It Takes A Village
In the excitement of planning new interior design for the home, it's easy to get carried away and forget to involve your children and other family member. Getting the whole family involved in the home decorating process may sound like a challenge, but if done right, the end result would be something uniquely yours as a family. It takes a village to decorate a home!
Get Inspired
Instead of doing your usual family activities this weekend, why not flip through some home décor magazines and websites and watch home improvements shows to find inspiration? Remember to note down the ideas that are most popular and save the images and websites you like. Mix and match these images and ideas to see which work best together. Try to find some common ground where your picks overlap, and then agree to work toward that type of ambiance. As a bonus, you get quality time as a family.
Happy Medium
Living and decorating together means mostly finding the middle ground that can satisfy all parties. As much as possible, decisions on major ideas and big-ticket items should be shared. If the wife likes the oriental look, but the husband prefers everything modern and western for instance, you can try blending his and her styles in an eclectic way. One example is that one spouse can include all the decor of a certain style they want in a room, but the other spouse can paint the walls to match with the style in which his/her room was created. Remember, divergent tastes can still be compatible.
Negotiate, Compromise and Embrace
What if that happy medium proves to be elusive? Negotiate or compromise and if all else fails, embrace! For example, your husband really needs to put his ratty reading chair in the living room, you can negotiate to have that much-coveted bathtub fixed in the master bathroom. If that doesn't work, compromise to put the chair in the bedroom or study room, away from the eyes of visitors. Or how about embracing your different styles by dividing up rooms or areas for each family member? So if the daughter spends hours in the family library, it can be her responsibility to decorate the room.
Agree To Disagree
This applies especially for individual bedrooms. It may be so that you really would prefer not to have a Curt Kobain-inspired Gothic style bedroom under your roof, but if that's what your teenage son desires, you could agree to disagree, just as long as he keeps the volume of the rock music down.
Respect and Relax
Finally, bear in mind that the focus of the entire decorating project is not only to get a beautifully-decorated home, but also to have a home that reflects the lifestyle and personality of your family. When it comes to home decorating as a family, a little teamwork goes a long way!
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