How does it feel to live many queers’ dream and own a home with your partner? Now that you’ve made a big step forward in your relationship and started sharing a living space, it’s time to make it truly your own. If you’re not those gays with a natural talent for interior design, here are a few tips that will help you style your gay haven and show off your tastes and uniqueness:
Start with your palette
First things first, before you start putting art on the walls and furniture in your rooms, it’s time to settle on a good color palette. The colors need to represent you and your life together, but they should also be timeless and easy to style. Your safest option is to keep the colors neutral like white, beige or gray, so you can build your interior design style and create a more relaxing and coherent vibe.
Add a splash of color
To make your home more unique, don’t hesitate to add a splash of color in a few places. If you choose white or gray to be your base color, it’s good to know that they pair amazingly with red, pink or yellow. Choose a few details in these bold colors while keeping your walls and furniture plain, and you’ll create a space that will evoke safety, comfort and subtle interest. If you don’t want your home to be just plain and boring, you can add a bold color to an accent wall or give some attention to the ceilings. Replace flat and white ceiling (and especially that dreaded popcorn design) with something more fabulous like faux food ceiling wallpaper, painted stripes or an interesting trim.
Go timeless with furniture
Furniture is something that adds comfort as well as style to your space, so make sure to choose something timeless that will stand the test of time. For inspiration, you can look at Amish bedroom sets and soak up the great craftsmanship and quality materials. These bedroom sets can be modernized with a few contemporary pieces like a modern chair, abstract art and a geometric rug. You spend one-third of your life in bed, so your bedroom deserves to have quality pieces.
Bless your walls with art
Having your own space means you can personalize your walls however you want. And don’t be scared to be bold with art—art is meant to leave a big impression and sometimes even shock people. Show a touch of your queerness through a few prints that depict same-sex love or take a more abstract route with an original piece from your artist friend. As long as you like what’s hanging on your walls, it will look absolutely unique and personal to you.
Get some tech in there
If you want to be up-to-date with all the important things in the queer community, you need some tech pieces, especially a good TV for Bridgerton marathons and Drag Race viewing parties. Your TV can also be paired with a quality sound system for home parties. Finally, make sure to provide your home with a virtual assistant and a proper security system because we, unfortunately, live in a hateful world that’s not the most forgiving to gays.
Mind the lighting
Lighting can make all the difference in a home so provide yours with plenty of layers of lighting. Start with general lighting and go to task lighting like lamps. Finish your lighting setup with ambient lighting that will provide you with the right atmosphere for movie nights, wild house parties and romantic evenings with your partner. Make sure to look into smart bulbs that allow you to manage level, warmth and color of the lighting.
Welcome greenery
It’s not yet determined where that strong connection between plants and gays comes from, but being a plant parent is one of the most common labels in the queer community. Make sure to bring your home to life with greenery and add that jungle vibe to your space. And if you choose some of the more photogenic plants (monsteras, snake plants and peace lilies), you’ll always have a perfect background for selfies.
If you want, you can make your space a true gay haven. Finally, you have all the freedom to decorate to your tastes, so take our ideas as suggestions and don’t hesitate to add your own stamp to all the elements.
QUEERGURU’s Lifestyle Editor PETER MINKOFF is a gay health and lifestyle writer at QUEER VOICES magazine. Besides writing, he worked as a freelance fashion stylist in Europe and Australia. A true craft beer and soy latte aficionado, he loves spending his days at the beach and visiting second-hand stores on a daily basis. Follow Peter on TWITTER for more tips.
