How to Create Your First Nest as a Couple
How to Create Your First Nest as a Couple
Everyone knows that a home shared is one designed for more than one. Many new couples buying a home to share are also exploring nesting for the first time. With years of solo apartments and homes behind you, how can you make your first house into a shared nest? How can you build a love nest that grows naturally into a nest for children and pets? Building your first nest is a wonderful project for any couple and there are some great ways you can prepare for the big home design.
The most shared way to move in with your partner is to find a new house together. This way, neither is coming into the other's established space. You can place every piece of furniture where it's happiest for both of you. Every room is designed for shared aesthetics and utility. Your shared priorities will make create harmony while your separate values will combine to improve your shared experience. You may organize the kitchen while they set up the stereo. They may plant a lovely garden while you find curtains for every window. Together, your shared nest will be a place where the mutual enriches your shared and growing life together.
Let's dive into some great nest design ideas and tips for couples and newlyweds.
Build a Cool Color Palette Together
The first thing to do is join forces with your partner to build a color palette. The entire house will come together if you have a simple palette (or a multi-room palette) to stick with. Take inspiration from your existing styles. If one of you has an obvious favorite color that repeats itself in your possessions, make that one of the baseline colors of your nest design.
Often, mixing dark brown into the palette makes way for dark wood and leather furniture. Modern home design trends favor dark, nautical blue themes and warm boho accents. House plants and plant-like decor themes are currently very popular as a way to pull together two natural styles.
Pick your favorite colors and combine your tastes in decor. Consider how your palette can pull together rooms of different styles and purposes, transitioning from a dark den to a bright kitchen while carrying the same color themes.
Celebrate Your Romance
Decorate in ways that celebrate your romance. Frame your favorite couple-pictures and place meaningful trinkets on display. Making these a visible part of your home life will not only make you smile when you see them, it will also remind you both to build more memories each day. When you go on a new date or adventure with your partner, find a way to add the memory to your home decor. Build matching set or an eclectic collection of mementos of your shared life together.
If you saw a movie on your first date, put up the movie poster as part of your decor. If you walk together, decorate with the cool rocks and shells that you pocket along the way. Put up souvenirs from vacations together and furnish with finds you discovered together.
Ask for Home Furnishings in Your Wedding Registry
If you have an upcoming marriage, strategize your wedding registry.
The tradition of wedding gifts is to help establish a couple in a completely new life - often in a freshly built empty cottage. They would send gifts of pots and pans, bowls and plates, utensils, and reusable jars so the kitchen would be complete. They would send bedding and furniture so the couple had somewhere to sleep. They would often send a crib in that first shipment of wedding gifts to be thorough.
Modern households don't start in an empty cottage, so there's a lot more guess-work on the part of your friends and family. But the original sentiment is still there. Use a wedding registry full of furniture, curtains, light fixtures, and home appliances that will really make your nest complete. Your people will likely jump at the chance to help you build a functional and trendy nest with your new spouse.
Build Separate Nooks
Even if your styles mesh perfectly, make sure to have two separate places in the house where you can experience alone-time. Most sane adults need a little quiet space totally to themselves for a few hours each week. Each nook should be designed based on what you like to do for separate personal mediation.
Nooks are a great way to expand into the under-used spaces of the home. One nook might be a craft table with a dedicated set of drawers while the other is a reading chair with its own window and bookcase. One might be a hammock in the backyard while the other is a very well-stocked bathtub.
Plan Shared Home Improvement Projects
Every nest is better when it's personalized from floor to ceiling. As homeowners, you can choose little ways to improve the house every weekend or over each month. Pick ways you can spend time together doing enjoyable home improvement projects. This is a wonderful excuse to brainstorm ways to improve the home on a continual basis.
Consider your light fixtures and what you might like there instead. Light fixture replacement can be done as a team, making the entire home more beautiful for both of you.
Set aside a weekend to repaint the kitchen cabinets, working together to get every cabinet and cabinet door. You can replace the handle fixtures or the plumbing fixtures with ease to give the home a new look. If you are planning for kids, design your nursery. If you have (or want) pets, install a pet door or build a cat tree. Working together is a great way to build your nest and your relationship at the same time.
---
Nesting with your loved one is a loving and creative opportunity. Building your first nest is all about working together. Blend your styles, share a color palette, and make space for each of your favorite things. Celebrate your romance with decor and design, prepare for future family members, and never stop improving your shared home together. For more great insights in home design or to find the perfect light fixtures for your nest, contact us today!
