STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

sephorablue · Marc Jacobs

moving in with the BF

luckyclover · Dooney & Bourke

I say just get his opinions on things before you do it. That will make him feel included and more open to your decorating ideas. One idea is to decorate a room for him....give him a place for his stuff...then he won't feel like you just took over without thinking of him or anything. I think you guys made a good choice on just moving into a new place instead of moving into "your" place or "his" place. Congrats!! and be sure to post pics of what you decide to do

Cortney1982 · Chanel

Just pick out what you like. You know what your doing and it will turn out nice!

JoceyBaby23 · Gucci

My new house has a lot of brown..

I have been mixing in colors like: yellow, gold, orange, red, green and cream. It's all VERY earthy and warm.. and nothing too fem.

Elle · Hermes

I'm also doing the earthy thing, with lots of clean lines and some ethnic accents.

Kitty · Hermes

This is actually a huge challenge for me. Growing up my dad didn't care AT ALL what my mom did with the house and so she just decorated how she saw fit and bought the furniture, etc. that she liked. I just assumed it would be like that for me when I moved in with my BF....but boy was I wrong!

My boyfriend is ultra-picky about everything and thinks all store-bought already framed art is just mass-produced, ugly, crap and he refuses to let me hang it in our house. I also put up some shelves in our bathroom and displayed some candles, etc. and he totally freaked and said it looked too girlie. This is has pretty much put a freeze on my decorating...

I don't know how your boyfriend will be..so I'd just feel it out and see how much decorating you can get away with on your own.

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

A good friend of mine moved in with a guy who had a combo of: his ex's hideous country furniture, his mother's castoffs, and a DUCK themed collection. My friend started by letting him have free reign, then she began "organizing" periodically, and would put all his things in one area of the house, then one room, replacing them every time with her things so it wasn't very noticable... Uh, now he has a SHELF, and the rest of his stuff is "stored." (Then she goes through and throws away the things in storage, "for more space.") I don't know if you're capable of being this evil, but it is effective...

As for weird preferences, like no mass produced art, you can smile and say "Uh huh," and do what you want. Or fight about it, trying to convince him that what you want is better. I suggest option one... (Sample response, "Yes honey, I agree that you don't like it. But I like it. And you like me. Is it really that big of a deal to you?")

Tashina · Kate Spade

i would sit down with him and ask him what of his stuff he really wants to use in the decorating and you tell him what of your stuff or ideas you would like to use in the decorating and with both of those things in mind, jump off from there asking his opinion all the way.

sephorablue · Marc Jacobs

You all have lots of good advice! Happily, Dizzy, he doesn't have anything particularly scary or ugly... He actually bought a new couch, wing chair, coffee table and TV stand a few months ago, all of which I approve of. He definitely sought my opinion when he was buying them (this was before we were planning to move in together) and although I wouldn't have picked all the same ones for myself--they are ALL dark brown--I don't mind them. My problem now is that I want to find a way to brighten up the dark brown, and yet I keep being drawn to dark tones. Here are some of my inspiration images: