Getting married and remodeling your kitchen may seem worlds apart, but they both have a lot more in common than you might think.
What are some of the ingredients of a healthy, happy marriage and a well-done and designed new kitchen? We have laid out the key ingredients to surviving both.
Communication
Most people believe that communication is what makes or breaks a relationship. Being able to communicate effectively and openly leads to fulfilling relationships.
Communicating honestly creates empathy and cultivates a sense of true intimacy in a relationship.
This may seem to have nothing to do with redoing your kitchen but in actuality, communication is key to remodeling your kitchen.
You will both have ideas you want to get across and learning how to communicate openly will allow both of you to feel heard.
Without communicating effectively you may end up with the wrong design or color and fail to realize that your partner may have a more efficient way to place appliances to keep the kitchen orderly.
Redoing your kitchen means you have a chance to create your dream kitchen. This may have taken you a while to save up for, so you want to make sure you can communicate exactly what you want.
As well as communicating what you want, you need to discuss your budget and how this affects the time frame.
You want to keep open communication between yourself and the contractors or builders doing the job.
This way, they keep you updated on any issues or questions as soon as they crop up.
They are also more inclined to stick to your requirements if they build up a good relationship with you.
In a marriage, by openly communicating with your partner, you open up the way to a deeply loving and nourishing relationship.
Through all the challenges, you stick to understanding, respectful, and loving communication.
This aids you in working through all the ups and downs. Part of communicating healthily is developing the art of listening.
This cultivates a sense of presence and makes your partner feel as if they are being listened to and understood.
In the same way, you don’t want to just be communicating your needs to your contractors.
You should listen to their expert opinion and hear what they have to say, as you may be stuck on a certain idea or design that may not work.
However, they, as professionals, have a better understanding and can advise you on the best way to do things, even if you don’t understand or have a different idea in mind.
By being open to their viewpoints, you can collaborate to create a well-designed and effective kitchen.
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Compromise
Prior to getting married you may have only ever made decisions for yourself. After marriage, you and your partner must work together and consider each other’s needs.
Even if this means putting aside your own personal preferences. Making compromises requires you both to cultivate a sense of compassion and open-mindedness.
Without it, you will clash and be unable to come to an agreement. This, in turn, will create many issues and hostilities between you both.
Both parties need to cultivate self-sacrificing tendencies as this is key to compromise. It entails being able to understand that you will need to sometimes put aside what you want.
During your kitchen remodel, you may need to compromise on certain aspects. This could be the design, quality, or color.
Perhaps the cooker you want won’t fit or the small appliances you want aren’t in the exact color you pictured.
Either way, being able to compromise and view other options will result in less stress and allow the renovation to happen sooner rather than later.
By being too stubborn you may end up wasting valuable time and money by insisting on things that are too difficult to include in the remodel.
Even if you make all the decisions by yourself, you may not always be able to get everything exactly how you want it.
Some easy ways to compromise in a relationship, both in your marriage and when it comes to your kitchen remodel is to brainstorm, be willing to adjust, and search for some common ground.
Brainstorming is a good idea for everyone to get their ideas out on the table. All parties should be willing to amend where they are coming from even if it feels a little painful.
Moreover, they should go into any discussion searching for common ground, and pinpoint where everyone agrees as opposed to where everyone disagrees.
Commitment
Redoing your kitchen involves a level of commitment similar to that in a marriage. Once you get married you commit to the relationship and commit to sticking by that person through thick and thin.
During a kitchen remodel you will come across several hurdles which you will need to overcome through staying committed to your vision.
In a marriage, commitment is important because it ensures that we act in a way that reinforces the fact that both parties’ futures are intertwined.
It’s easy to skirt around important topics and conversations when you know that your future isn’t clear.
But when you have made a deep commitment to one another, you are committed to someone not just when it feels good but forever.
In a commitment, you are committed to giving up other choices. This may appear limiting yet a commitment to someone else is actually incredibly freeing and leads to a relationship that is full of depth and love.
The deeper the commitment, the deeper the love.
During your remodel, stay committed to getting it done despite the issues that crop up.
Prepare yourself for the eventuality that it will happen; this helps to keep you feeling less stressed out when things do go wrong.
The more prepared you are, the less stressful the process will be.
Despite the differences between marriage and redoing your kitchen, there are clearly a few commonalities that require the same tools.
By improving your communication skills, learning to compromise, and taking the commitment seriously, you will increase your chances of a successful and happy marriage as well as the successful completion of your kitchen remodel.
