Relationship Problems Solved By Design?

Designing For The Sexes. Do you guys remember that show on HGTV?

He wants modern, she wants traditional. She wants floral, he wants stripes. It something that has come up for most of us I can imagine.


 Designing for both men and women so we can all live in harmony. It seems like this is an issue a lot of couples/ significant others deal with. I've been pretty fortunate; my husband doesn't seem to mind much how I design our home. My taste is pretty simple and not very ornate so I'm sure that helps. Of course he did have an opinion this one time though....

I saw a recent article on Houzz that talked about this a little bit further. Not only designing your home to make each person happy and comfortable, it discusses using design to strengthen your relationship. I thought it interesting enough to share.


1. The first thing the article mentions is putting your relationship first. They suggest having a quite place in your home for you and your spouse to be together with no interruptions- to TV, no cells phones. This could be your bed room, a nice outdoor patio, or even a window seat with a nice view.

Source

The article also mentions having reminders of your relationship around the house. This could be pictures from your honeymoon or a special vacation, tickets from a movie you shared, ect.

2. Taking the communication thing further, the article talks about removing distractions from the home. Having a quiet place where you can talk to each other some misunderstandings become limited (see item 1 above).

The article also talks about being able to close off computer and TV areas so they are not a constant distraction.

Source

Source

3. Finances. A source of stress for a lot of us. Keeping organized and having everything in one place helps keep things in perspective. (See item 2!)

4. Household responsibilities. Oh snap~~ this is a big one for me. Back when I was working full time we split everything pretty evenly. But since I've become a stay at home mom most of the household chores have fallen on me. Talking about what is expected from each other is important and will save a lot of resentment. 

I always have a smile on my face when I do chores. NOT!

The article suggests rotating chores and switching it up every now and then so one person isn't having to do everything. I like that idea!

5. Keeping the bedroom romantic. Bow Chica Wow Wow!! All kidding aside this is important. If your bedroom is a mess, your home office is in your bedroom, your TV is on all the time; these are all things that could lead to added stress in a relationship. Not to mention it can make it hard to relax and sleep at night.

Source

The article suggests clearing out the clutter, cool soothing colors, and keeping light out at night (black out shades, no bright alarm clocks, ect.) and keeping electronics out of the bedroom.

Source

Source

Some other things I thought about were having 2 sinks in the bathroom. I know this isn't a luxury for everyone. We had only 1 sink we shared in our last home and I wanted to strangle my husband every day! 

Source

Ok maybe not that extreme but I would try to get ready for work or bed either before or after him so we weren't tripping all over each other. Now that we have 2 sinks in our new home the world is a happier place.

I also think having a King size bed is a luxury that helps relationships. We have a Queen right now but I'm hoping for a King soon!

There's nothing I'd like more that being able to spread out and not be elbowed in the face at night!

How about you? Have you designed your home to help your relationship?

Incorporating Design Trends In Your Home?

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We actually had some nice weather here in OK (if you discount the major windstorm we had earlier that knocked out our power). I usually like to start the week off with a craft or DIY but thought I'd mix it up a bit and talk about something that I've been thinking about for a while. 


It's the New Year and it's usually a time when I and it seems like a lot of other people reassess their home, clean things out, and change things up. But how much do you really change?


For example, every year Pantone comes out with their "Color of the Year". This year it's Tangerine, last year it was Honeysuckle (I bet a lot of husbands loved that). It's fun, bright and cheery. But do you try and incorporate it into your home or just look at it for fun inspiration?

Image Source

Or do you try and incorporate it into your wardrobe?

What if you don't like Tangerine? Well did you know that Benjamin Moore comes out with a color of the year as well?!?! Their pick for the year is Wythe Blue. A little easier to incorporate into a home in my opinion.

Image Source

But which to choose? Orange or Blue? Who is right? Should you go with orange or go with blue. Maybe do both?

Source

And as long as we're incorporating trends, what about Chevrons? Those are cool.

Source

What about pallets? I like the idea of pallet reuse but should I make everything in my house made from them?

Source

Or stenciling? 

Source

Birds?

Source

What to do? Which to choose? 

Should I stencil an Tangerine Cheveron on my wall and hang a pallet made frame with a picture on a Wythe Blue bird in it? 

AUGH! 

That would be a little extreme...

So I guess I'm just wondering how other people deal with the changing trends. 

Do you try and incorporate them in your home each season? 

Do you just look at them for inspiration?

Do you even notice them at all and do your own thing?

Awesome EIghties??!!

Are the 80's slowly making the comeback people said it would? Are you afraid?? I kind of am... 


What got me thinking about this was the bowls I made the other day. In the post where I got the idea for the DIY was a suggestions to paint the bowl neon to go along with the Neon Trend. And I did! I painted one bowl I made for my youngest sister neon green because I thought she'd like it. 

Source

Need proof that the eighties is making a comeback? Have you seen those kids on the Disney Channel? They look like mini Madonna's!

Or this image from New York Fashion Magazine comparing then and now:

Source

I don't know if it's because I feel like the 80's wasn't that long ago (30 years isn't a long time right?!) or if it's because I've been programed to think of the 80's as the tacky decade that should be forgotten. 

The 80's gets a bad rap because of trends like this:

Shoulder Pads

Work Out Gear

Big Teased Hair

Men with Big Teased Hair that Look Like Women

Jellies (Jury's still out on this one- I had several pairs of these when I was younger)

And of course 80's home decor, how can we forget?

Source

Source

Now I know that with any trend/ decade that makes a comeback it's usually in a more subdued and updated way. Like how Mid-Century has been the hot trend for a while- do people who grew up in that decade roll their eyes at people like me who think it's way cool? 

But the 80's? I'm still not convinced.

What's next? 90's grunge?

Lord Help us all!

What do you think? Do you like to see trends make a comeback? Are there some you'd rather see forgotten?

Article Of Interest

Do you read Sherwin Williams online magazine Stir? I get the emails and every and then they have an interesting and informative article. The latest one that caught my eye was one on the use of painted accent walls.

In the article they discuss the pros and cons of having one wall of bold color instead of painting the whole room. The author contributes the main use of accent walls as "Color Phobia". Saying that the owner is afraid to paint a whole room in a bold color. She says that accent walls should be used if the architecture calls for it.

She has some points and it got me thinking about my own home. I have accent walls in two rooms the dining room and living room.

In the living room the accent wall is on the same wall as the fireplace and built in bookshelf.

I choose this color because I saw it in a magazine and really like it. But I was afraid that it would darken the room to much. We only have 8' ceilings, the floor is dark wood, and though we have 2 good sized windows they are shaded by trees. So I didn't want the whole room this color.

After all the painting was done I realized I could have gone with a darker color for my accent wall because the accent color and field color are pretty close. The molding of the fireplace doesn't pop quite like I though it would. Hindsight is 20 x 20!

The other room that I used an accent wall is in the dining room. I wanted to carry the color of the curtains in the living room into that space. 

It's hard to tell from this picture but the back wall is a citron green. You can see it better in this close up of the glass window:

Here again I felt that the architecture called for an accent wall. There is no point to stop and start the paint between the living and dining room.  The large arch connecting the living and dining room doesn't allow for it, we don't have a closed corner to start and end two colors, so I went ahead and paint the field color throughout.

I like our one wall of green though, it's one of the first things you see when you enter our home and really draws your eye throughout the space.

In the Con- Man's room I went a head and painted all the walls blue.

His room gets tons of natural light so there was no worry about it being to dark. The blue is really soothing and goes well with the pops of green scattered throughout.

It doesn't seem to me to be a right or wrong answer, just whatever works for you and your home!

So what do you have more of in your home? Whole rooms of color or accents thrown in here and there?

Have you Entered?

Have you been entering Apartment Therapy's Holiday Giveaways? I have! EVERDAY. Oh I have been so good this year I'm hoping to be lucky enough to win one of their awesome prizes.A few examples-

The Eames Hang All

Create your own Transit Art

A cool stool

Kitchenware!

Wine Carafe

 

And for Connor:

Adorable Eric Carle Lithograph

A comfy chair

Awesome Art Easel

And so much more!



So, wonderful Apartment Therapy Elves, won't you please draw my name?