How to decorate a man’s bedroom

If you’re looking for inspiration for mens bedroom decor, you’re in the right place! My brother recently bought his first apartment (yay!) and he has tasked me with decorating the new place, which frankly I’m over the moon about.

I’ll be documenting the entire process for you guys, so this will be the first post of many! I’ll be starting the design from the bedroom, so that will be where this post focuses, although many of the ideas here will be applicable to the entire home.

Before I got started, I wanted to provide my brother with some inspirational photos so I diligently went to google and typed ‘how do you style a man’s bedroom’ and ‘men’s master bedroom ideas’ but found a ridiculously small selection of articles online. So! I’ve decided to make a blog post for any people out there who don’t have an amazing big sister to do the legwork for them (or if you are the amazing big sister and you don’t know where to start).

What is a masculine bedroom?

I will preface this by saying this is a style, and like all styles it is subjective. I am planning to write a post on the different decor styles in the near future, which may help you to find what you like best. My brother said he wants his decor to look masculine, so his mens bedroom decor idea focuses on this style in particular.

Personally, when I think of masculine I picture a man in a suit coming home from a hard days work and pouring himself a glass of whisky, smoking a cigar (my brother doesn’t do either of those things but bear with me). I hate to say it but think Barney Stimpson from How I Met Your Mother – basically ‘that guy’ aesthetic.

So what is a masculine bedroom? The key to a masculine bedroom, in my opinion, lies in 3 things: a moody colour scheme, mixed materials and minimalism – let’s call it the 3 ‘Ms’. A moody colour scheme means dark, muted colours such as charcoal, pine (dark green) and denim (dark blue).

Mixed materials means exactly what it says – using a mix of masculine materials for the different items in your room – I would class these as metal, leather, brick, wood and concrete – basically things that you can imagine a sweaty man in a plaid shirt working on. Minimalism means a clean and simple space – not overrun with furniture, bright colours, posters and ‘stuff’.

Before digging into each of those, and more tips, let’s quickly cover what should be in a mans bedroom, for those of you who are also on your first home and don’t know what you need ( hint: it is the same as any bedroom)! You’ll want a bed, bedside tables, lighting, and storage in the form of a chest of drawers and/or a wardrobe.

Depending on the size of the bedroom (and if you have a spare room or not) you may want to think about adding seating and a desk there too. The rest will be down to your preferences and hobbies, instruments, a gaming set up, a fold up weights bench, the world is your oyster. For tips on what style of furniture to select – jump to the mixed materials section. Now for an in-depth look at the 3 M’s!

Minimalistic

The masculine bedroom style that I’m talking about tends to be minimalistic – that means very little in the way of furniture, art, pillows etc. Mens bedroom decor usually has simple shapes and designs for furniture, with minimum patterns and plenty of clear space.

Accessories should be kept simple (see more on that below) and bright colours should be used very sparingly, if at all. You can lean into this as much as you like, but be warned, if you go too far with the minimalism you may run into issues with storage, keeping the space clean, and your room may looking like a prison cell, lol!

The trick with minimalistic spaces is to keep them interesting. Some interior design tricks to add ‘interest’ and ‘depth’ (classic interior design spiel) is: having mixed materials, dark/textured walls, neutral coloured art work (if any), plants and, finally, to have fun with the lighting. These additions should keep your mens bedroom decor looking less like a waiting room and more like an expensive bachelor pad, without much effort at all!

Moody, masculine colour palette

Most men’s bedroom decor has a similar colour scheme – immediately, when I think of masculine, I think of neutral tones (think dark earthy colours – charcoal, moss green, etc). For this style, you don’t want to go too colourful, but you definitely do not want bare, white walls. Instead stick with one main colour, for example charcoal or moss green, and then match with neutrals, like white, black, grey and cream, with materials like metal, chrome, wood, brick and concrete.

A lot of the inspiration photos I found had dark walls, which I think looks great, and as mentioned above, looks perfect with a minimalist style. If you can’t find a dark colour you like, layering shades of grey also works well for mens bedroom decor.

My plan for my brother’s room is wood panelling with grey lime-wash, a charcoal bed and greige bedding. A grey lime-wash on the walls matched with a charcoal grey bed, and greige bedding is a dream. And if you don’t understand any of those words – that’s okay! Grey comes in many shapes and sizes (as we know, there are 50 shades.. heh) so you can mix and match really easily without having to have a designers eye.

Sticking to a neutral colour palette will mean a lot more flexibility when it comes to adding items to your room, whilst creating a classic, timeless feel. If you’re looking for paint colours, dulux have a great selection.

Mixed Materials

Furniture

Within mens bedroom decor, furniture is where the beginnings of the triple M’s come into play, particularly the mixed materials and moody colours. Let me explain: you will want the furniture and decor to comprise of masculine materials, and a mix of them. For the bed, I would go for a low frame, either in dark wood or charcoal grey fabric. Bed’s should be chosen based on your own preferences, and are relatively safe to purchase online, however I would highly recommend an ottoman bed for additional storage.

I would also highly, highly recommend that when you buy a mattress you physically go to the shops and try a couple out. I made the mistake of ordering a mattress online when I bought my first apartment, let me tell you I felt about 90 years old every morning, my back hurt so badly. And it was such an expensive mistake to make – please trust me, take the time to figure out what you like. To finish off the bed you need to purchase some bedsheets, I would go for either off-white (often called stone or ecru), white, grey or dark green.

For bedside tables opt for dark wood or metal. I’ve seen some nice wooden blocks that could also work as a bedside table, but I’m a huge fan of adding storage everywhere I can so I would opt for something with drawers in it. Whether wood or metal (or a combination), go for a minimalist design. That means simple legs and handles, with no patterns or designs on them, if it is metal it works best in a dark colour – black, charcoal or grey. Your desk and chest of drawers should match your bedside cabinets in style or colour.

Accessories

When thinking of mens bedroom decor, you may believe that you have to shy away from accessories – this is not the case! Accessories can be things like pillows, a clock, art or posters and plants. For a masculine bedroom, I think leather looks great, whether it’s just a rectangle pillow on the bed, or an office chair at the desk.

Again, keep it neutral and don’t cram too much in the space. If you’re aiming for a hint of luxury in your man-cave you can also look for vases or clocks with a touch of chrome or brass in them. Candles are also a great great option, because firstly they smell nice and secondly they provide light – doubly whammy!

Plants always look beautiful, but a trend I’m seeing is branches/grass for mens rooms in neutral toned bottles and vases. If you google berry stems, willow spray and moss twigs you’ll see what I mean. They look great in an empty corner and add to the modern feel. However if you prefer plants they I would say go for it. Ikea have a great selection of artificial plants if you’re feeling nervous.

Lighting

Good lighting makes such a difference to a room once the sun goes down, and metal pendant lights are one of my favourite masculine trends at the moment, particularly those in geometric shapes to add a bit of pizzazz! You have to be careful when you purchase pendant lights as they can be a little tricky to install (although not impossible – just youtube how to install a pendant light before you purchase).

Strip lighting is another great choice for mens bedroom decor – people got really into putting strip lighting behind their t.v’s but it looks really dramatic (in a good way) under shelves and behind your headboard as well – you can find some great strip lights on Amazon, and it’s pretty easy to experiment with placement once you get your hands on them.

Let me know if these mens bedroom decor guidelines helped you, and if you would add anything else to the list? Also if this helps you to design your bedroom, please send me photos! Would love to see how you incorporate this advice into your space.

If you’re looking for more inspiration – Japandi’s minimalism and focus on natural textures works really well with masculine styles. You can read more about it in this follow up blog post.