Reconciled Differences

After: Soothe both sensibilities with lovely stripes and silks for her, and (washable) Ultrasuede and wool upholstery for him. Hang his art and tidy up her family photographs.

The solution: What journalist and home stylist Mallery Roberts Lane did was to mindfully address and honor each piece in the room. So Ron's art has been hung, and Eve's couch has been reupholstered in a noncompetitive beige. The hot-red shade on her pool-blue lamp has been switched for a white one, which looks crisp against his big photograph now hanging behind it. Both Eve and Ron have beautiful books—hers about fashion, his about art—and Mallery has stacked them on the tables.

She brought in a few things, too—an orchid in a champagne bucket, Asian-style nesting tables, a blue leather cushion. The rugs have been culled to one, "so the room can breathe," says Mallery. "The whole tone of the thing is masculine, and the detail is all feminine."