Blending Households

If you and your partner, or soon-to-be spouse, each have your own established household, there will be a few difficulties involved in blending the two. Along with the challenges of melding two families together and deciding where to live, you also have to face the logistics of deciding what to keep, what to store, and what to sell or give away.

Between the two of you, you have a lot of stuff to take care of. There are a number of factors to consider when determining what goes where.

Sentiment over Aesthetic

While it’s nice to have a home that looks aesthetically uniform, sometimes it can put a strain on the relationship, especially if achieving an attractive interior look would mean ditching most of one party’s belongings. Things such as furniture, art, and personal items often hold sentimental value, and it’s important that those be included.

While you may worry that your living space will look like a mishmash of random items, it can actually work fairly well. Decisions about wall colors and carpeting are usually more important to aesthetic cohesion than the styles of furniture. Plus, eclectic is in.

Remember the Children

When choosing what to keep and what to give away, remember your kids. Children usually have strong attachments to specific items, such as a favorite chair or that one spot on the sofa. Be sure to accommodate those items in order to ease the transition and prevent them from feeling like their old life is being completely thrown out.

Functionality

In some cases, each partner may not have a complete household-worth of stuff, which can simplify the blending process. For instance, if one person has some living room and bedroom furnishings and the other person has a dining room set, those can be brought together fairly comfortably with fewer sacrifices.

Start Fresh

In many cases, you’ll both want a fresh start, which means some items may need to be sold or given away. If, for instance, that set of drapes reminds your partner of their ex, then it may be worthwhile to give them away or throw them out, even if they would work with your home’s aesthetic appeal. Again, each party’s feelings are more important than more superficial matters here.

If you are blending households, IMS Relocation can help you with residential moving services and various storage solutions. For more information, contact us today.