this is the way I would have it if I ever got married:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21369007/
I need my space. 
I think its messed up....
That said, my grandparents had somewhat of a different arrangement and as I sit here thinking about it, I've realized my wife and I have kind of settled into a similar situation.
My grandpa lived in the basement of their house and my grandma lived upstairs. Grandpa would always sleep upstairs in bed with grandma, but that really was the end of it. His basement had its own refrigerator, stove, TV, living room, his wine jugs, his wine cellar room, his gun room, its own outside entrance, his shower, and was basically his domain that he went into in the morning and stayed in until late at night when he went back to bed. Upstairs, grandma had her kitchen, her living room, her TV and her quilting room. Now they freely crossed throughout the day, but i can remember people coming to their house to see Grandpa (he owned a farm and a construction company, so there were a fair amount of people who'd stop by the house for business reasons) who'd just go straight to the basement and Grandma (who as active in the church, played alot of cards, and had a huge family) would never see them. The same thing happened with Grandma where people came straight to the front door. It got weird sometimes because Grandpa would be drinking with his people in the basement and Grandma would be playing cards and drinking with her friends and family upstairs. What was weird was that people would switch off through the evening, and they wouldn't walk downstairs through the house, they'd go outside and walk around the house to the basement door or the front door and come in that way---like they were entering a different house. I never could figure out why people didn't follow me down the stairs in the house. To this day I don't know why they didn't do that.
Grandma and Grandpa also had their own checking accounts and shared a common house account for paying utilities and bills. Money went nto their accounts and then went to the house. Grandma never asked about Grandpa's money and Grandpa never asked about Grandma's. All major purchases for the house were made together. It worked for them. They were married for almost 50 years until Grandma died.
Now, the house I'm living in right now doesn't have a basement, but with my last house, my wife and I settled into something similar to Grandma and Grandpa's without even realizing it. The basement was mine with a full gym (powerrack, smith machine, benches, weights etc), my aquariums, several of my reptiles, and the dogs. Upstairs was my wifes with a living room, TV, family room and her study and we shared the second floor with our bedroom. Our current checking account situation is almost identical to my grandparents. My wife has her money, that I don't ask about what she's spending it on. She almost always tells me what she gets, so I don't worry about it. I have my money I use to buy what I want and she generally doesn't ask (unless its something big over a few hundred dollars--which I wouldn't get without telling her). We pay the bills out of a joint account.
My wife and I have also been together for 15 years, including the first 7 years we lived together. There has to be some method to this madness...
