How to balance feminine and masculine design tones.

Have you ever found it challenging to balance your space between being to feminine or masculine? This usually happens in shared spaces where someone doesn’t want everything girly or manly. This can be with your significant other, family, roommates, or kids.

Masculine themed rooms tend to have darker colors, rougher textures and sometimes exposed materials such as walls. Tends to have clean lines and defined space. Feminine themed rooms are in complete opposite where colors are typically light and pastel. Materials are usually soft, plush and tend to have more ornate details. There rooms tend to have floral elements and pops of color. The whole thing about blending masculine and feminine décor is about juxtaposition. What this means is two things being placed together and giving a contrasting effect.

So what do we want the juxtaposition of?

Color
Furniture type & texture
Fabrics/prints/patterns
Accessories

My rule of thumb is to allow one another to have a say in different categories. So if you get to pick the couch maybe your significant other picks the color. If you pick the accessories then maybe they get to pick the color of the room. Balance and allowing the decisions to compliment one another. Now this also takes the time of planning it out and ensuring cohesion.

Often times we attribute femininity or masculinity in décor as colors. That’s not entirely the case. There does need to be a balance of colors. So for example if you are using pink or purple you should balance it with a neutral color to even out the space. The same thing with bold colors like black or navy blue. Neutral allows for a evenness of tones where ones personality doesn’t out weigh the other. Decide on your neutral tone first! This will set the stage for the large furniture pieces.

Another thing to consider in spaces is material. Leather brings a more masculine tone and can be incorporated in a space that exudes too much softness. A mix of metals also brings toughness to a space where you can then include softer items in texture, or fluffy pieces, even patterns for the feminine factor. Chunky pieces of wood also help make a masculine space but adding a mirror or metallic décor pieces can nicely refine it.

Masculine pieces will be more simplistic in nature, while the feminine pieces will bring a detail that will naturally draw your eye.

I want to stress the importance of balancing a room is more important than just décor, its to ensure everyone has a say and feels equally important in a relationship and home.

Those are my tips for this short blog and hope it gives you some idea when thinking of redecorating or designing a room. Take a look at the examples below executed beautifully by some amazing designer