Canalien Houses

[Malrothien 6]

I have final veto power on anything and everything we buy since I do the finances in our relationship. You could say I am the dominant person in the relationship, but I do take my husband's opinion very seriously.

[lonie 0]

Its a mix of both, he has the house, most of the furniture and all the electronics, but it's a guy's house, so no decor!!! He knows I am going to change things, particularly what's left from his ex-wife...

It's a 50/50 thing since we are both hard headed and want our own way, so we learn to compromise...as for the electronics, I could care less, so he can have that one all to himself, that and the garage, I want the kitchen!

I think it works out perfectly, IMO

[antda 13]

Hi Everyone,

Great new poll, indeed!...

Ok...My answers would be....

Furniture: We pretty much compromise there...

Half of the furniture that we have now was actually stuff that D had before we got married/lived together (as I couldn't bring any furniture over from Canada). Lol..and over the years, we got rid of each of those pieces (donated to charity and/or gave to other family members), and replaced it with newer things that we bought together instead...These 'pre-marriage pieces' currently still include: coffee tables, dining room table, small nightstand dresser, computer desk.....(it used to include a lot more....)....Not bad though...as we both like these pieces.....

It worked out well for us back then, as we were broke and we had pretty much the same tastes...So no complaints there....

Now the rest of the stuff we got new over the past few years, which we picked and bought together.....

Some of newest items include: baby furniture (lol..we had fun assembling and picking those together), the couches (which we definitely compromised there...as we both had differences in opinion about style and colour....so I picked the style and he picked the colour...happy compromise, indeed...), kitchen chair/stools, an outdoor shed (found in a parking lot of a hardware store....it was lonely..lol...),

We had to get rid of the small bookshelf...As it was falling apart.....I'm currently in search of a new one....lol....So now my books are still in boxes....

Lol...There's a story to every piece of furniture that we have.....not antique-worthy though....just amusing stories......too long to tell here...

Decorations: Again, we are pretty much compromising there...

Actually to tell you the truth, we had to re-decorate all over again...Now that we moved into a new house....

We are doing that a little bit at a time, as most of our stuff is in boxes now still (lol..even though it's been 6 months since we moved!)

I really wanted to paint the walls....but D said no (since it is all new wallpaper and that would ruin the walls)...So again, we compromised there....and decided on borders and wall-stick on decorations......got some cute animal-themed ones for the baby room...looking forward to working on that....

In our old house...we compromised there too....I painted one room blue...He painted one room red.....And did the living room in a neutral colour...

In our new house...all the walls are still plain......driving me nuts...lol...better get decorating again soon!

By the way, when we picked out the floor, cabinet, countertops, exterior of the house, shutters, etc. for the new house...

We decided on that together (from the choices the builder gave)...

It wasn't too long for us to pick such together for our new-built house...As we had very similar tastes....

"You read my mind", I remember us saying to each other several times......

We are going to hang his paintings on the wall though...original art...hey, why not...

As well, we recently got the baby's family photos done for his 6th month birthday...Looking forward to hanging those too, along with other family photos

I was thinking about hanging up some other artwork/photos too...lol...will try to talk him into that....

Lol..I open a window, and I see the moutains and the hills and nature all around me...guess that's decoration enough too....

Electronics and Appliances: Depends on what it is....

I'm in charge of computer and camera related stuff...He is in charge of the tv related stuff....

The CD player/stereo he got me years ago...Back in our old dating days....It made it back and forth between Canada and the USA all those years!

The same goes for our "travelling christmas tree" (which was questioned and almost taken by the border guards during my POE...lol..)

Our music collection and books are 50/50......

Applicances the house-builder threw in for free.....(though we did move our old washer and dryer from our old place..that wasn't included)

Other electronics and appliances we compromise together too...

Cars/Vehicle: Not a poll option....But had to include this..

First car: His (had to junk out...too old..)...."The Dating Vehicle"

Second car: His (had to junk out...too old..), Both sharing in the insurance......."The Marriage/Honeymoon Vehicle"

Third vehicle: Mine as the owner (had to junk out..broke down near tbe border when I was on my way to Canada to renew my passport..I think I posted about this story in detail on VJ sometime last year.....lol...) His as the registration, Both sharing in the insurance...."The We're Starting a Family Vehicle"

Fourth/Current vehicle: I picked it out, His as the owner and registration, Both sharing in the insurance...."The We're Having a Baby/Valentine's Day Vehicle"...(lol.this was the replacement vehicle for the one before)

No choices in colour and/or make for those vehicles..Since they were all used....Luck of the draw...You never know what you're going to get....lol...

Over the years our license plate has remained the same!....Kind of has special memories for us...

And gosh knows how many miles we put on those vehicles, crossing the Canada/US border so many times over the years!.....

Clothes: Not a poll option....But had to include this..

He picks my clothes (lol..he has better tastes in clothes than I do). He picks his clothes. We both pick the baby clothes....

Other stuff: Compromise, compromise, compromise....

If there is one thing about marriage.....That is one "golden rule" that all must learn........

Ant

Edited February 4, 2010 by Ant+D+BabyA

[Sprailenes 47]

I mean usually my husband would have a large say in all of it, he feels that because he is a designer that he has better taste... which may be true because my style is kind of wonky. Our tastes are different. I love whimsical, midcentury stuff, and he loves contemporary. I know he doesn't like want to live in Smurf village so I go with the contemporary look. I don't mind it.

Right now our couch is a loveseat handed down to us from his parents, I absolutely hate it! It was in their basement where his brother plays the drums and spends most of his time. Well I found WEED inside the cushions one day! I was like what the hell?? I want that couch gone, who knows what else is in that thing... ugh.

But ya we are in DIRE need of new furniture, I bought some stuff last year but not a lot. End tables, and a shelf. But we need a couch and a new dinette set for sure.

Edited February 4, 2010 by Sprailenes

[darkchilde794 5]

Hubby and I are fortunate because we start out similarly: furniture-less

We agree on an over-all budget but I decide what we pick just cause... well... I love the hubby but the house will have one bed, one table, one chair and a pan to fry pancakes if I left him with the decoration-duty. Oh and a TV and his computer. Not even a couch.

However, if its a costly furniture (ie. our mattress), we talk about it and do the pro's and con's together.

Hubby does pick out electronics as he STUDIES them and does extensive research, whereas Id be "oh, its cute!" and buy it even if "it" wasnt a preferred brand or had less specs than others.

[kizza 1]

Furniture, paint colours, art, etc. we pick together.

Fortunately we have really similar taste.

Unfortunately, we are both undecisive!

Electronics... he picks 100%.

He looooves it and loves researching it for months before making a purchase.

So I trust his judgement.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

As far as furniture and decor go, my husband and I have really similar tastes. So usually when we go shopping or pick things out, we mutually agree on what's nice and what isn't. We both like really modern looking things. The only time we ever need to have a serious discussion is to decide if something is too "weird" or "funky"

For electronics, I basically just let him pick out what he likes. He likes to do research and then go in with a lot of knowledge about what he's getting and what it'll do. That works for me! As long as he's not being completely unreasonable about how much he's going to spend. We usually need to set a budget so we don't end up with way more than what we really need.

[Rhiannercakes 14]

We havnt lived together long enough to pick out furniture.

We're still in his parents' house, so we wont be looking until we get an apartment later in the year... and we might have to settle for stuff from the goodwill until we can save up and buy some furniture.

Otherwise, we'd bother choose together. He really wants a 50 inch tv, but I think it's too big... so I said I'd let him get something around 45-46 inches

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Otherwise, we'd bother choose together. He really wants a 50 inch tv, but I think it's too big... so I said I'd let him get something around 45-46 inches

I have to admit...as much as I love watching movies, hockey and TV on DVD, I can't fathom the need for a television that big, ESPECIALLY if it's going to be in an apartment. If you've got a very large living room and ample seating for a dozen or so people, it might make sense...but otherwise, it just strikes me as an exercise in excess. We're in the market for a new TV too, but the largest I could justify going is 32". Anything bigger just becomes cumbersome and unnecessary, in my opinion.

[Rhiannercakes 14]

I have to admit...as much as I love watching movies, hockey and TV on DVD, I can't fathom the need for a television that big, ESPECIALLY if it's going to be in an apartment. If you've got a very large living room and ample seating for a dozen or so people, it might make sense...but otherwise, it just strikes me as an exercise in excess. We're in the market for a new TV too, but the largest I could justify going is 32". Anything bigger just becomes cumbersome and unnecessary, in my opinion.

I've watched tv at places like Costco and the like, and honestly... huge tvs have terrible quality unless you're willing to pay up the wazoo for a good one.

We don't really even watch tv, we mostly play video games.

[OBX 51]

I have to admit...as much as I love watching movies, hockey and TV on DVD, I can't fathom the need for a television that big, ESPECIALLY if it's going to be in an apartment. If you've got a very large living room and ample seating for a dozen or so people, it might make sense...but otherwise, it just strikes me as an exercise in excess. We're in the market for a new TV too, but the largest I could justify going is 32". Anything bigger just becomes cumbersome and unnecessary, in my opinion.

I moved up to a 40 inch a couple of years ago and I find that size perfect. Not so big that it is the first thing you see when you walk into the room but large enough to enjoy watching TV and movies.

As far as furniture and electronics go...if it is something I feel strongly about he will defer to me and vice versa. As far as actual decorating...pictures, fixtures, paint colours, even placement of furniture; it's all me. My husband has no sense of style at all.

[TimandJoyce 1]

we've made some choices together, usually go shopping together to get ideas. He knows ( and expected) that I'd want to change up his house.. although I don't have to do to much. We picked out our bed and bedding, and couple other items. I take my ideas to him and usually he agrees. I need to find a new coffee table, and if I see one I like, we'll go together to look.

Electronics? I put n/a as we don't have too much, although he's getting a new computer. We have a friend that is able to get us a really good deal on one. I'd also like to get a new c.d. player, but that's in the future somewhere.

[Marilyn. 340]

I would probably be the one picking out the furniture but I would ask the hubster's opinion but I already know what his response would be, "whatever you want"

the couch we currently have my hubby picked out, because I was in the hospital and we really needed a couch.. it has done it's job but I hate it , I am hoping we don't have tot take it with us when we move

as for electronics, I am the one that does all the research on different brands etc.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

We have a 46 inch TV and I'd have to admit it might be a little excessive. Its nice watching movies with the surround system and watching HD channels, but when you're just watching regular TV the picture isn't as big as the actual TV screen, or you can get is stretched out and it gets a little blurry. So I just watch the HD channels and Blu Rays, and that's pretty much it, other than the Wii, which looks awesome on it. However, if he had his way it would be a 50. We were a Best Buy after Christmas and they had a 50 inch on sale because it was missing an instruction manual or something, and he wanted to buy it so bad. We just got this one in July, I seriously don't think we need to be upgrading yet. Thankfully our house has plenty of TV space, so it won't look awkward. Right now having a 46 inch TV on the wall of our bedroom is pretty interesting. Then add a surround sound system, a wii and two computers and I'm sleeping in a sea of electronics. I seriously can't wait to move later this month!!

So we have this big TV, a Nintendo Wii, a surround sound system, a bed, two computers, a computer desk, and a love seat. That's it! And we need to furnish an entire house in a few weeks. Really shows you what Mr. Huggles priorities are

[bowflex 0]

I have to admit...as much as I love watching movies, hockey and TV on DVD, I can't fathom the need for a television that big, ESPECIALLY if it's going to be in an apartment. If you've got a very large living room and ample seating for a dozen or so people, it might make sense...but otherwise, it just strikes me as an exercise in excess. We're in the market for a new TV too, but the largest I could justify going is 32". Anything bigger just becomes cumbersome and unnecessary, in my opinion.

Lol We've got a 62" in my rec room downstairs, a 40 inch plasma on the wall in the bedroom, and a 42 inch on the wall in the living room. It's supposed to be in guys' blood to want the biggest and badest electronic equipment I thought haha.