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 drove off in? The correct answer is leather.
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 veggies 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.
I can imagine the results of a survey that asked the question: do men have reasonable taste when it comes to selecting living room furniture? There might even be a handful of “yes” votes, but the overwhelming response would be “no”. It is my opinion that most guys would be happy to walk around in jeans and a tee shirt. Our tastes are simple. Most women would concur with this analysis and, as a result, would not pay that much attention to an opposing point of view.
Another example of an opinion is our home. When we began the process, many homes were visited before I came to the conclusion that I really didn’t like this tedious process. I asked to be left at home because when I thought about it I really only had two criteria. I wanted a house with a tile roof because upkeep was far less with tile when compared to shake. Secondly, I wanted the house to be turnkey so that there would be not repaires needed. All the other things did not matter. One-story or two, carpeted or tile, size of the backyard, corner or middle lot – these were all things that were not important to me.
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.
Another point I would make is that even if I was wildly opposed to the selection, I would ask myself a simple question: “Is this the hill you want to die on?” If men are sufficiently obnoxious about pushing back on the purchase, do you think we will pay the price in another roomsay, the bedroom perhaps? The reason why most men would not go to these lengths is that we just don’t care. It is much like the potential groom being asked about flower colors by his bride-to-be. Do you think she would really pick lilies just because you said that’s what you like? If one could look into the heart of most guys you would hear the same resounding chorus: “Just tell me where you need me to be, and when.”
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 wife. In the words of my mom, 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 word to the wise 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.
Read a great article on finding great buys on Living Room Furniture Sets click this link. To get some interesting information about purchasing furniture from aman’s point of view please click this link.
