Learning To Compromise On Our Home Decor

I am an Interior Designer.  I work, live, and breathe beautiful interiors, especially with plans for my own home. Recently I had to learn to compromise with my husband on what our home should look like.

After my husband finally finished Physician Assistant school five years ago, I could finally throw myself into the overhaul and updates of our home.  I have pulled magazine and online inspirations into notebooks, drawn up new floorplans and layouts, and talked about it incessantly with my husband about the vision I WANTED for our interiors. My husband has mostly agreed with everything I have planned and visioned.  He likes mid-century modern nearly as much as I do.

Until he threw me a curve ball while shopping for new furniture.

source: BHG.com

We both decided at the first of the year that we needed to purchase new furniture for the house.  It has been 12 years since we bought anything brand new and it is just time.  Our sofa has held up beautifully over the last twelve years considering we have had dogs, teenagers, and more dogs crashing on this sofa.  But the poor thing really needs to be replaced or reupholstered asap.  We made a plan to start the new furniture purchases with a new sofa.

You can imagine how my mind started working.  Since we are also completing the renovation of the front family room this year, I envisioned modern straight edged furniture in classic mid-century colors, a modern rug, and clean and uncluttered rooms.  I was going to create not one but two true mid-century styled rooms and love both of them dearly.

source: hgtv.com

Then my husband finally spoke up on his vision for a few things, the living room in particular.  To him, the living room is his place to crash and rejuvenate and relax.  My vision for the living room just didn’t agree with what he wanted.  He is a tall man and he finally wanted a sofa he could comfortably take a nap on, and a recliner (I think they are ugly) that he could enjoy, and something we didn’t have to worry about the dogs destroying.

source: hgtv.com

My mind was blown!  My vision is what goes with our style house, we both like mid-century modern and uncluttered spaces, and he was just messing up my plans.  My plans!

You know what, he is right!

My husband works long and hard hours as a PA in Neurosurgery.  He spends his days dealing with brain cancer, spinal surgeries, and trauma.  On the nights he is on call and may work a 40 hour shift, he deals with car wreck victims, accident victims, and may have the unpleasant tasks of telling families bad news.  He often holds the family member’s hands as he guides them through the process of saying goodbye and making decisions about organ donation.

He has the type of job that I would never ever consider.  So if he wants a large reclining sofa where he can mindlessly play video games to decompress after a hard shift, then he will have that sofa.  The kids often laugh at him because his characters on the video screen sometimes wander in circles because he is so mentally tired.

This is how our living room has looked for a couple of years now.  Not my favorite look but I was waiting until we put in the new floors and finished the front room to update this whole room.

So, we ended up with this:

I will go ahead and say right now what you are thinking – – – THAT is a lot of brown!  These two toned brown sofas and the recliner are so comfortable, I won’t deny that, but they overwhelm me a bit with all this brown in one room.

Yes, I compromised on what will become a brand new look for our living room.  Not anything close to what I had envisioned, but I can agree those sofas sure are comfortable and I will probably be the first one to take a nap on them.  My front family room style plans will remain the same,  mid-century modern inspired and this room will have a more relaxed masculine feel.  We both win in this case.

source: hgtv.com

I also get two new challenges to test my design skills.  I get to discover how to accessorize and recreate our living room into more of the casual and masculine family room, while working on my vision for the front room into the classic mid-century style – all on a budget.

source: hgtv.com

I already know my color scheme will be a mixture of brown, blue, and orange in either one of these two color schemes (as if you couldn’t tell that from all these inspiration pictures included in this post).

source: colourlovers.com

source: colourlovers.com

Or a combination of both for winter and summer.

It is going to be fun.  I will post new photos of the living room in a few weeks and the new front family room by early summer.

source: hgtv.com

Now we just need to compromise on which room will get the bigger TV.  Be sure to come back to see how we continue to compromise on the design style of our home.

“Charm is deceptive and beauty if fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.”  Proverbs 31:30