When tastes collide
Moving in with your beloved is a beautiful thing. But moving in with your beloved’s furniture is not.
Don’t get me wrong. My boyfriend has a great sense of style, but we have such dramatically different tastes that I forsee a bit of a battle when I look into our domestic crystal ball.
Will our home be full of interesting objects collected over years of world travel? That’s how his place is done up. Or will it be minimal and open, featuring a few special inherited items on prominent display? That’s my decorating M. O. He likes contemporary. I prefer shabby chic. He collects glass. I love pottery. He digs stripes. I stick to solids. Did I mention that the walls of my man’s home office are covered in blue faux fur? I’m so serious! I admit, he told me about it the first night we met and I knew what I was getting into. But still.
Aesthetics are one thing, but price tags are another. How much we’re willing to spend on home decor items could be the major sticking point of our agreement, and we both know it. He likes affordable; I prefer lifetime investment. If you know what I mean. As well, there’s the issue of how we plan to use our space. He’s very social, so his home is arranged to accommodate huge parties, spontaneous drop-ins and overnight guests. On the other hand, I think of my home as a private sanctuary, preferring to dedicate my space to quiet creative pursuits and yoga. From past experience, we know that style will be a hot topic when we move in together. For example, when he painted his apartment last spring, he chose colours ( taupe and mustard yellow) that didn’t do it for me. I tried to hide my horror, but he could sense it. After much back and forth, he repainted the mustard areas in a Daphne- approved eggplant colour. I like the new combo, but I didn’t like the arguments one bit.
Still, relationships are all about compromise, and we’re both ready to find ways to come together as a couple. As the day we buy a house together comes ever closer, we’ve been window shopping and leafing through magazines to find decor ideas we both like. We started with a new magazine, Domino, a sister to the popular fashion shopping magazine Lucky. I picked up the first issue of the new homes magazine and was inspired by its creative, casual and trendy ideas.
Featuring eclectic, imperfect homes belonging to cool celebrities and downtown style mavens, it’s not your mother’s decorating magazine. It offers DIY advice, tips on how to shop for expensive-looking decor ideas