Moving in with your significant other can be an exciting time. It can also be filled with potential landmines. How will you adjust to each other’s cleaning habits? How will you merge your Netflix accounts? How will you divide the closet space?
While we might not be able to help you decide what to watch on television each night, we can make a few suggestions for creating better closet space. When you choose a Madison home, we’ll help create your space and customize it any way you choose.
If you’ve each been living on your own throughout your relationship, chances are you’ve acquired a lot of stuff. And when it comes time to share space, you’ll no longer need two vacuums or toaster ovens. And the six spatulas? That may seem trivial when you’re arguing over style. Modern or eclectic? How can you keep the peace while merging your things and create a style, too?
Here are a few ways we’ve found that work.
Break Up With Your Belongings
This is about moving forward with your relationship, not hanging onto the past. Consider letting go of some of the things that made your single life more convenient.
By all means, box up your mementos and personal items you can’t live without. But when it comes to boxing up the furnishings for your home, work at it together as you plan for your new home. Create three piles: keep, donate, throw away. Then work diligently through every room of your home as you go through this process.
Compromise
You’re in a new phase of your relationship. And the golden rule of any relationship is utilizing the word “compromise”. Don’t put your foot down about getting rid of all of his cherished possessions from college. Sure, we understand that neon sign might not fit into your idea of perfect decor. But if he really loves it, maybe you can find a place where it does fit. Consider bathrooms, hallways, or offices. Maybe it’ll look perfect when creating the gameroom you both want.
Compromise isn’t about control. Give and take is a part of the game. When one of you gives, be sure to hear all sides. And be willing to let go of something yourself to make room for the one you love.
You can also move forward with different rules. Maybe you both only get to keep what you truly love. Or how about giving each person veto power: two or three votes for getting rid of something you simply don’t want in your new home together. But be prepared that this works both ways.
Embrace Your Personalities
You each have your own style and personality. That’s what has worked up until now as you move forward with your relationship. To create an ambiance that is as unique as the two of you, consider selecting a common theme to add into the mix. We suggest choosing a color, pattern, material, or a focal point, and then allow your styles to come to life.
While it may be difficult to see how your painting may come together with his chair, once it’s in your family room it may seem like they were meant to be together. Especially when you build around it with new choices you make together.
Go Shopping
Like you need an invitation to shop! But when you go together, you can start picking out things you’ll both use and want. This doesn’t have to be a tedious, all day process. Many of the best deals can be found online. Amazon, Wayfair, even Ikea can have you shopping from home in no time.
Want to create inspiration together? Set up a board on Pinterest. This is a great way to collaborate your ideas and start to see themes developing between what the two of you like. Do you play off of each other’s love for purples and blues? Find pillows to accent your room. Find out you both love art? Select classic pottery for your tables and shelves.
Don’t Decorate All At Once
Suddenly, you’re moving from one bedroom apartments to your newly constructed Madison home. You’ve picked out the perfect floorplan for you to build your life together well into the future. That means doubling, sometimes tripling your space. And all of that space means you’re going to need a lot of new things.
You don’t have to decorate the whole place immediately. Take your time. When you move in and see the bare bones of the structure, you may start to feel the direction you want to go. We’ve often seen couples fill up rooms with furniture, only to move everything out and start over a few months down the road.
Not only does your style develop by living there, but you also start to feel the vibe of the room and discover it’s true purpose. What may have been built for a home office, for example, may eventually become the perfect space for a music room. It’s something you would never have anticipated when you were staring at the blueprints.
What If You Become Frustrated?
You’re totally in love with your partner. Her chair? Not so much. And no matter how many times you beg and plead to get rid of it, there’s no budging.
Often, this is a sign of something more. Moving in together can be scary times. It’s a sign of moving on with your life, from one point to another. That chair may be his way of holding onto something from the past for just a little while longer. It may be the perfect thing that grounds her as she moves in with you.
Once you make your new house your home, it may become obvious that the chair has to go. She may be the first to suggest it. The important part is to stop and ask yourself what’s truly important in this process. Once you determine that it’s your relationship, some personal items are easier to let go.
Moving in together is an exciting time in your life. Moving into the home of your dreams, one that you’ve both taken the time to design together, makes it even more exhilarating. Come in to Madison Homebuilders today and let our team show you how to make your dream home a reality.