to want the interior of my house to look more 'feminine'?

[rainbowtoenails]

Or 'how feminine/masculine/neutral is your home and are you happy about it?'

I am suffering from a serious case of house envy after visiting a friend's new flat. It's gorgeous- loads of original features, wood, finishing touches done with thought and care. There's purple in every room (my favourite colour) and lots of cushions and cutesy trinkets around.

I came home and felt like id stepped into a bachelor pad. Id never noticed this before. I know it's trivial but he-ho.

It's not trivial, the decor in your home can really affect how you feel. It doesn't take much to make the place feel softer, warmer, and more 'feminine' though. Lamps, a few pictures/ornaments/trinkets (not too many though, they're a PITA to dust!), cushions, rugs. You can alter the whole feel of a room that way.

Not unreasonable at all. My bedroom is more like a 5 year olds than an adult couples. All pink, sparkly, fluffy girliness. My husband hates it but accepts that happy wife equals less agro for husband.

'cushions and cutesy trinkets'

I'd prefer your bachelor pad unless you live in a place with a lone yucca plant, no furniture, huge telly and well-thumbed paperbacks on the SAS and serial killers.

YANBU

You need to live in surroundings that please you, whatever they may be.

It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, either, you have to like what you live in.

If you want more feminine touches, can you not just add them?

My home is pretty feminine and I an very happy about it. I have spent a lot of time and effort making it exactly how I like it. My partner has no opinion whatsoever when it comes to home decor so leaves it all to me and is pefectly happy with the results. He jokes about my fondness for white but doesn't mind it.

rainbow if you feel your home is too bachelor pad for your liking then change it. Add splashes of purple, cushions, or whatever else you need to enjoy your home moer. It is very important.

I did buy purple cushions but dp did cats bum face. He HATES purple and pink. He even once painted over my purple walls when i was away.

Could get new curtains but our windows are huge so ready made dont fit.

Also dp doesnt do diy so there are loads of little things that need fixing, which really makes the place look tatty.

I have just finished my bedroom and everyone says it looks like a 10 year old girl's bedroom! I don't care, I LOVE it! Pale lilac walls, Kath K duvet cover, bedspread and curtains and have painted heavy old oak bedroom set with white gloss. En suite has matching shower curtains over shower and bath and lots of little (bad taste) lovely little things dotted out and (sorry) matching Kath K towels. The rest of my house is not like this at all and this room is my sanctuary. I keep going in and lying down to read although I have to admit the 10 year old in me has been tempted to download some Malory Towers to the kindle!

I know that I've always been a it beuddled by my mates house which looks to me...like a mans house. Her partner has final say on everything in there....mine is very feminine.

I sugggest you look at lamps which add depth to a room....cushions as you say....and some really nice pictures. Do you have any "bits and pieces" around at all or is itjust furnture?

Sparkly. Fluffy. Pink. AGH!
Thank god it isn't compulsory to have a "feminine house" just because you have ovaries. Just writing "cutesy trinkets" makes me feel nauseous.

But if it's what floats your boat then go ahead - Linda Barker yourself into a frenzy!

"He even once painted over my purple walls when i was away."

Sounds like this chappy is getting his own way in more ways than the decor?? That's a bit overbearing to force his will over yours, particularly when you were away (sneaky). HOrrid.

I have quite a lot of painted white furniture upstairs and lots of fresh flowers in the sitting room which I always think are feminine without being fussy

If DH doesn't do DIY (and presumably you don't do DIY either? there's nothing that says that only men can fix shelves) I'd get someone in to fix all the things that need fixing before spending money on cutsey trinkets.

rainbowtoenails if your DP is no good at DIY why don't you do it? Most DIY isn't actually that hard and there are tutorials all over youtube showing you how to do diy stuff.

If you don't like the way your house looks you need to be proactive in changing it.

How horrible that he painted over your purple walls. But I think you can probably come to some kind of compromise here, if he doesn't like pink and purple, there are lots of ways of adding a more feminine touch to a home without using pink or purple (on the walls anyway).

I get away with using pink by using lots of other colours too, so pink is just one of the few splashes of colour in my bedroom which is mostly white. I have painted my chest of drawers so each drawer is a different pastel colour. Not to everyone's taste I know but I like it

There's no such thing as not being able to do DIY anyway, more like not willing or not trying. Compared to some things most people manage to do (drive big hunks of metal with complicated engines inside them, cook, hold down jobs) DIY isn't that hard. It's only hard if you don't know what you are doing but it's not hard to find out how to do something, with the internet at our fingertips.

Find yourself a hammer, and enjoy fixing up your house yourself!

you really don't need to use pink and purple to make your house look more feminine. I understand where your OH is coming from, DH would also draw the line at pink/purple walls. How about metalic/pearlescent wallpapers in golds/neutrals, white furniture, soft fabrics, flowers, photo frames, patterned bedding, elaborate mirrors etc

I know im being totally unreasonably sexist wanting dp to fix things. Both of us are rubbish at it, cant balance on ladders, cant paint within lines, cant use a hammer without ending up with a red thumb etc. I cant help but be annoyed with him about it though.

fair enough to be annoed with him about it I say.