Does your brother’s or son’s bedroom look bland? Are you having some trouble making your bachelor’s pad look – well – manly enough? Well, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Furnishing and decorating a man’s bedroom to let it exude a masculine atmosphere is quite challenging. Even the craftiest interior designers acknowledge that it’s not easy to find a balance room design that is both fashionable and manly. 

Knowing most men want a rugged, mannish look, you want his bedroom to look cool and sleek. But you also want to avoid making it look too clinical. Here are some tips on how to dress up a bedroom that has the right men’s look that will match almost any personality.

Simplicity rules the roost 

The most important thing that you need to remember is that men prefer simplicity. This is why their bedrooms aren’t typically decorated with something they find unnecessary such as vases, teddy bears, or extra pillows. If they have plenty of decors, it’s most likely because he has practical uses for such “decors.” Knowing this principle, it’s time to delve into some cool ideas that are applicable to a man’s bedroom.

Pick the right mattress and accessories

The mattress is the centerpiece of any bedroom. When you choose the right mattress for a guy, consider his physique and sleeping position. For example, if he often sleeps on his side, a soft memory foam bed would be ideal. If he sleeps on his stomach, a firmer hybrid or innerspring mattress would keep his spine aligned.

It’s a good idea to also include masculine colors and designs for the bed’s accessories. Black, white, grey, brown, and dark blue covers are great starters as these colors are often associated with masculine brand personality. In addition, when choosing a bed frame, make sure the design is simple. Men usually don’t want gaudy or embellished stuff.

Use dark-colored wood for drawers, bedside tables, chests, and other bedroom furniture

Dark wood looks bold and elegant, which is perfect for a man who wants to add a touch of class. Pair with a linen button-back or a simple printed cloth cover. To further display a touch of class, use lamps, curtain rods, and other accessories with matte metallic colors.

Use dark accents if you have large windows

Contemporary bachelor pads and single-room condos often feature large glass doors and windows. This is good because you can play with contrast. Use dark wall panels, doors, and accents. These will beautifully contrast with the plentiful amount of natural light that comes through the glass windows. According to a current bachelor’s degree in interior design, the main purpose of design should be to improve the material side of life, and playing with contrasts allows you to do exactly that.

Keep lines clean and simple

Men often don’t want cutesy things, clutter, and extra adornments. They often prefer bold yet simple designs. Thus, for a masculine-looking room, keep artworks and accessories minimal. Work on clean lines for a modern look. Crisp dark colors and contrasted with bright light hues are often enough yet provide a great visual impact.

Invoke a rustic tone with earthy colors

If contrasting dark and light colors is not your—or your man’s—preference, you can try earthy tones. Brown, beige, tan, and desert yellow are often lovely colors, giving the room a warm, rustic feel. You can use wood paneling to emphasize the earthy look. Add a focal point such as a large bamboo lamp, a polished wood bookshelf, or a wood-framed artwork.

Choose the right accessories

Judging from the tips above, it seems that men don’t like to have anything in their bedrooms rather than a mattress and a little furniture. Seems dull, isn’t it? Well, not exactly. You can put other stuff in the room. However, it has to be the right accessory. As mentioned earlier in this section, it should be something that he can use. These include:

• floor standing telescopes
• flat screen LCD TV or LED
• books
• small coffee table and chair
• a recliner

Let your imagination run wild. Just remember the core idea: decors should have practical uses in a man’s room.

Add shelves

Men love to collect and display stuff like action figures, scale models, vinyl records, trophies, awards, and other collectibles. Looking at them often gives him a sense of happiness and accomplishment. In fact, some men find refuge from everyday stress by looking at their collections.

If your man is a collector, then it’s a good idea to install shelves in his room. Shelves are cool accessories that allow him to display his collections. While a standard bookshelf or display shelf is cool, it might take up a lot of space. A good alternative is to install wood shelves reinforced with non-obvious brackets.

Add a touch of color

Monotone or duo-tone rooms can look boring; just imagine an all-white or gray room. You can add an accessory, furniture, appliance, or feature of a different color that can break the monotone.

For example, if the room is mostly white, you can break the monotony by adding red or blue pillow covers. If you feel these colors are too vibrant, you can tone them down to green, yellow, or brown. Limit the accent color to two colors. Three or more accent colors often clash with each other.

Go for an industrial look

Newly constructed condominium shells; factories that are renovated to living spaces; old buildings with the visible framework, pipework, and sprinkler systems—these are awesome bedroom canvases for creative interior designers. The good thing is that the exposed innards of the room add together to form an industrial aesthetic.

Repair any structural damage, and clean up—or repaint—the innards. Then follow any of the tips above. Now you have a very unique manly bedroom!

Bonus: one of the things that make industrial-themed rooms great is that any damage to the structural, electrical, or pipe systems is easy to repair. There’s no ceiling or wall paneling to take out.

Ironically, due to the level of simplicity desired by most men, decorating a man’s room can be quite challenging. However, with the creative ideas mentioned above, you can definitely bring a man’s bedroom to life.

Guest Post

Brett is a writer at ID-Mag. An enthusiast and expert when it comes to sleep products, Brett dedicates a lot of his time reading, researching, and reviewing about both traditional and emerging sleep brands that manufacture varied types of sleep products – from eco-mattresses, smart pillows to cooling sleep systems, Brett has probably reviewed them all. Brett also finds sleep especially important since he juggles a small business which he runs from home, makes sure he spends time with his daughter and he also writes during his spare time – you can definitely see that he needs a great forty winks all night, every night so he’ll make sure that you get great sleep, too!