Last week on The Office, Michael had a dinner party at his condo, and as the evening wore on tensions between he and live-in girlfriend, Jan, came to a head. At one point during the meal, he proceeded to take down a modern painting from the dining room wall and replaced it with a neon St Pauli Girl bar sign. Classy stuff. In the bedroom, the bed was covered in throw pillows (I’m certain that was Jan’s doing). Two very extreme examples of how couples can clash when it comes to decorating.

It got me thinking about decorating. I’m extremely lucky that Randy and I have very similar taste how the house should look. We agree on colors, styles, textures and the overall look of the home. I’m also glad that he cares about the look of the home. I know some couples just leave the decorating decisions to the wife and the husband says he doesn’t care one way or another. That’s no fun! Decorating is fun and it’s an activity you can do with your spouse. We’re all about home improvement projects too, but I know that can push some couples over the edge. I will not condone that for all couples. Sometimes the best thing to do is pick up the phone and call the professionals.

When we first moved in together, were were at odds about Randy’s cheap-ass picture frames with the “artwork” from 6 packs used as kitchen decorations. It was his apartment and I was moving in, but I gently approached the topic and luckily he wasn’t so in love with is Amber Bock art that he wasn’t willing to take them down so I felt like it was my home too. Little did he know that 7 years later he would be excited about bamboo curtains and wall sconces.