Decorating When You & Your Partner Have Different Taste
Furnishing & Decorating with Two Different Styles. Part 3/3
Welcome back to the multi-part series: Decorating for Couples with Opposite Styles.
If you haven’t read Parts 1 and two, do that here and here. They’re quick reads, and they’ll make this last part make a hell of a lot more sense. We talked about clearing out the things that really aren’t dealbreakers so you can focus on what’s important. Then we discussed choosing a color palette that meets you in the middle, so you both feel like you’re getting a say in the room.
That brings us to the meat and potatoes: furnishing and decorating.
This is where you’re both going to do yourselves a favor and name your styles. This might take a teeny bit of work — googling, pinteresting, to figure out what to call your own styles, but once you’re armed with the power of a name, you’ll have a lot easier time actually talking this stuff through.
Name Your Style to Claim Your Style
Is one of you Mid Century and the other is Vintage? Is one of you Modern Boho and the other is Rustic? Truly, if you don’t have one clear word to name your style, do that now. Remember: this is the room you’re working on together. You each might like 2 or 3 aesthetics or styles, but to work on this together, you’re each going to pick one to bring to the table.
Once you’ve each named your style, you’re going to work together to blend them as you decorate! By understanding where the other person is coming from and taking an interest in what they like, you’ll probably find that you agree on a lot more than you don’t!
If I were doing this tomorrow, here’s how I would approach it:
Make a Plan for Your Furniture
List out what you need to add to the space, and each of you spend time searching for items in your preferred style that you like and in their preferred style — go on… stretch yourself… you can do it! Plus, don’t you want a foot on the scale here? I thought so. Then, set a date to talk about them together. See what the other person picked. Compare notes.
Maybe you go with your sofa, but their coffee table. Move one category at a time, one item at a time, together, so you both have a part in the styling of the room.
Get in Touch With Your Feelings — Add Texture to the Room
Now things get to be even more fun in my opinion. You can use your color palette and your style words to add things like throws, pillows, curtains, rugs, etc using the same strategy as furniture. Each of you saves the items you like, knowing the two styles you’re working with.
Then once again, you sit down together, comparing and contrasting what you found and deciding what to put together.
Light up the Room
I have great news: this step is universally loved because lighting changeseverythinngggggin a room. This step is where you get to highlight and feature your favorite spots in the room and make it super vibey. Abolish the overhead light right now. Go deeper into this with your partner by making lighting part of your space — don’t skip this.
Following the same pattern of searching, comparing and choosing, do the same thing based on the vibe you want to create in the space. I prefer like 5-7 small lights in a room at least, but some people are ok with flipping on the overhead any time of day or night.
Now is your chance to elevate the room through lighting, so research what you like and then choose with your partner.
Decorate Your Hearts Out
This is where I’m about to lose the plot a little and tell you that you each get to do what you want a little bit here. When it comes to art, I believe in being so personal that it almost looks wrong. You can play by whatever rules you want here, but my advice on this is:
each of you choose one piece that’s super personal to you to allow in the room
then work together on the rest of the decor
It’s fun to show quirky personalities and things that maybe “don’t belong” all that well — it’s like the inner parts of us we hide away get a chance to come out and play, and I love that too much to stifle it.
Decorating is Deeper Than Surface Level
At the time of writing this, I don’t live with my partner, so I can’t say that I’m right there in the weeds with you, but that’s exactly why I can offer this perspective: decorating with a partner is so much deeper than we realize.
Forever, humans have decorated their homes for all kinds of reasons, but as technology and consumerism makes endless options endlessly available, we really stopped being care-full with it. We still love cozy, vibey, homey homes, but even when they weren’t that — when they were bare-bones, utility-only, they were much, much more full of care.
I think anyone who cares about decorating and is lucky to have a partner who also cares is a rare gem. The opportunity to do this together really is a cool one. You’ll bond, get to know each other better, learn more about each other’s inner worlds, and I just think that’s beautiful.
I get that even with the best laid plans though, decorating can still be hard to even get started, so if you need some extra TLC and conversation starters, I do free Vibe Check Room Audits, where I can take a quick peek into your space and give you some actual feedback once I know what you’re working with. If you want to do one of those, check it out here.
Thanks for checking out this series, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss a Transmission, and never miss a chance to get deeper with your decorating.
