Alright, so you’re a single dude and you’ve just moved into your dream apartment. Now what do you put in it!
A bachelor pad, aka ‘man cave’ or ‘man den’, is the one place where you can do whatever you want, and that’s because you are the only one that has to like it.
Bachelor pads offer a unique opportunity to have everything you ever wanted. If you love to play pool and always eat from a frozen dinner tray on the couch, you can put a pool table in the dining room. There are no rules! There are, however, tips on how to make your pad more user-friendly, comfortable and fun to live in.
When people enter your abode, the art on your walls is one of the first things they will notice. And nothing says a sophisticated, intelligent, independent, freethinking man like an original pop-art collectors piece on your wall. They can be controversial, I know, but also a great conversation starter.
To inject some pop-art-inspired aesthetic into your décor the best place to start is London’s renowned Saatchi Gallery, which also offers a convenient method to buy art online from emerging artists around the world.
And unless you employ a cleaner, keep things uncluttered. Relaxing, clean lines are easy to live with and maintain.
Only include in the décor the things that you use, and eliminate the rest. Forget about what everybody else does. Just focus on you and your needs. So don’t include useless decorations unless they’re also functional.
The colours you choose for your man cave will have a huge effect on the overall comfort and impact of your home. While blue may seem like the obvious choice, not so fast!
A few other hues may help you create a more upscale and sophisticated space. Consider brown or gray as the predominant colour. Both work well with other accent colours like blue, black or white.
Maybe you need a splash of colour? Consider adding bold ‘manly’ purple or vivid red accents to gray walls. Once you paint the walls and trim, the fabrics you use in the room will round out your colour scheme. Upholstery, window coverings and rugs tie the room scheme together.
But if you want a really cool bachelor pad, one of the best and most effective things you can do to a room is add dramatic wallpaper.
Bold, large and confident patterns are the order of the day for trendsetters, establishing a contemporary feel. Add contemporary minimalist furnishings to the room, or great vintage style pieces for an eclectic character.
Splashing out on a fantastic funky wallpaper means you’ll have a lot of style in the room, and therefore you can get away with spending less on furnishings. If you are on a budget, consider papering just one wall as a feature.
Bring back the Cocktail Hour Mad Men style. This tradition is the height of retro-chic and adds gusto to even the dullest week. Furthermore, cocktails are the perfect social lubricant and your passport to popularity!
Smoking cigars is just something bachelors do; but you can’t go ‘ashing’ into an empty beer can anymore. You need take your ashtray game to the next level! Go vintage.
You’re not going through all the trouble of designing the ultimate bachelor suite to sit alone watching TV. You’ll need somewhere for your guests to sit while they admire and dare we say envy your stylish digs.
These days, most dudes opt for a modern modular lounge. Personally, I still prefer to keep it classic, but pair the lounge with a couple of contemporary modern chairs. It’s a classy statement!
Your home office is more than just a workspace!
It’s the greenhouse in which you’re best ideas take root, the factory that produces your finest efforts and, most importantly, the place where you spend the majority of your waking hours on any given workday.
That’s why having an office that fits your needs as well as your own personal style is so important.
Think of it as the professional version of man cave.
Around the world men have enjoyed a respectable status in the kitchens of royals and celebrities alike. Women absolutely dig a guy who knows how to use his, uh, kebab skewer. And what could be more macho than doing bicep curls using an iron skillet that has a sizzling porterhouse in it?
If you’ve got the gall, then dig into the mines of gastronomic greatness. First, make sure you have the right kitchen essentials and tools, and know exactly how to use them.
The average single guy spends so much time attempting to attract females of the species back to his place with the right style, grooming and conversation that he may forget a few traps. Like, how to explain that aesthetically off-putting overflowing rubbish bin.
The best investment you can make in the bedroom for aesthetics is the headboard. Styling your headboard shows your personality and creativity, it is a statement of your individuality.
It’s easy to scan through old James Bond movies and MTV Cribs re-runs to get inspiration for your pad. While there’s nothing wrong with getting a few ideas from the great minds that came before you, a true man of style works from within.
It’s a bachelor pad, and you’re that bachelor! So look for items that express who you are and what you like, don’t waste this opportunity. Create the man cave that your friends with partners can only dream about every night in their pink canopy beds.
As to the origin of the term ‘bachelor pad’, it emerged in the 1960s as a way of putting the masculine into domestic spaces being given exposure in ‘gentlemen’s’ magazines like Esquire and Playboy. Originally referred to as ‘bachelor apartments’, ‘bachelor pad’ was first coined in an article in the Chicago Tribune, and by 1964 it had also appeared in the New York Times and Playboy.
