Style Guide

Before you can decide on how you want to decorate your place you should try and narrow down a style and possibly a theme.

This might be a daunting task if you don’t know where to begin but luckily you can start with looking at yourself. Reflect on who you are as a person. Write down your interests and passions.

If you love to be out in nature a modern style might not be for you. If you enjoy collecting things, minimalism might not be for you either. Think about that you enjoy and eliminate whatever styles are opposite.

The Most Common Styles for Guys

Modern - Very clean, usually all white or all black. Many times can also be minimalist as well.
Minimal - Clean, 1-2 colors, few decorations and only the essential furniture
Rustic - Natural wood, browns and tans, weathered surfaces and textures.
Vintage - Weathered and old items, large collections and lots of decorations on the walls

And of course you can do a combination of these. Say a minimal place with old vintage photos.

Themes

Ever since we were kids we’ve been decorating our rooms based on our interests. That doesn’t necessarily change now, but you can do better than just slapping up a couple of posters of movies or sports figures you like.

The place we live is a reflection of who we are so it is only natural to decorate with a theme we enjoy. Here are some of the most common themes guys use to decorate.

Music
Beer/alcohol
Outdoors
Cars/Bikes/Motorcycles
Sports
Movies
Television
Western
Time Periods

It is great to use a theme but you don’t want to go overboard. It is cool to have a piece or two of Steelers memorabilia if you’re a fan but if you paint your entire place black and yellow you might look a little crazy. It’s called “moderation”.

That is why I advise you to find a style to work with first and then add a theme to each room if you want to.

Color

Normally you would select a color palette early on, but I think it is easier for guys to select some things that they like first and then select colors that work in that style. Plus, most guys are not very good at color coordinating and matching to begin with, so we’ll borrow from what already works.

In general I think guys are afraid to get into color too much, especially when they don’t have a lot of experience in design. Which is perfectly fine. You can do a lot with just black and white if you want to go that route. You can also start out going very neutral with your colors and then add a bright accent when you feel more comfortable doing so.

Mostly common colors for guys: