First comes “I love you.” Then comes “will you marry or move in with me?” The next thing you know, you are moving box after box up flights of stairs with his/her stuff. All of a sudden, your living room, which strived for a clean and contemporary look, is covered in Guinness posters or stuffed animals. How do you say yes to your partner but no to their stuff?

When it comes to design, we all have to learn to compromise. We often find ourselves debating and having to make adjustments when it comes to budget and space – you may want that expensive sofa, but in order to afford it, you find yourself with bookshelves from IKEA. While you may have always found a way to make things work on your own, once your partner moves in, you now have to compromise with another person. Finding a middle ground for whose sofa to use to what color to paint the walls can help take a home from yours to ours without too much of a battle.

Keep in mind that although it is great to marry your styles together, you shouldn’t forget who you are. Everyone needs a space in their house that represents them. If pink is your favorite color but your partner doesn’t like it, paint the interior of your walk-in closet pink instead of painting the whole house. This allows you to connect with your inner-child while still having an adult, contemporary home.

Many times, items of sentimental value quickly get banished to the basement because these items do not match the rest of the home’s décor. If you have extra space in your home, use this space to store sentimental items, such as sports memorabilia. This special room will create a fantasy world for the individual, providing a place to escape from the rest of the house.

Compromising in design is important for making a relationship work, especially to help a house feel like a home. The backbone, however, for a successful relationship is finding an outlet for each individual where they can be their own person. While your home may represent who you are as a couple, at the end of each day, you need to celebrate how fabulous you are – as an individual.