At first the couple lived relatively modestly in Munich and, during the summer months, with Richard’s parents-in-law in Marquartstein. The move to Berlin finally enabled Pauline, a general’s daughter, to preside over a "grand household" and maintain intensive social contacts, something she continued to enjoy in Vienna. Guests included musicians, intellectuals, poets, army officers and diplomats and the composer and his wife were happy to reciprocate. Pauline was a meticulous and strict housekeeper, to the chagrin of many a cook. In 1912 Anna Glossner entered service with the family, lavishing care on them until her death in 1944. She was succeeded by Anni Nitzl, who remains in the position to this day and is regarded as a family member.

On special occasions Richard and Pauline Strauss would host celebrations for friends at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich and at Vienna’s Hotel Imperial. In general, however, they entertained at home. A note was made in a party planner detailing the guests and the food served. Otherwise, the same people could have been served the same dish twice! Guests were always welcome but not always treated respectfully by Pauline. More than one was shocked by her temperamental outbursts, her obsessive cleanliness or her strange fashion ideas. She once spontaneously cut off the brim of a lady guest’s hat with the satisfied comment, "That’s better.”

The regime Pauline led in Garmisch was not only strict but on occasion also icy. "Sometimes I can hardly hang on in my room, such is the draft", Richard complained about his wife’s passion for airing the rooms. Pauline’s obsession with cleaning was legendary, nor was it restricted to her own home. Even in other people’s houses she, ‘likes to check for dust, running her fingers over the furniture, opening drawers, looking under beds and inspecting the servants’ hands’ (Kurt Wilhelm). "Yes indeed, his scores and my housekeeping…", Pauline once said of her husband’s pin-sharp handwriting in his manuscripts.

Richard and Pauline decorated their various homes with love and considerable expense. Whether it was Bohemian crystal, unusual furniture or antiques, they chose and enjoyed everything together.