When Amber Nail and Alex Guzinski moved in together before their June 2 wedding in Bayonne, they needed to blend their styles and make room for Amber’s baby grand piano. “Luckily, our styles were similar enough to work, and Alex was great about making room for my grandmother’s paintings.” This couple had it easier than most, since it can be a colossal negotiating event when a bride and groom need to blend their styles so that their home reflects them both. If she’s a romantic, Victorian type with lots of pink and flowers, how can that possibly be blended with his sleek, modern, black-and-silver décor? Some couples battle over his worn brown leather recliner that she wants not just banished to the basement but gone completely, and he is just as resistant to hanging her Georgia O’Keeffe paintings in the bedroom. When you have a style blending issue, how do you create the perfect balance of his and hers so that your home says ours?
Obviously, the first step is picking out which items from your collected belongings are non-negotiable keepers. His comfy couch may be way better than yours and your queen-sized bed may be way better than his full-sized. So your bedroom set goes into the master bedroom and his goes into the second bedroom. Easy enough. Once you have your list of top choices, it’s just a matter of making the next concessions, and deciding what you’ll need to buy new (or register for!) that will form the perfect style transition to combine all of your special belongings.
If the process gets tense, bring in an expert. Betty Brano, interior decorator at Décor and You in Princeton (www.decorandyou.com/bbrano) says that an expert can take you through each room of your house to decide what you want it to accomplish for you. “While a room has to be functional, it also has to meet your needs and the way you see yourself living in it,” says Brano. “So I would assess the room and perhaps find a better place for that leather reclining chair and suggest ways to accessorize it with the right wood accents in other pieces of furniture. The bride might have a side table that will work better in the den than in the living room, tying in his chair with her style.” Brano says that part of her process in combining His style with Her style is figuring out how to use color, which is often a big style definition for anyone’s chosen décor. “I’ll take the couple to their closets and look at which colors are there, which colors make them the most comfortable. If they wear mostly blues or reds, we bring that into the interior design and know which colors to use in tying together disparate pieces of furniture.” It may be as simple as adding some red throws and pillows to that couch, plus some red candlesticks and a wall hanging with red in it. Clearly, color is the answer.
Many of the top home-décor stores have discovered this solution and promote their lines of designer bedding, window treatments, and bathroom linens with an eye toward meeting the his and hers focus of so many soon-to-be newlyweds. So you will see a greater amount of home décor lines that are gender-neutral and stylish all the same. Charlotte Hutchings, Director of Creative Merchandising for home merchandise company Nautica (www.nautica.com), says: “We bridge the gender gap with chic offerings that suit both bride and groom. In order to appease masculine and feminine sensibilities, we have found that timeless designs work best.”
Focus on comfort. Soft fabrics for couches that come in masculine-friendly colors of chocolate, burgundy, and navy bring in a feminine feel through the sense of touch. Hutchings says, “You want to be comfortable while imparting effortless style. Classic styling with clean lines, neutral palettes, and fine detailing bring harmony to the bridal suite.” The neutral palette is the key. With a neutral palette, you can accent with touches of your beloved pink bud vases as well as the groom accenting with his sleek silver additions. “In addition to Nautica’s signature palette of blue and white, we are seeing a fashion-forward trend towards integrating black into the bridal collection,” says Hutchings. Black? Yes, black and chocolate, even grays and greens, cranberries and tans are often the best gender-neutral palettes on which to build your rooms using your own belongings as accents. Check out Nautica’s Sloan Square bedding example above to see how the colors of the bedding and the bed itself provide that rich neutral to accent with those his and hers figurines and a bright vase of flowers. You’ll also find their sleek and romantic Stanhope collection of black and winter white, giving you a palette you can do anything with.
And beyond linens, you’ll tie the fabric color theme into your tabletop design so that your set tables reflect you both way better than those super-floral pink china sets. Now, using Nautica’s Sloan Square dinnerware collection as an example, you’ll see gender-neutral black herringbone with a grey stripe rim, or a subdued grey floral paisley—bringing the male color theme into the female floral paisley.
Gift Registries - High on Style, Low on Price
By Patricia Koch
Lucky you, registering for wedding gifts just as store windows are filling up with distinctive designer wares at a fraction of full price. Retailers today are teaming with high-end designers to market fabulous-looking, functional furnishings with affordable price tags—perfect to request as wedding gifts and to outfit a stylish newlywed pad.
Kmart kicked off this move to affordable design the day it started selling Martha Stewart Everyday ten years ago. Offering “home products from America’s trusted guide to stylish living” at mass-market prices was a groundbreaking event that allowed brides across the country to decorate beautifully without breaking the bank. Shop Martha Stewart Everyday styles at your nearby Kmart and online at www.kmart.com. A bridal registry may be in the works sometime soon, but for now ask friends for a Kmart gift card.
Target followed with a collection of kitchenware designed by Michael Graves—featuring his now-famous toaster and whistle teakettle—back in 1999. Graves has since expanded his collection to more than a thousand products, from high-style barware to dog bowls.
Spring-boarding on the success of these Graves goods, Target now champions “Design for All,” a campaign to make cutting-edge design accessible and affordable for everyone, everyday. It’s all available through Club Wedd, reputedly the largest U.S. bridal registry, at www.target.com or your nearest Target. You’ll find Club Wedd fresh, fun, and chock-full of wedding planning hints and home furnishing ideas.
While there, shop Rachel Ashwell’s Simply Shabby Chic pastel bed and bath line and Isaac Mizrahi’s splashy, high-fashion homewares. Browse Thomas O’Brien’s Vintage Modern furnishings and Victoria Hagan’s Perfect Pieces decorative accents. Then move outdoors to Sean Conway’s Garden Style collection.
In addition to Target’s designer partner collections, they also offer a variety of prestige brands available through the registry including Riedel glassware, Bose electronics, Dyson vacuums, KitchenAid mixers, Calphalon cookware, and iPods.
Then there’s Nate Berkus, Oprah’s personable design guru, who has introduced a bed, bath, and tableware collection at Linens n’ Things that promises you’ll “love walking through your front door.” To register for Nate Berkus homewares, go to www.lnt.com. You’ll meet wedding planner Mindy Weiss and get the inside scoop on everything “I do” from celebrity weddings to 2007 trends.
JC Penney offers low-cost design from author, columnist, and HGTV show host Chris Madden. Madden’s furniture, bed, and bath collection focuses on personal space and comfort, with the aim of “turning your home into a welcoming haven.” Visit www.jcpenney.com/chrismadden to request your favorites in her understated classic style.
Sears has an entire line of home décor, bed and bath accessories, tableware, and furniture from Ty Pennington, the carpenter from Trading Spaces and more recently of ABC’s Home Makeover: Home Edition fame. Log onto www.sears.com to create your registry and choose from the Ty Pennington Style line.
At Bed Bath & Beyond, look for Nicole Miller’s bed and bath accessories, B. Smith’s serveware and window ware, and Kay Unger’s bed and tabletop lines. Browse dinnerware by Kate Spade and Vera Wang too—all at everyday prices. Register at www.bedbathandbeyond.com to equip yourself with a “Bridal Toolkit.” Or shop in-store to choose your favorites and scan them instantly onto your list.
You’ll be surprised at all the designer wares out there, sporting such reasonable price tags. Go find your favorites, and don’t be shy about requesting them from friends and family.