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At Home with Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Sure, opposites attract, but similarities are what make the sparks fly between Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. "We're both very fiery, spirited people," Maksim told Life & Style on June 18, when the professional dancers invited us into their newly decorated Studio City, Calif., condominium. "We're both very active. I enjoy that about her, and she loves it about me."

At Home with Dancings Karina and Maks

Dancers Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy got engaged after just three months of dating. They're planning a June 2010 wedding.

Lisa Rose, Life & Style

Before

"It was very naked," Karina says of the home, which she was in the process of buying when she and Maks started dating.

Lisa Rose, Life & Style

Comfy Chic

From electronics to home accessories to furniture, Maks and Karina turned to QVC for all their home needs, like their Sharp Aquos HDTV LCD TV and PedicSolutions Visco Elastic Memory Foam Mattress. "We wanted it to be a place where we could relax but also entertain," she says.

Lisa Rose, Life & Style

Private Sanctuary

The couple spend the most time in their bedroom, chilling out to music.

Lisa Rose, Life & Style

Design Guru

Interior designer Kenneth Brown transformed the couple's home in about three weeks.

Lisa Rose, Life & Style

Will Maks and Karina be making room for a nursery soon? "Right now, there are a lot of projects in the works, and I want to be able to complete all of them before we talk about starting a family," Karina says. "Maks wants kids today!"

Lisa Rose, Life & Style

Karina first realized she was head over heels for her longtime pal (and then-new boyfriend) during a Christmas trip to Mexico last year. "I was lying on the beach, thinking, Can I picture starting a family or having a life with anyone else?" she says. "And the answer was no. I don't want anybody else; I want him."

The realization couldn't have come at a better time, because Maks proposed days later, less than three months after the couple began dating. "We were in the middle of the Dancing With the Stars tour. We had a New Year's Eve break and decided to stay in Las Vegas for a couple of days," Maks says. "On December 31, I proposed."

Starting a life together

Fans will have a chance to hear even more about the proposal on the couple's new reality show. "We haven't signed on the dotted line yet, but hopefully it's going to premiere this fall," Karina reveals. "The show's just us trying to have a normal relationship being in the entertainment industry and opening a studio together."

The series will bounce between LA, Maks and Karina's home base, and NYC, where their families live--and where the couple will star in Burn the Floor on Broadway for three weeks starting on July 25.

NYC will also be the setting for Maks and Karina's to-be-televised June 2010 wedding. Working with party planner David Tutera, the couple hope to combine their faiths (they're both half Jewish and half Christian) by exchanging vows before a priest and a rabbi as well as roughly 300 of their closest friends and family, including fellow DWTS professionals and celebrities.

"Maks loves the grand stuff," says Karina. "He wants big flower arrangements and a long aisle, and I'm okay with that. I'm not opposed to the big wedding with the big dress." While Karina hasn't selected a wedding gown yet, she favors off-the-shoulder, full-skirted looks from designers Monique Lhuillier and Vera Wang. And she is sure of at least one accessory: "My dad is walking me down the aisle," she says. "We were talking about having my dad and Woz [former DWTS partner Steve Wozniak] do it, but Woz is in California, and it's going to be too difficult."

One thing that's easy is relaxing in their Kenneth Brown-designed abode. But to Karina, the high-light of the new place is just getting to enjoy Maks' presence. "He's got this very soft, attentive, passionate side to him," Karina says. "It's beautiful to know at the end of the day there's someone waiting for you at home."

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Gregdotbear 08:14:04 PM Jul 06 2009

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How can anyonme be as cruel as you people? you all sound like the media and are probably jealous of them .Grow up and let them be happy. You are not the judge and surely not GOD

Q2D2 02:37:45 PM Jul 06 2009

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re: Totallypyro247, the guy can't possibly be gay. No gay man would live in a house so horribly decorated

Q2D2 02:36:21 PM Jul 06 2009

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re: totallypyro, I doubt the guy is gay, if he were the house would be better decorated

Totallypyro247 11:05:52 AM Jul 06 2009

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How did this queer get her?????

Farmgirl19C 10:34:13 AM Jul 06 2009

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This looks so cheap and tacky. They should tear it all out when the cameras leave.

Deede4525 10:19:02 AM Jul 06 2009

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Ahhh, they have a nice place. I like Kenneth Brown. I hope they will be soooooooo happy!

Noseemee47 05:59:19 AM Jul 06 2009

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How anyone can be in love with the ego of Max is beyond me. I was so glad when he took the year off. He can take another year off too. I wouldn't miss him.

DMGA 1 05:37:46 AM Jul 06 2009

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Karina is anybody's girl. Maybe her work visa is running out and she needs to revise it.

justpicky03 05:37:34 AM Jul 06 2009

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There house isnt that pretty at all .... they don't have a "Wow" factor in any of the rooms . Boring !!!!!!!!!

SunnyOne934 04:00:23 AM Jul 06 2009

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I like both Karina and Maksim on the show, DWTS, and I dearly hope they will have a delightfully successful marriage. However, it occurs to me that they may both have to make some personality changes to have a long term marital relationship. In other words, they will need to become less selfish and more accommodating to each other. That is entirely possible, of course, but are they mature enough to make the effort to change? I hope so.

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58 comments