Ask Jennifer Adams: How to decorate a bedroom you share

Q: My boyfriend went out and bought some wall art posters for our bedroom without asking me about it, and I don't like the pictures at all. The colors are all wrong and they're not even framed. What should I tell him?

A: It's nice that your boyfriend takes an interest in your environment, but, really, the space belongs to both of you! You each should have a say in how it looks. Your bedroom, especially, should reflect both of your tastes, and be a comfortable, calming place for you both to relax and enjoy each other. Regardless of exactly what posters went up, it's more concerning that you weren't involved in the first place. It's very possible this is a communication problem more than a decor problem.

Hopefully you two can start by redoing your whole bedroom together as a project to get you both on the same page. Offer to get the posters framed to suit some other room in your house where you won't see them as often, and get started on dreaming about how you both think your bedroom should be.

Create a file of images you like, from hotel rooms, your friends' rooms, beach scenes, forests, perhaps something from a trip you two made together. Write down descriptions of your dream bedroom, its color schemes and accessories. Maybe that means new bedding and a fresh coat of paint, and nothing on the walls at all. Or maybe it's a tropical setting with a lot of beautiful plants and ocean images from a romantic vacation you took.  Each of you can collect images individually as well as together. From these, make a board of your very favorites. This will become your inspiration for the look you can make in your bedroom.

Keep it as simple as you can. It's easy to make our bedrooms work harder than they need to when, in fact, the bedroom should be the quietest place in your house. Just start with a good decluttering, and top-to-bottom cleaning. Leave plenty of space to move around, and, if possible, another place to sit besides the bed.

Good luck and let me know how this goes for you!

Have a design dilemma? Jennifer Adams is an award-winning designer, author of the upcoming book "Love Coming Home" and TV personality. Send your questions to AskJennifer@JenniferAdams.com or for more design ideas, visit Jennifer's blog on her website at www.jenniferadams.com.