How Three Couples Share One Brooklyn Home

Kith visual director Attie James and her partner (soon-to-be-husband) JD have lived together in their Brooklyn Heights six-person commune for two years.

Attie was already dating JD when he moved into the three-bedroom, two-bathroom pre-war brownstone with Aaron—an old friend from Boston—and a couple they knew named Ari and Sean. “It was an unspoken plan for me to move in with them,” Attie says, “I was there when they were unpacking and totally fell in love with the house. I basically just moved my life there from my Upper West Side studio and never looked back.”

For a while, the five friends—two couples and Aaron—lived as a quintet, until he started dating Rachel who moved in soon after.

“Merging our design aesthetic was easy” says Attie. Luckily, they all share a love of mid-century modern furniture. “We share everything,” says Attie, “except for our individual rooms. If there’s beer in the fridge, it’s for everyone. Everything is fair game—the couches, chairs, TV, tables, utensils, dishes, all of it.”

You would think this hippie-dippie communal style living situation might make it tough for each couple to find the time to be share intimate moments. Not the case. “When JD and I are in our bedroom with the door closed,” says James, “we feel like it’s just the two of us.”

Below, James fills in the blanks of what life is like after, er, on the brink of, “I do” as a sixsome.

The first dinner party we threw together was a

Sunday evening

.  We invited s

ome of our friends in the neighborhood

and

JD (I’m not great in the kitchen)

cooked

shepherd’s pie

. The one thing I regret was

a photo we took that ended up making the whole dinner look slightly haunted

.

On a typical Monday evening, we can be found

eating Indian food

and

playing with our new kitten Anastasia

. Saturday afternoons are for p

ainting, art projects and strolling around the neighborhood

and on Sundays we always

are happiest at home watching the Patriots (well, he watches)

.

We mostly shop for furniture on

Craigslist, Ebay and at vintage stores

. The most expensive piece we’ve purchased cost

$400

and

was a mid-century credenza

which came from

a treacherous storage unit in Long Island City.

Family heirloom(s)?

We have a vintage painting of the Virgin Mary from JD’s grandmother that we adore

.

The thing I’m most attached to from my single life is

a small white vintage bureau

because

it reminds me of that era of my life

. I bought it from

the Upper West Side flea market with my former roommate and oldest friend

and keep it in

our living room

.

The five items you will always find in our refrigerator are

seltzer, raspberries, obscure brands of IPA, JD’s week supply of meal prep,

and

left-over Indian food

.

The five items you will always find in our medicine cabinet are

Rite Aid flossers, Avene thermal water spray, Aesop camellia nut facial hydrating cream, Baxter under eye treatment

, and

Barbasol shaving cream

. I absolutely cannot get in bed at night without using my

rose hip oil

on

my face

.

The registry item we can’t live without is

two snow peak folding beach chairs

.

Our favorite room in the house is

the dining room and living room

because

they are the biggest rooms in the apartment and get the most natural light

. We spend a lot of time

making things (mostly indigo dying) while JD watches TV, works and relaxes

in there.

When it comes to housework, I am the one who always

purges unnecessary belongings and organizes

. My partner, on the other hand, insists on

bathroom cleaning and laundry

. The one thing we can’t agree on is

my tendency to want to replace bathroom towels after only five uses

.

The three best organizational tricks I’ve learned are

to build shelves for height, maximize space under the bed, and the ability to live with occasional chaos

.

When it comes to money, our biggest challenge is how to

not have a good time—we have the habit of going out for a drink which turns into oysters, which turns into appetizers, and then steaks, then dessert and more cocktails

. I like to spend on

home items and clothes

, but he/she cares way more about

camping gear, coolers, and his guitar

.

The most important piece of advice I would give to newlyweds is

to always live your truth

. Never, ever compromise when it comes to

comfort!!

In ten years we hope for our home to be

a place people love to come visit

, filled with

tons of plants and family

.

My design aesthetic is three words is

romantic, eclectic, and understated

. My partner’s is

comfortable, traditional, and clean

.

Our most memorable fight at Ikea was about

whether or not JD should post this ugly photo of us cringing in line on Instagram (which he ended up doing)

.

See more newlywed homes:

A Bohemian Haven in a Brooklyn Townhouse, Built by Newlyweds How a Creative Couple Combined Their Homes After Marriage What It’s Like to Live on the Road as Newlyweds