apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hahhahaha... that quote is hilarious.
When my boyfriend and I moved in together after only dating for 6 months, we combined everything we had without marking our territory. So far (2 years later) everything seems to have worked swimingly. We've compromised a lot with new purchases (two tries to get the right couch and a lot of reluctance to move the barkalounger into the 'office'), but we've managed to use our personal belongings as the building blocks to our home. Our massive book collection just wouldn't be the same if we had to separate it into his and hers.
Though, I don't think we're worried about splitting anytime soon. ;)

My boyfriend and I are about to take the big leap into cohabitation in a few months... since most of my stuff is Ikea i dont feel too bad parting with it. We've discussed color schemes and dishware... right now we are sharing his bedroom/bathroom of a two bedroom apartment he shares with a roommate so I'm thinking ANY more room we have to spread out will be a positive move!

i cant wait to move but i'm dreading the packing!!!

One tip I have to offer is make sure you purge your 'junk' BEFORE you move. That way when you start mingling your things with his the questions about that old ratty lampshade you were saving to refinish, or the emense pile of paperwork to go through won't be an issue!

I speak completely from experience. My boyfriend packed up all his junk and then went through it while unpacking. it was nervewracking the first time simply because I didn't know if he was going to throw the junk out or keep it and clutter everything up!

It was easy breaking up w/ my Ex...
...he had all the Ethan Allen and Pfaltzgraph, and I had all the groovy vintage stuff from eBay.

(I should have known better...)

my beau's possessions could literally fit into one box. it's all me!

My boyfriend and I moved in together after a little under 6 months because we were moving to Manhattan, which was too expensive individually. But he's broke, so I literally bought all the furniture, except for one computer desk, which we split the cost of. So, if we ever broke up, it's alllll mine. =)

I'm with the "it's all mine" crowd. When my ex and I split, I had literally 3 truckloads of furniture and "stuff". He had enough to make a bachelor suite feel empty.

Meh. Bigger and better.

Netflix is retarded. Takes too long to send back movies.

my boyfriend owns the plant in the corner and a desk chair (which I gave him for x-mas). Everything else in our 2300 sq. ft. is MINE. We joke about it all the time. He neeeeds me or else he'll be sleeping on the floor in a furniture-less apartment!

"Netflix is retarded. Takes too long to send back movies."

It's oblique comment day...

When my man and I moved into his place, I did a massive purge (in the name of love, and making a small space work for both of us). If we were to break up... According to this thread I'd be out on my ass left with nothing! I hope he's not that mean to me if...

*heather leaf*,

I am right there with you!! I always joke that it's how I knew my BF was the one -- he doesn't have any horrible bachelor furniture that I'd have to make room for.

Now if I could just get him to part with all those clothes that are way too big for him...

Our cohabitation was initiated by my then-boyfriend's landlord selling his apartment and kicking him out. I had just bought a place so he moved in with me. Unfortunately he had little time to go through and purge anything and ended up moving ALL his junk (crappy furniture, stacks of paperwork etc) into my already fully furnished home. Ack! In the two years since then, he's parted with anything unnecessary and the house is mostly organised. I've also parted with things I don't need. Now if only we could agree on how to decorate the place!

"I want you to know, that I will never, want that wagon wheel coffee table."

Thank You Alex!!!!

That's all I've been thinking about since I started reading this post!

"You said you liked it!"

"I WAS BEING NICE!!!!!!!!"

How many women have that movie memorized?? I first saw it when I was an early teen, and have been writing my name in my books ever since...

My boyfriend and I have lived together for almost four years and consider ourselves married, though it's unlikely we'll ever actually make it official. For every new purchase we make, we still decide who gets it in the divorce. I get the mixing bowls, he gets the french press. I get the chairs, he gets the couch. I get the bed, he gets the dresser. Easy!

I think that there are very few things that my husband and I are equally attached to. He likes the sofa, I like the loveseat. It's all kind of split. Stuff that was bought under his momentum vs. mine. All the electronics in the house, he can have. I am not picky enough about sound quality to require my speakers to be 5 ft. tall. It's a good thing that stuff is not what keeps us together.

Why do guys like us know what a duvet is?

duffduff -

That's a very funny way to do things! It kind of makes it sound like you guys think breaking up is inevitable, and yet it almost sounds like some kind of ritual to keep a break-up from needing to ever happen.

When Harry Met Sally... quotes always make my day.

Ok, here's a question on moving in with someone, but not romantically. I love my apartment, but the rent keeps going up every time I renew the lease so a friend and I are getting a two bedroom apt. this summer. We hope to live together for 3-4 years (to finish grad school) if we don't drive each other crazy, but it's not like being in a relationship where there's an assumption (or hope) of permanence. I'm not too worried about color, since we currently have stuff that's in the same palette, but it's all the duplicates. Especially kitchen stuff. In college it was easy, because everyone's stuff was essentially mismatched junk. But after living alone for two years I have some things that are too nice to get rid of. But who needs two toasters? Any advice?

Lurker2209, just pick whichever stuff is nicer, then put the rest into storage. If your new apartment won't have one of those great basement storage spaces, see if one of you can stash a few boxes at your parents' house.

My fiance and I moved cross-country together after graduation, and started out with nothing, so every piece of furniture we own was purchased jointly. Unfortunately, we started out with next to no money as well, so a lot of it is ugly Craigslist (not the cute vintage stuff- the stuff that sells for $25) and Ikea. The agreement is that he gets all the functional, ugly stuff and I get to keep the attractive stuff that I've been slowly adding to our apartment. The one thing we fight over is the TV. He works at a big electronics and got a great deal on a 42" flat screen, which I probably use more than he does. If we break up, I want it! It sits on MY pretty credenza, which was purchased to fit it perfectly. He gets the new iMac, all the video game systems, and the extensive collection of DVDs, and the old TV. I think it's only fair that I get one piece of cool electronics out of the deal. He does not agree. We just had a (mock) shouting match about who gets the TV, inspired by this post. I guess we just can't break up!

I have the same situation as HooteNanny. My boyfriend and I moved cross-country together with whatever would fit in our cars and nothing else. We've been slowly building up, and still have a long way to go. Splitting our stuff up would be HARD.

I have the opposite situation with the TV though...we lived with his brother for a while, who, for whatever reason, bought a 50-something inch behemoth HDTV, you know, one of those ones that is its own piece of furniture. The thing is HIDEOUS and takes up so much floor space. The brother ended up moving a state away and didn't feel like moving the TV and guess who "got" to keep it? We did. Needless to say, I won't be fighting for that one.