Deciding on the Right Living Room Furniture Set – It’s the Man’s Choice, If the Wife Agrees

To paraphrase Dr. Laura Schlessinger: men have simple needs, which does not imply that we are simpleminded (a point that, I’m sure, some female readers may take issue with), I will open with article on living room furniture with a little vignette about the selection of the type of seats in our new SUV. Being an outdoorsman, I am naturally interested in functionality over style so I told the dealer I was interested in cloth seats. My better half wanted leather seats. Want to guess at what kind of seats we left in? The correct answer is leather.

Do women really want the opinion of a man on the selection of a living room furniture set? Does a women really want a truthful answer if she asks “am I fat?” or is she just wanting confirmation that she is not? If you said “yes”, would there be a price to pay? In many respects, asking a question is a formality when the only response that will be tolerated is the one that is desired. The same goes for our opinion of Traditional versus Modern. The decision has already been made.

If one took a survey of a million women that were asked for a simple yes or no answer to the question “Do men have taste in furniture” do you think that all but a tiny minority would answer “no”? It is my opinion that the general perception of women is that men, in general, are cavemen when it comes to style and fashion. If left to my own devices I would go to work in shorts, tee shirt and sandals or tennis shoes all of the time. Most men feel quite comfortable in a pair of Levis and a flannel shirt, thank you very much.

Do my tastes matter and do I really have taste? I think about our selection of a home. After driving around and seeing many homes it became clear that I was really not interested in whether the house was ranch or Cape Cod, single story of multiple, corner or middle lot. I reasoned that I would get accustomed to whatever the design. I had really only two criteria. I wanted a tile roof rather than shake because if felt that tile would be more durable. Being lazy, I wanted the house to be ready to go so that I would not have to be concerned with maintenance.

The upshot of this vignette is that I believe that if one took the same yes or no survey to a different question to men: Do you really care which type of living room furniture is purchased?, the answer would be a resounding “no”. Even if it were “yes”, do you think it would matter? Do you think that the spouse would actually say “hummmm, you really like this one so we’ll get it even though I have my heart set on the other”? If you say yes, then I may be able to convince you to buy some nice swamp land. In reality, the furniture would be purchased over our objection, it would be situated according to her wishes, and we men would get used to the idea in the same way one gets used to bathwater.

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 anticipate that our spouse would actually say “Hey, let’s get it even though I hate it”. Also, 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 care about where and when then need to show up at the church.

Although it is wonderful to think that we are getting a good deal on our living room set. It’s important to keep in mind that our opinion, if we really had one, is not wanted if it is contrary to the taste of our better half. In the words of my mother, asking is just a formality. men have very simple needs. Just give us a comfortable chair in front of the TV so that we can enjoy our soccer game. A great piece of advice is that men can be considered to have taste as long as it is not in conflict with our better half and, whatever the type of furniture, we will get used to it in short order. Life goes on.

Postscript. My wife insists on making it clear that this is not the way I am be treated.

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