoying.