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.

Long ago when I was in high school, we had a sports lesson doing hurdles. I loved it and secretly thought I was great at it. At the end of the lesson, we were sauntering back to class and I decided to show my friends once again how good I was. Now, hurdles must be approached from only one side. If you don't make it over, (from the right side)it smacks down. The other side doesn't move when hit. Well, I approached from the wrong side and had a little too much saunter and not enough pace, so didn't make it over. I hit it hard and the hurdle didn't budge. I was draped over the top in a horribly awkward position. Finger tips just off the ground on one side, toes just off the other side, bottom in the air, school uniform around my ears! Everyone gathered around laughing their heads off. Finally, after much laughter I was lifted off by my school mates. Lesson learnt, don't show off!

I was 23 years old and our first home (1982) was $42,000 but interest rates were 21%!!! It was in Otorohanga NZ and mortgages were tough to get. Best decision ever though. We had second hand everything, even using an old beer crate as coffee tables and book shelves lol. Over the years we have owned only 3 homes though, and if we were to start again we have learned to not over capitalise on homes we have bought instead upgrade sooner. Finally we are ebarking on our first new home build ... bettter late than never though definately!

My outlaws (mainly my mumma in law) wanted our daughters ears pierced at birth because the girls in her family were all pierced at birth so that was a battle from the beginning... I stood firm & said “no, they’re her ears, it will be Bella’s decision - when she asks for them, we’ll consider it”.... so what does Nanny do? Pull a swifty & buy earrings for our daughters fifth birthday that she can’t wear & ask us to get her ears pierced ... so Bella gets all excited & asks & asks to have them done so she can wear nanny’s earrings. I was not impressed. We spoke about it at length with our daughter & explained it would hurt & she wouldn’t be able to back out after one earring ... so for her 5th birthday, she got her ears pierced ... much to my annoyance. The piercer was the only one in town & was a moody, arrogant, know it all 20 year old... and yes, the first one hurt like mad & she cried the shop down wanting to run off before the 2nd one was done... it sucked. I would’ve preferred we wait till Bella was older but it’s done now. After her ears were pierced & she stopped crying, we celebrated with donuts & milkshakes lol. It didn’t stop her from wanting to rip them out the first few days. She loves them now though .... but a very bad age to get it done. Stick to your guns - but if you’re happy & supportive for her to make that decision & get them done, make it a week before a special occasion? So the shock has worn off & she’s in love with her ears once more :)