Selecting Living Room Furniture Sets – The Man’s Opinion: The Woman’s Decision
Before I discuss living room furniture sets, I will relate a story. As a guy, I will begin this article with an observation not of living room furniture but of the type of automobile seats that were selected for our new SUV. Since I am a fisherman and interested in buying fly rods rather than fancy car upgrades, I told our fleet dealer that I would be happy with cloth seats because I felt that the material was functional and relatively inexpensive. My wife wanted high quality leather seats because it “looked good”. If you guessed that the husband had any chance here, you are wrong.
A woman asking a man about what he likes in living room furniture, in my opinion, is the same as her asking you if she is “fat”. Does she really want an honest answer or is she simply asking you to reconfirm what she believes? I think by now you are getting the idea that it is the same as my mother asking my brother and I if we wanted peas and carrots at the dinner table. When we said “no thank you”, she simply began scooping mounds and mounds of the green and orange mass on to our plates and when we objected, she simply replied, “asking you boys was just a formality”. My sense is that style, color and size of the sofa carries about as much weight as declining the “request” for peas and carrots.
Let’s take a hypothetical survey of a million women in which we ask the question: Do you think most men have good taste in furniture? My guess is that there would be a large majority of “no” votes. It is my opinion that most women feel there is little value in an opposing point of view when it comes to furniture selection. In fact, I feel quite comfortable in shorts, tee shirt and flip flops, thank you.
When contemplating the value of a guy’s opinion, my thoughts are taken back to a time when we were looking for the house where we currently reside. My wife actually wanted to take me to visit home after home after home. After seeing several of them I told our agent that I would like the screening to be handled by my wife and there are two and only two rules that I had that were set in stone. The first was that I preferred tile roofs to shake because tile, in general, is more durable and requires less maintenance. My second criteria was that the house be “turn-key”, which means that it is completely ready to be lived in and that there are no “fixer upper” projects needed. The solution was simple. My wife picked the style color and layout of the house and the house was of a durable, relatively maintenance-free design.
If we asked men the question: Would your rather purchase living room furniture or watch a football game?, one would not be surprised that men would pick the second choice without doubt. But lets say it really did matter to men that an opinion was sought. Do you thing your wife would say: Hey, he really likes this furniture that I can’t stand, I’ll change my mind. The reality is that the furniture would be purchased over our objections and we would get used to it in the same way we get used food cooked a certain way.
A key male issue is the simple question “Is this the hill I want to die on?” Even if it was a furniture set that I had my heart set on, it would not be worth it for two reasons. It would be totally unreasonable for one to expect that our spouse would actually say “Hey, let’s get it even though I hate it”. In addition, there would likely be another price to pay if we tried to force the issue in another area – the bedroom. Let’s pick another example – Do you think that a bride-to-be would actually consider your opinion if you picked flowers she hated for her bouquet? In their heart of hearts, most guys just want to know where and when then need to show up at the church.
When if comes to finding the bargain, on a living room furniture set, the opinion of the guy is unwanted if it is contrary of those of our better half. In the words of my mother asking is just a formality. In reality, guys just want a comfortable place to sit down and watch the basketball game. In the unlikely event that we actually had a preference of the type of furniture, in very short order we would get used to whatever is there. The wisest of us understands that our opinion if contrary, is not really wanted. It is certain that a sofa is not the hill to die on – particulary if that death involves sleeping on it.
Note: My wife requested that I make it clear the I am not treated in this manner.
Read a great article on finding great buys on Living Room Furniture Sets click this link. Learn about buying living room furniture man’s point of view please click this link.