Decorating Your First Home Together

After the honeymoon comes the rest of your life. One of the first things that newlyweds will need to do is to set up their new home. Here are some ideas about decorating the first home that you will share as a married couple.

When you got married, you probably received a lot of great stuff. The only thing is that when you combine all of your old stuff with his old stuff plus all of the new stuff, wow! - that is a lot of stuff. You may be wondering how you are ever going to fit it all together into one space and make it look good. Not only that, but a home should somehow reflect the style of both of the people living there, so you have to find a way to balance your personal taste with your husband's.

A good place to start is by looking through magazines to find pictures of rooms that you both like. Focus on the living room and the bedroom to start, as these are going to be the two places where you will spend the most time in your house. Most men do not have a strong sense of home decorating style, but they will at least be able to tell you what they really cannot stand.

Once you have a basic idea of your style, whether it is contemporary, traditional, or somewhere in between, it will be time to start evaluating what you already have. You will want to blend together as many of the pieces that you own already, so that you don't have the expense of a lot of new furniture right after the wedding. Don't worry if it does not all go perfectly; over time you can replace some of the older furniture to create a more cohesive look.

There will likely have to be some compromises made. Chances are that your husband may have a hideous old favorite recliner lurking somewhere in his bachelor pad. It is fair to say that a truly grubby old piece of furniture has no business in the room where you plan to entertain guests, but you may have to make a concession in return. If you are fortunate enough to have a den in addition to a living room, let him turn it into a "man cave", where he can keep his prized recliner, big screen tv, and Fathead of Peyton Manning. On the other hand, if you don't have a spare room, you may just have to buy him a new chair that you can stand to see in your living room!

A great way to give your living room style is to design a picture wall. You will undoubtedly have tons of fantastic wedding pictures showing everything from the church to the cake to your wedding jewelry. A fun idea is to create a "story wall" that hits on both the high points and the special details of your day. For visual interest, be sure to choose a variety of shots, from wide angle views of your entire wedding party to the most close up image of fine details like jewelry and bouquets. Choose one signature frame to use for all of the photos to tie them all together visually.

Another quick and easy decorating tip is to use paint as an accent. You can paint an entire room or just do one accent wall, but anytime that you add color to a room you will be creating an ambiance. Transforming plain white walls into something more expressive will help your first place together feel more like a home.

Marriage is all about compromise, and setting up your first home will be a great chance to get some practice in this art. All that painting and decorating is also a great bonding experience. It can really be a lot of fun to take a space and create a home that you will both love coming back to every evening.