Interior Design: Common Living Spaces

Like I mentioned in this post, my husband and I recently moved from a two bedroom townhouse into a four bedroom single family home. Read: I need to bring my interior design and decorating A-Game with all this additional space to deal with!

I also mentioned that we have very different styles. One of the challenges I'm facing is how to appropriately blend our two styles together so that our home feels like home to both of us, yet doesn't look like a "her stuff" "his stuff" situation.

Behold! The bookshelf in our living room:

What I love about this is besides the books (we each had a small library to contribute to our married home) the majority of these items we either got together or got as gifts for our wedding. I think incorporating these items is really important for our "common" spaces, like the living and dining rooms. It's suppose to feel like OURS; not like, "dangit, there's that stupid hockey jersey hanging in the middle of my living room" or "uhhhhhh, why does she feel the need to put sparkles everywhere?!"

And I WOULD put sparkles everywhere. Because sparkles are awesome.

Here is a view of our entertainment center. It's a blend of photo's we both had in our independent homes, plus some Tiffany votive candles we got for our wedding. The black frames keep the display masculine enough while the randomness of the mismatched frames keep it interesting. The candles help provide variety and add femininity.

(These votive candles are also a safety measure. They're crystal and SO HEAVY that if someone attempts to break into the front door or large floor to ceiling window in the front of the house, I'll grab one and chuck it at the intruder. There's no way the intruder wouldn't get knocked out!)

As important as creating comfortable common living spaces is still feeling like you have "your space" in a home. My husband has his office, full of masculine furniture and artwork only he picked out. I have a section of the master bedroom with my girly, white wicker vanity, French lounge chair and yes, even a sequined pillow!