Home decor makes a noticeable difference in the comfort of your living space. From the bedroom to the living room to the kitchen, decor has a distinct impact on the mood you feel when you’re in space. It reflects your personality and helps you to make a home your own. 

For one reason or another, decorating a home in a masculine way is a lot more complicated than you might expect. A space should mirror the person who owns it, but sometimes it’s tough to present a space in a masculine way.

Let’s talk about this difficult task. We’ve come up with some decor ideas that are on the masculine side. Decor is for everybody, and not just people who are feminine.

What Makes Decor Masculine?

This is the million-dollar question. A lot of home decor is seen as feminine, and many masculine people choose to present their masculinity by not putting as much energy into home decor as they could. 

We’re offering an alternative. There are a variety of modern design styles and ideas that exist that are tough, and masculine. Let’s talk about a few characteristics to look for. 

The color palette is everything when it comes to setting the tone for a living space. Spaces dominated by brighter, warmer neutrals like off-whites and beige sometimes have pink undertones that can make a space feel more feminine. These spaces feel bright, perky, and warm. That’s not a bad thing at all, but it’s not the most masculine option.

We know that neutral colors are incredibly important in modern interior design. When designing a room that is meant to be more masculine, it’s best to lean away from warm neutrals and opt for more cool, dark neutrals like darker grays, deep browns, and blacks. 

These types of colors have bluer undertones, and they make a space feel grounded, sturdy, and clean. These are a much more masculine feel, and it all comes from the power that color has over your mood and perception. 

Raw Materials

Another way to present a more masculine room is by choosing home decor with specific types of materials that feel more masculine. Choose concrete for a hard and strong feeling, steel or other metals for a sense of sturdiness, raw wood for an organic and honest aura, and leather for a classy and put-together feel. 

Materials are everything when it comes to furniture and design. Glossy wood, soft upholstery, and brushed, slender metals exude more feminine energy. That subtle shift in the material can change the feeling of the whole room. 

Functionality

One big hallmark of masculinity in interior design is functionality. It’s best to steer away from excess and pieces that don’t have any explicit purpose. Furniture and design elements should be practical and be used often. 

When in doubt, lean towards minimalism. Select furniture that serves multiple purposes if possible. This practicality helps to present a clean, put-together, masculine feel. 

Is There a Style That Is More Masculine?

Yes, of course! There are a few modern styles that lend themselves very well to creating masculine spaces. 

Minimalism

The idea behind minimalism is to get rid of any unnecessary elements to create an incredibly clean-looking space. The visual interest of minimalistic rooms is in the open space and the well-designed furniture. 

There are lots of clean lines and lots of white and black contrast. It’s a powerful style that you can easily utilize to create a masculine space.

Mid-Century Modern

Mid-century modern takes a small amount of inspiration from minimalism, but with a little more class, luxury, and pleasure. You’ll see a lot of very practical furniture, lots of beautiful woods and leathers, and lots of organic shapes. 

This is great for a man who does well in business and wants to present a classy, put-together look. It’s great for an office, a living room, or any room in the house for that matter. 

Industrial

The industrial style offers a more casual and rugged type of masculinity. It uses a lot of concrete and steel. You’ll see high-vaulted ceilings that leave the insides of a building to be seen, from a raw, exposed brick wall to open steel beams in the ceiling. There are lots of blacks and deep grays. 

This style reflects the masculine parts of a city. It’s great for creating neutral spaces that are full of interest, clean lines, and strength. 

Masculine Interior Design Ideas and Options

Now that we have some guidelines and inspiration to build off of, let’s get into some more specific ideas that you can easily implement into your own home to give off a more masculine feel. 

1. Area Rugs

Rugs work wonders in any interior design setting, and they can be used very well in masculine spaces. Rugs create a visual foundation for a space. They help to divide up a room based on the function that each area serves, so they give a visual representation of the practicality of each room. 

To make this interior design element more masculine, opt for a darker-colored rug that doesn’t have an excessive or busy pattern. Choose an option that has more of a visual texture as opposed to an outright pattern. And again, go for dark, cool colors for a masculine feel.

2. Leather Accent Chair

A piece or two of leather furniture can make a space feel masculine in a classy way. The earthy tones, deep color, and quality craftsmanship just exude masculine energy. 

Even just adding one simple accent chair that uses both leather upholstery and metal framing can inject that manly feeling into a room that you’re looking for. 

3. Modern Bookshelf

Bookshelves are a classic interior design piece that helps to make a room feel more sophisticated, intelligent, and creative. The collection of books not only acts as a storage unit for the books you read in your living room or reading nook, but the books also serve as their own decor. 

A wooden bookshelf with a drawer is a simple way to add this element to your space without taking up too much surface area. It’s a gender-neutral element in and of itself, but choosing cool, dark colors like a deep gray, brings it into the masculine space. 

4. Storage Ottomans 

Remember, practicality and function are some of the key things to consider when designing a masculine space. One of the best multipurpose pieces of furniture is a storage ottoman. It gives you a nice place to rest your feet and place a tray with some decor, but the inside opens up to add storage to the room. 

You can keep your blankets, board games, or whatever you need in this small storage space. It helps to reduce the clutter in the room and makes it feel more comfortable, open, and inviting. 

5. Exposed Brick or Concrete Wall

If you want to change your room in a dramatic way and have the money to take up a home project, you could consider adding an accent wall of exposed brick or concrete. Raw materials like this add a rugged feeling to the room that can really elevate the space and add visual interest in a cool way. 

It makes a fantastic backdrop to the room as a whole and can even be home to a gallery wall, some taxidermy, or a large piece of artwork. It checks all the boxes of masculine interior design, and it makes a room feel great. 

6. Instrument Wall

Men are known to love their hobbies and want to display them. For all you musicians out there, a great way to put your guitars to use even when you’re not using them is by using them as decor. 

Instruments mounted on walls are a great way to fill the empty space on a wall while also showing off an important part of your personality. You can even create a small music space on one side of the room dedicated to practicing your craft. 

This idea doesn’t have to be limited to instruments and musicians either. Whatever your hobby might be, feel free to put it on display as decor. This encapsulates the functionality aspect we talked about earlier, and it’s a great way to make a room feel exciting and personal. 

A Masculine Living Space

Finding masculine home decor may seem like an impossible task, but there are more options out there than you realize. Take these tips, guidelines, and ideas, and get creative with your living space. Your space should be a reflection of who you are, so take your home decor by the horns and make your space your own. 

For more info about interior design and for a great selection of modern furniture, check out eLuxury. 

Sources:

Area Rugs | World Floor Covering Association

Exploring Colors Associated With Emotions | Art in Context

Overview | Mid-Century Modern Design | Appalachian State University