How can we overcome our different decorating styles and create a home?

Question: How can we overcome our different decorating styles and create a home?

Answer: This is a pretty common problem. Your differences make your relationship more interesting, so you should accept them. Your best bet is to meld them as best you can. This requires patience, practice, and tons of creativity. In the case of choosing furniture for the home, you might like a dark wood dining room set but to give it a contemporary feel, which would satisfy your husband, you could paint it in a bright white or metallic green. You could have formal Dupioni silk drapes with a more casual fluffy sofa in microfiber.

Be willing to meet each other half way. You can’t always get what you want but neither can your spouse. The whole 50/50 idea truly comes into play here. You are responsible for half of the partnership, which means you and your partner each have to compromise half the time. And compromising does not have to mean sacrificing. For example, having the chair style you want in a different color means you would not be totally giving up on your own desires. You would both be giving up on something and meeting each other in the middle.

You can start to make headway by looking through magazines and the Internet to show each other rooms and furniture you find appealing. Then, determine which pieces you could both live with or how you could change the look or alter some pieces to please you or your spouse, so it’s something of which you are both proud. Before you know it, your house will be a home – with your signature couple’s style.