The time has come – you’ve found someone who you can stand to be around every day, and you don’t mind waking up to their face every morning – so you’ve decided to move in together.
Moving in is a huge step in cementing your relationships, and is an even better way to strengthen them – then the moment comes when you discover your partner-in-crime has actually despised just about everything you own from day one – quarrel.
If your tastes in interior design and overall décor aesthetics is totally different, don’t raise the alarm just yet; there’s lots you can do to bridge the gap and create a gorgeous space that you can both happily call home.
Don’t Blend Your Tastes – Create Something New
In plain English: you’ve got to acknowledge your collective style as a couple. Instead of trying to hybridize your aesthetic nuances, start from scratch and take a good hard look at how you got here in the first place.
Take stock of what you both have, and what each of you is eager to bring to the space. Maybe you can first create compromises and tolerate that lamp, or questionable coffee table by working to update your living room furniture together to upcycle the rest of the room. Updating a few key pieces, like the sofa, is a great way to start working together and starting something fresh that you can call your very own.
Further, take this opportunity to talk about what your goals are for your new space together – you’ll probably find a lot of commonalities that will end up making the entire process easier.
Paint Is Your Friend
Anything can find its place when you stand back and decide on a consistent colour palette. If you’ve chosen to blend your stuff together, making for a truly ‘eclectic’ space, agreeing on a mutually beneficial paint palette that compliments the majority of your stuff will help to pull it all together. This is especially true when you are starting with a blank canvas.
If you find you’ve got a lot of blue, green and red stuff, a cream or white colour palette for walls and new décor will help to tastefully accentuate your existing stuff. Carry this new palette over into new throw pillows, blankets and area rugs to tie together the room.
As an aside, keep the bright and bold colours to the more private spaces, like the home office, guest bedroom, hallways and bathroom – leave the living room space, kitchen and master bedroom relatively neutral to assist you in coupling two or more styles.
Be Open to Compromise
Acknowledge the fact that you’ve both likely got stuff that means a lot to each of you. Instead of getting rid of it all, try to use it in a new way, or try putting it in a new room instead of in the main living spaces. Your favourite things help to create character and instigate stories – but if it ends up compromising the integrity of all the hard work you’ve done to renovate and update your new space, be willing to move it elsewhere.
The bedroom tends to be a more feminine space, filled with soft colours and materials – and rightfully so, it’s supposed to be an inviting, comfy, light space. If your new living partner wants to offset with an overly masculine piece, like a plaid bed set, or a leather reading chair – this isn’t a bad thing – instead, it helps to balance the aesthetic of your new life together. Being able to see that each of your ideas work great in different spaces and rooms is key to being open to compromise – there’s a space for everything.
Similarly, remember that the person you’ve chosen to move in with is more important than the bachelor pad furniture you’re determined to keep as a focal point in your living room – it’s just a chair, right? The fact is, you’ve made a conscious decision to begin this stage of your life together, so compromising on both ends is something that you must begin to view as necessary for the relationship to flourish. It may be time to put some of your stuff in storage! Have a few chats about style, check out some magazines and online blogs about ways to compromise, and collaborate on your new furniture and your newfound collective style.
Get Inspired Together
When you’re looking at buying new furniture together, consider pairing your picks to feed off of eachother. For example, if you decide on a new leather sofa, chances are that’s going to add a ton of masculine energy to the room, so pair it with textiles to help make your house a home. Texture helps to tone down the allure of straight-lined new stuff, and helps to make a house more like a space you’ve inhabited for a while, making the transition of living together that much easier, and more fun.
Better yet, begin this journey together by heading out and browsing for new furniture – don’t think about buying just yet, just go out and enjoy a stroll checking out some new furniture together. This will energize the both of you and help you to get a sense of what’s important and attractive to the other person – from here, begin to work out ways to compromise on your ideas, not the pieces you’re buying. Leave those bigger decisions for later when you’ve agreed on what’s a good angle or aesthetic to explore as a couple sharing a living space.