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"Roderick N. Shade is an accomplished interior designer in New York. He&amp;#39;s helped his clients (many of them couples!) create beautiful and unique homes that reflect their personal tastes. I asked him to share some expert advice on about how couples can combine their design style when moving in together and he totally delivered.\nPinterestFacebookRoderick in his gorgeous Manhattan apartment. I&amp;#39;m swooning like mad over his amazing dining room.\nFull disclosure: I met Roderick (and consequently fell in love with his hip style and hilarious wit) while at Architectural Digest, where I worked before coming to Glamour. When you decide to move in together, here are a few things Roderick suggests you take into consideration:\n\nUnderstand what is important to each of you. I have found that men are more interested in media/lighting/computer and a comfortable chair to enjoy the aforementioned. Women tend to be more interested in style, color, specific items. Divide this work amongst your strengths.\n\n\nMen tend to prefer contemporary and Mid-Century modern, clean-lined design. Women tend to be more eclectic, leaning toward traditional, spirited mixes including pattern and color. Bridges between these two types of design thought tend to be: Art Deco, Biedermeier and ethnic/global. Hire a designer to take the job of defining a new style for the both of you. A good designer will take into account both of your styles/tastes and craft a good mix with both of you in mind.\n\n\nStrong color/pattern. Use these things in areas that you tend to pass through or in areas you don&amp;#39;t spend a lot of time in. You walk by, get a good blast of color and keep it moving, entries, powder rooms, dining rooms, halls, mud rooms. Color in the master bedroom: put it on the headboard wall thereby you aren&amp;#39;t laying there staring at a red wall while trying to go to sleep. Apply strong color/pattern to small &amp;quot;nothing&amp;quot; walls: those walls that you can&amp;#39;t use for furnishings or art. Nothing wrong with punctuating a neutral room with small bursts of color or pattern.\n\nPinterestFacebookAnd here&amp;#39;s his living room. Um, can I move in?\n\nProvide individual work/private areas for each partner. Work spaces don&amp;#39;t have to be entire rooms; could be desk areas in separate parts of the new home--everyone needs a space to work or just get away too, without having to share it, or clean it up for someone else.\n\n\nCreate a new &amp;quot;instant art collection&amp;quot; by reframing everything in the same frame and hanging gallery style. Remember all art goes with all art. No rules here or correct way to proceed. I do find that most couples CAN agree on simple photography.\n\nThank you Roderick! Though hiring a designer is slightly out of my budget, I&amp;#39;m still inspired to redecorate. And I can&amp;#39;t echo Roderick&amp;#39;s fourth tip enough. Seriously, one of the best things Chris and I ever did for our relationship was setting up two separate desk areas. Granted, they&amp;#39;re not more than 10 feet apart (have I mentioned our apartment is tiny?!) but it&amp;#39;s such a wonderful feeling knowing we each have our own space.\nAre you nuts about design? I am! How would you describe your design style? What about your guy&amp;#39;s? If you live with your guy, what things did you do to combine your styles? If you don&amp;#39;t live together, which of Roderick&amp;#39;s tips do you think will be most useful when you do shack up?\nFor more on the ups and downs of living together\u2026\n\nThe 5 things couples should buy when moving in together.\n\n\nMoving in together do or don&amp;#39;t: magazines next to the toilet?\n\n\nHow do you divide household chores?\n\nMore Ways to Get Glamour\nYou could win $50,000 just for registering or logging in to Glamour.com!\nSign up for Glamour.com&amp;#39;s Style Tips of the Week and Beauty Tip of the Day newsletters!\nAdd Glamour to your iGoogle homepage.\nFollow Glamour on Twitter.\nPhotos: Durston Saylor/*Architectural Digest *\n\u00A9 Conde Nast Publications"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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