How to Combine Masculine and Feminine Style in a Home
Back when I was single, my décor was 100% girly. I had a pink couch (it was awesome), a bright yellow floral duvet cover and a pink dresser. Then I got married. And while Scott is super cool and way more compromising than most guys I know, we had to work together to merge our styles and create a home we were both happy in. Combining masculine and feminine style in a home is not as bad as you all think, or as painful! Here’s how we did it:
Consider what’s important to both people. If you are enrolled in my free eight-week cleaning e-course (you can join here at anytime!), then you already know that Scott is a natural minimalist. I am not. I’m like, “honey, help me decide what to go on the fireplace mantle!” and he’s like, “but it’s fine as is. That wood looks nice on it’s own.” (me: slowly shaking my head and sighing). For both of us to be happy, we had to find a design that isn’t bare but also isn’t me shoving all the stuff I can in one spot (because I would if I could!). Something that’s clean, but decorated nicely, like so:
Find a balance of light and dark. This may not be the case for every couple, but it is for us and for a lot of others. Scott is drawn to darker colors and muted tones, while I like to keep things as bright and colorful as I can. So we compromise. For a perfect example, see this post here about our living room. We painted the walls white, left the dark wood trim alone, and got both a dark couch and a white one. Win/win (bonus win, I get to pick all the pillows!).
Another example is our dining table. We picked it out together. The top is dark and rustic wood—very manly (and gorgeous!). The legs are curved and white and pretty. Again, both styles are represented seamlessly.
Check out our kitchen at the last house. We had white, neutral cabinets, very masculine (and amazing!) DIY concrete countertops and beautiful feminine vintage brass hardware. It struck a perfect balance that we both loved.
Make trade offs. Scott is seriously the most laid back person ever, and pretty much lets me get away with most of my design decisions. So when he wants to pick something out, I got with it even if it’s not my favorite. The trade off? I get to put pink floraly delicious wallpaper in our entryway and paint the piano mint. You know, compromises and stuff. 😛 Don’t worry, he likes it too. Promise!
Have your own space to do what you want with. I know not everyone has the luxury of having their own space in a home, but we both work at home quite a bit and both have our own offices. Scott’s is literally a blank slate with one piece of art, a table a chair and that’s about it. Mine is like a glitter explosion. There is stuff everywhere, color, texture, literal glitter…it’s so fun. But I work very hard to keep my craft stuff there and not all over the living room and dining room. Usually.:)
What about you all? Do you have any tips for how to combine two opposite styles? I’d love to hear them!
Tania Griffis is an accomplished writer, blogger, and interior designer with a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She started her popular blog, Run to Radiance, in 2011, demonstrating her design expertise through the personal remodeling of six houses to millions of readers across the globe.
Tania also owns The Creative Wheelhouse, a respected ghostwriting agency for bloggers, further showcasing her talent for creating engaging and informative content.
I so appreciate this post! My husband and I, while having very similar styles, still have a hard time deciding on some of the details of the room design/decor. We just purchased an old fox-hunting lodge, so it has very masculine features — which means we’ll be able to add a few more feminine design elements (yay for me!) to balance it out.
Woohoo Courtney! You are in a great spot then! 😉 You can be like, “but babe, this is a hunting lodge, so…that’s your pick and i get to design literally everything else.” 😛 It sounds amazing by the way, I’d love to see pics! 🙂
i just adore your home and style and you’ve blended beautifully!
Every time I see more of your home I see more to love! That living room is fantastic. I have a pretty “masculine” taste (hate calling it that but haven’t thought of anything better), so my husband and I didn’t have that issue when we moved in. Instead, our battles were always over traditional vs modern/ edgy. I love an edge, but he grew up with a traditional look and that’s what he was used to. Over the years, he’s branched out a bit and gotten into some of my edgier styles, and I have gotten better about making sure the more out-there looks I want to bring home actually fit into our home.
I absolutely love the style of your house!!! You have the best contrast of both worlds and it shows in each room 🙂
Oh I LOVE that floral wallpaper so much, I love the artist that made it. We just got married and my husband helped me paint our bedroom very pale pink, we have white trim and dark wood furniture and we both think it looks great. However, I do like a lot of white and plainness and empty space, which, we’ll say, he doesn’t exactly appreciate. He likes a LOT more color and stuff going on.
I hadn’t ever considered the intentionality of bridging both your and Scott’s styles. Thinking back- you do such a lovely job on this! *xoxox Steps
Such wonderful tips! And your house is beautiful 🙂 I’m getting married in september so I’ll be pinning this one for future reference!
Great post! This might prevent some fights in the future ; )
I would love it if you would share this post on my weekly link-up : )
http://www.twentysomethinginthe2010s.com/peace-love-linkup-002/