I'd go with his choice, because even if it wasn't 'my' style, I'd rather feel like he's taking an interest and equally invested in our home together. Plus, if I'm being completely honest, I think his taste is probably better than mine. ;) He rarely has an opinion on anything house-related, so when he puts his foot down, I go along with it: and on each occasion, it's been exactly the right decision. Example: I wanted the whole house painted out in ecru and antique white because it looks awesome with oak floors and I'm kind of a minimalist. Hubby insisted on painting the lounge room in yellow. YELLOW. I thought he'd lost his mind... but I went with it, because I get my way 99.9% of the time, so why quibble about the 0.1%? He insisted that 'in Winter, you'll be glad we have this warm, cozy colour'. And you know what? Every Winter, I love that room. It's an odd duck compared to the rest of the house, but damned if it doesn't actually work surprisingly well. It'd definitely be too much to take as a house-wide theme - but contained as it is, it's pretty great.

The biggest thing to remember is to have a plan before you set out and make any changes. A WIR is the way most people seem to go these days when redoing up an old space, or if you are building a new home, but a WIR is becoming much more glamorous these days, and they are quiet a destination. If you going to have a WIR, one of the biggest considerations is to decide if you are going to have doors, or if its all going to be open. Now if you are quiet a tidy person, then a full open WIR will be fine for you, but if you are someone that is not so tidy or good at putting things away, then I suggest that you finish of the WIR with some doors to hide any mess. Then the next major step is to make sure that if you are designing or getting it designed, that you have the right amount of areas for the right amount of each category of hanging to folding ratio, and also shoes and accessory storage too. There is obviously many more things to consider, but these are two major ones that people get wrong or don't consider. At the end of the day, each style of wardrobe has its pros and cons, but to date the WIR robe style dressing room is still the most popular, and I myself love this style because there is so much you can do to cater for individual needs. check out some of the WIR ideas we have on www.inthecloset.com.au

We took out a very .70's archway (the whole wall) between our lounge and dining area and replaced it with bookshelves & doorway with shelves over the top. It got our books out of boxes & off the floor & has been the envy of many visitors over the years. When we did it, we 'screwed' everything so a future owner could remove some cornice & unscrew the bookcases & have open plan or even put an arch back. We love our books and it's our family who has to live with it - not others....so relaxing.

I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale.