Designing...What Am I Supposed To Do?

So, since I moved in with my boyfriend almost two years ago, we haven't done a lot of re-designing..  I moved in right after he laid wood floors and later we tiled the kitchen, he also bought new living room furniture because of a naughty kitty that couldn't find his litter box (also why the carpet was torn out..gross, I know!).  Because we did all of that, neither of us felt as though we needed to really 'decorate'..

Well, we also have different tastes in styling.  Fortunately, we both like the same colors; neutral.  But I enjoy accesorizing, and he prefers bare walls.  I want to put a rug down under the kitchen table, and he doesn't want to.  Another part of our differences is the money.  He does not want to spend money on 'stuff', whereas I think it'll add a lot! 

Slowly but surely, things are changing!  First it started with a wine rack, it's really cool-you stick the top end of the bottle in a hole, and it hangs sideways on the wall.  We both liked it, even though he doesn't drink wine. 

Then, last christmas our 'gift' to each other was finding something to hang above the couch!  (oh my, something on the walls!!)  He let me pick it out and I found some very colorful artwork at BB&B that I loved, and he could live with. 

Now, it's adding a bedside table for me.  We also bought a giant king size bed when I moved in-his double was tiny for us, as we both appreciate our space while sleeping-most nights.  But when we bought a bed side table, he only bought one, which was on clearance, so by the time I could get to the store to buy one too, they were all gone.  At this point in our relationship we were still 'his and hers', we hadn't really joined our lives as closely as we have now.  So, the new table should arrive for me soon and if he likes it enough, he's going to buy one to match and we will move his current one into the spare bedroom-where all of the 'spare' items go in our house-like guests!  (totally just kidding, Mom!)

I also found this awesome overhead light thingy for in our bedroom.  We have a side lamp, but its on his side-same with the alarm clock.  Let me tell you, crawling across a giant king-size bed in the morning to hit the snooze button is a lot of work!  So I'm going to be investing in my own!  Slowly, we are starting to make his townhouse look like our home.

I find that decorating, finding things that I love and want to surround myself with, takes a lot of time for me.  Granted, I feel as though its a little more difficult when someone else always needs to at least appreciate it, but even without someone else's opinion, I can never decide on one theme or one look, let alone find the things needed to create that look.

For example, we have a mantel in our living room, the fireplace has three sides to it, so it literally sticks out into the room-which is really cool!  But the 'things' on this mantel are mine and then his, not ours.  So it doesn't really carry any 'theme' or pattern to what is there.  I want to change it, but when I look at items at stores I love the items separately, but I don't know if they would really fit well in our space.  Because of this, I usually buy a lot of 'stuff' that doesn't fit our house but I love.  This is what I want to avoid.

I have a girlfriend that recently married and moved in with your husband, she decorated her entire house and it looks so beautiful (also on a not-very-expensive-budget)!  I don't know how she did it soo quickly and made it look so professional and put together!!

What do other people do to organize their thoughts and ideas for putting together a room??