Hilary Farr's Helpful Tip For Finding Common Ground During A Home Renovation
Home renovations can be tricky, but they become even more complex when you're doing them with a partner. That's because it's not just your opinion and preferences that matter. Instead, you have to find a way to merge what you like with what the other person envisions. And as we all know, compromise can be pretty hard. However, HGTV designer Hilary Farr has a suggestion on how you can slowly come to a point of agreement, and that's to create a home design vision board to see where your aesthetics overlap.
In order to ensure that someone isn't being forced into a style they don't like, you want to forfeit pushing your particular preferred aesthetic and instead shift to a style both parties love. It might not be your first pick, but it will be something you still really enjoy living in. This will create harmony rather than frustration in the design process. And one great way to find out which style both you and your partner enjoy is by rounding up inspo pictures and comparing which elements overlap. Here is a closer look into Farr's advice.
Hilary Farr recommends comparing inspo pictures to find where you overlap
If you like industrial design and your partner likes farmhouse, it can be very difficult to see where you have similarities. But rather than getting frustrated that you will end up living in a house filled with reclaimed wood and magnolia leaf wreaths, the HGTV star suggests finding a middle ground by partaking in a little bit of research. It's a renovation tip Hilary Farr swears by. "I usually ask a couple to look at design sites separately to flag what they like, then [compare] to see where they're on the same page," Farr told HGTV. "It's a good way to help them find middle ground, and middle ground is everything. It's the beginning of a conversation on how to open up your mind." Who knows — by the end of the conversation, you might be more open to weaving reclaimed wood accents into certain parts of the home.
To utilize this tip, look at social media websites like Pinterest and Instagram to create your mood board. Scroll through images and save the ones that really resonate with you. Then use a platform like Pinterest or Milanote to aggregate those pictures onto a single page. Once done, scroll through each of your decor mood boards and tag where your styles overlap. For instance, maybe the two of you like a similar color scheme. Maybe you agree on furniture shapes or textures. Or perhaps you like similar vignettes or knick-knacks. This can help you build from that common foundation.
How to select your inspo images
To give your research endeavor some structure, consider creating sections in your Pinterest boards. Before starting to gather material, agree with your partner on what you will be looking for. For instance, if you're remodeling your kitchen, you can look for overall kitchen aesthetics you resonate with, but then also look for more detailed things such as cabinet colors you like, backsplashes you're drawn to, and countertops you would like to copy. Each of those things can be saved in a separate category on your Pinterest board.
This is helpful to do because it will give your conversation some structure. If you can't agree on the overall kitchen look, you can move on to backsplashes and see if there is some common ground there. Then you can consider countertops, and see where you overlap in terms of material and color. Getting granular like that will help you see where you agree more easily, and then you can begin to map out the details you both enjoy. (And since it's in its own section, you won't have to scroll through the entire board trying to look for examples.) This will eventually expand into a whole kitchen you both would like — if not absolutely love.