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As any relationship expert will tell you, decisions that need to be ‘shared’ and impact both partners equally are likely to be challenging and stressful and may even trigger an argument or two! Here are a few ways to decorate your home as a couple, make the most of your new space and also embark on your future on the right foot.
1. Finances Need to Be Sorted
When you move into your home which is a clean slate for all intents and purposes, you must decide on a decorating budget. If renovations need to take place, the same principle applies. Couples often fight about money if they live together and split the expenses so make sure you and your partner have the same amount in mind before you purchase items like furniture. Hiring an interior designer may also be a joint decision if you aren’t sure of what your personal style is or do not want to entirely rely on your partner’s preference for colors and décor accents.
2. Make Spaces Purpose-Oriented
Depending on your partner’s profession and interests and your own passions in life as well as your work life, designate each space in your new home to serve a purpose. You may require an art studio for example and your partner may need a study or at least a workspace with a desk and good lighting. Make these decisions together and have a lot of fun creating these nooks for each other where you can still have your personal space and a bit of solitude. Moving in together is about caring!
3. Reaching A Middle Ground
Couples definitely can have very similar tastes and décor preferences but for the most part, everyone has an individuality they want to express. When you choose to live in a shared space, compromise is key in some areas. Maybe your partner has items of vast sentimental value that they cannot give up on even though they are not aesthetically pleasing.
Another expert tip is to have your main furniture or core elements like curtains in neutral colors like beige, white, grey, and so forth. In fact, that is many people’s preferred style anyway! It goes without saying that you and your partner can add in elements wherever you wish that are more indicative of personal interest and passion such as the love for art, music, or books.
4. Choose Elements That Can Be Easily Updated
Décor elements like patterned wallpaper or even framed wall prints are elements that make a huge albeit low-cost impact. These are also items you can easily change and update around the home if your interests change or if you do yearly or seasonal makeovers. A keepsake item like a custom house painting is a permanent décor item and one you would want to keep forever because of its sentimental value but other items can depend on current favorites or seasons.
5. Embrace A Degree of Minimalism
A general belief is that women are keener to hold on to items while men prefer a mostly minimalistic approach to life and ownership of daily use items or home décor items. While this may not apply to everyone, minimalism has become a dominant and preferred home décor style in the last several years. This is because it works on many levels from not having as many things to protect and care for, to simply having less to move from one place to another.
Adopting a minimalist attitude is both trendy and practical as it makes your home appear larger and cleaner when you have few items but they are carefully and thoughtfully chosen and have a narrative behind them. See if this style works for you as a couple and remember having items with a story or memories behind them imparts a lot of joy rather than engaging in consumerism and buying a lot of décor elements you may not even like a year from now. You can also always fix broken parts of well-loved memorabilia or keepsakes using deep pour resin.
6. Spend On Focal Points
Each apartment or house has certain focal areas whether it’s the study or the living room or the kitchen. There is always a space or a couple of rooms that have a more central positioning and purpose than others. If you are working with a limited set budget, choose items like a comfortable main sofa or a statement tapestry for example for these main spaces. You can pick and choose amongst yourselves regarding taste and preference choosing some items yourself and letting your partner choose the others. Certain décor elements like if you hang a frameless mirror for example do not belong to a certain design era and are universally appealing as well as practical particularly in smaller rooms.
7. Build That Lifestyle
When a couple chooses to move in together it is usually a lifestyle shift in which two people of different personalities are looking to cohabit a space. Let your lifestyle dictate your sense of style when it comes to decorating your home. Whether you are an enthusiast of sustainable or environmentally-friendly living or want to live in opulence, your preferences regarding material wealth and consumption are a good gauge of what your space should look like and which items you consider to be investment pieces.
Not to mention there are cost-effective ways of emulating a super luxurious outlook in your home such as marble counter paper, LED lights, vintage mirror frames, lamps, and faux fur rugs. Technology (depending on how tech-savvy you and your partner are) is also key for making a space appear more upscale. Even simple technological touches like no-touch faucets and automatic soap dispensers can change the look and feel of an apartment or house.
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