How to Design a Home as a Couple You'll Both Love, From Two "Bachelor" Stars

Fan-favorites Joe and Serena spill how they maximize their small apartment

Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt must be doing something right—they are one of the few success stories from The Bachelor franchise, now happily married and living together in New York City.

They’re a match made in heaven: loyal, enamored, sweet as can be, and perhaps most importantly, both are neat freaks who love a neutral color palette.

Interior design is a shared interest for our Bachelor sweethearts, and a recent partnership with Homesense allowed them to completely revamp their 700-square-foot apartment with new furniture, storage pieces, and decor.

They learned a lesson or two in sharing their creative liberty through design, crafting a space that feels right for both of them, and now, keeping their space as neat as can be (or trying to). Luckily, they shared some of these tips with us.

Start With Smart Shopping

As mentioned, the pair went to town at Homesense stocking up on fresh finds for their apartment, including gorgeous brown accent chairs, lovely wall art, and cute decorative accents like throw blankets and candles—Amabile's personal favorite.

One of the couple's favorite finds, though, was a dresser that proved to be a storage savior in their space.

“When we went shopping, we knew we needed functional pieces and things that were going to help us keep the space organized,” Pitt explains. “The first thing that caught our eye was this massive dresser that we ended up getting. We want the space to look cute, but we also don’t want it to look like a mess.”

Though the couple is united on organization, it can be challenging in a small space. Choosing a piece that not only fits your aesthetic, but also fits your function, is key—especially when sharing a space with a partner, family, or roommate.

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed shopping for new storage or organization, Pitt suggests shopping in-store and gathering inspiration. The nightstand you were eyeing online might not have prioritized storage, but if you see one in-store loaded with drawers and compartments, you might get the feeling that this is the right piece for your needs.

“There are so many ways to have pieces that are statements but also have diverse purposes,” Pitt notes. She loves a certain side table that Amabile owns, which houses two huge drawers and offers them so much more storage than they had prior.

“Our styles are pretty similar—we’re both pretty easygoing,” Amabile says. “But when we go shopping and Serena really wants a piece, I usually say yeah, that works.”

Our styles are pretty similar—we’re both pretty easygoing. But when we go shopping and Serena really wants a piece, I usually say yeah, that works.

Always Organize With a Goal and Purpose

Luckily for this pair, their organizing styles complement each other well.

“I’m a neat freak,” Amabile says.

“No, you’re not,” Pitt jokes.

Joking aside, both halves of the couple consider themselves "neat freaks." Though their organizing styles differ slightly, they attribute their tidy apartment to their similar goal: to keep things clean.

They keep their sights set on different designated spots—for example, Amabile is laser-focused on keeping the kitchen tidy. Pitt affectionately shares that as soon as he eats his last bite of dinner, the plate is rinsed and clean.

“Our apartment is not big, it’s one bedroom—the messier it gets in here, the smaller it feels,” Pitt says. “I think it creates a motivation for both of us to keep it as organized as physically possible.”

Setting goals and setting a few guiding principles in your own shared space is a golden opportunity to ensure tidiness. Maybe that's to deep-clean certain spaces once a week, never leave dishes in the sink, or simply fold a blanket after using it—whatever works best for you.

“We’re similar in all aspects of living together, in terms of our style, shopping, and keeping the place organized,” Pitt shares. “We both have an opinion, but we both are pretty considerate of each other. And we want to both love our space.”

Make Spring Cleaning Fun

Our favorite Bachelor couple loves a good cleanup for every season—they just completed a post-holiday refresh of their closets and bathroom. But for spring cleaning this year, they intend to go all out.

“We really want to put in that extra effort now to make the space look and feel its best because we have all these beautiful, new pieces,” Pitt says.

Loving Your Space Can Motivate You to Keep It Clean

The couple cites one of their favorite purchases for their new space—some amazing, brown swivel chairs—as ones that surprisingly also keep them tidy.

Their reasoning? The chairs have so much functionality in their living room now that they can’t serve as a dumping ground for clutter.

“They're more intentional—we love and use all the time, so you feel motivated to keep tidying,” Pitt says.

Turns out, their shopping spree at Homesense provided cleaning advice: keep the pieces in your space intentional, and be so enamored with them that you’d never want them to be dirty.

Find Middle Ground in Your Design Styles

“Our styles are very similar when it comes to like home decor—we both like neutral colors, beiges and light grays and off-whites,” Pitt says. “It’s great that we have similar color palettes, it really helps focus our design.”

Pitt thinks that of the biggest priorities when it comes to designing with your partner is being on the same page with your color palette.

“If I was big on bright oranges, it would just never work as the main color in our space,” Amabile says.

The couple also loves finding truly multipurpose pieces: they look good and benefit the space in terms of function.

“It's been pretty easy combining our design styles because we have the same priorities,” Pitt says. “We want things to feel really comfortable and functional in our space, and we like a similar color palette, which we broadcast across our apartment. When we shopped for this space together, that cohesion made it really easy to find pieces that we both loved.”

Make Collections a Focal Point

Both halves of the couple luckily didn’t insist that any “design eyesores” of theirs needed to appear in the design scheme (think: cord-filled gaming consoles).

Amabile said that he’d rather keep his Chicago Bears jersey in his closet rather than on his wall—but he did bring with him a collection that Pitt loves to keep on display.

“Joe has a huge collection of cookbooks that were really important to him, and we did incorporate them into our space,” Pitt shares. “Instead of putting them in storage, we added a big bookshelf in our kitchen so they’re on display. They’re so cute, and make our space really personal.”

Approach Everything With Togetherness

When furnishing and decorating your first space as a couple, our Bachelor favorites both agreed that shopping together in-store truly changed the game for them. It allowed time to bond, make united design decisions, and excitedly implement them in the space later.

“The more fun you have shopping, the better your space will end up,” Amabile says.

Pitt considers the couple lucky that they both are invested in the design of their space. She notes that if both halves of the couple take a vested interest, it can become something fun to share.

“It’s a really fun activity to do together as a couple—we got coffees, we went to Homesense, we browsed, and figured out what pieces we both loved,” Pitt says. “Now, we look around at the space and say ‘Oh, we picked out these chairs together.’ You now have pieces that are both of yours versus just one.”

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Read the original article on The Spruce.