This may sound silly to you, but one of the biggest struggles we had as a married couple was making my space, our space. Everyone has their own design aesthetic. That is exacerbated if you move in with a significant other who is used to having a “bachelor pad” style.

Blake initially moved into my apartment when we were first married. He definitely fell into the bucket of “bachelor pad” aesthetic. Needless to say that definitely isn’t my jam. However, I have always felt it is really important for those in your space, to feel comfortable in your space. If this space was now our space, I remember thinking I need to figure out how to make this work for both of us.

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Here are a few best ideas:

Favorite Color:

• Incorporate it in at least two of your common spaces.
• If you are designing for your significant other make one of the rooms the Master Bedroom.
• If it is not a color you like, it can be one of the colors in a fabric you select or be incorporated in through a decor item.
• Figure out how to weave this color into the room in some way.

Man Cave/Office

• Do they have a space of their own?
  • If they do let’s really put some effort into this space
• Do they have diploma’s, memorabilia, anything that can make this space unique to them?
• Start working on a way to not make the space a shrine, but give it a touch of his/her personality
  • A good example of this is if they like golf, get a cool signed golf poster and put it in a nice frame.
• Monogram a leather desk calendar: The goal here is personalization of the space
• If it’s a man’s office I like to get leather bound books and create some darker tones or points of interest

Find out where they like to sit.

• Do they prefer to sit in a chair or a sofa?
  • Put some guard rails up here. Pick out a few chairs that you like and tell them this will be “their chair”, if they want to sit in it, let them pick out the most comfortable one.

Bonus Room

• What do you both want out of this space?
  • If they want to put up posters try to frame them in your aesthetic style
  • Lighted Signs: There is a way to do this without killing your style, make sure the colors vibe with your aesthetic
    • If you are putting up a lighted sign you can compromise on which one
  • Incorporate Technology: Let him/her own this process and what it is
    • ex. I compromised and let Blake install a surround sound system that he controls (I still benefit from it, but it’s something that he owns in the space)

My biggest takeaways to make it our space:

1. Let them have ownership over something: ie. Technology
2. Ask them for a few items they would really like to incorporate into the space
3. Weave their color into the space

XOXO, Katie