I’m a dude, and I’m not very decorating-inclined. But I always like going to other people’s houses and apartments where they’re nicely decorated and so on; it just makes it a nicer place to be.
What little things can I do to make my place nicer? What are some things that are often overlooked by people that aren’t inclined to decorating much? What are some quick and cheap things that go a long way in making a place nicer?
I don’t have much on the walls - I know that’s a good start.
A tapestry on the wall is quick, easy, and fairly cheap. I just moved and hung mine on the wall by cutting three small holes along the top and hanging it with those scotch tape hooks that promise to remove easily. Go to the dollar store or the clearance aisles of Target (or your favorite Targetish store) to find some multi-picture frames.
I know that light is at a premium in apartments, so maybe a fake plant or two to bring some life to the room?
A trip to Ikea might inspire you, since they have all kinds of stuff in the way of cheap decorations.
Have fun with it, and good luck.
Start by de-cluttering. It really is the first step of home decorating. Look at all your stuff. Decide if you love it or you use it. If neither, then get rid of it - donate it, sell it or trash it. Your goal is to get rid of half your stuff if you’re a normal human and 2/3 of it if you’re a pack rat. Once that’s done, you’ll be amazed at how much better the place looks right off the bat. After that:
Group like stuff together. Got a few photos of your nieces and nephews? Get some inexpensive picture frames and frame 'em, then put a “grouping” of pictures on one end table (or, if you’re in a standard Chicago apartment, the mantel is a good place - maybe off to one end.) Ditto for a few candles (even if you never light them - just remember to dust them) or some model cars or dinosaurs or whatever you tend to gather in your life.
Get something up on your walls. Doesn’t have to be “art”, as in, a big expensive painting. I’ve got some $10 silk sarongs hung in our bedroom - just draped and neatly pinned with some pretty Celtic pins over a curtain rod attached to the wall. A signed jersey can be put in a shadow box and hung on the wall. A few simple to install ledge shelves with some snazzy old LP covers make a great bachelor display.
Put the records/movies/magazines/Star Wars figurines AWAY. Shelves with doors or media storage cabinets keep things dust free and reduce visual clutter. Don’t buy any piece of furniture for the rest of your life unless it has storage in it or under it.
Pick one or two basic colors and keep repeating 'em in a room, and use a small amount of a contrasting color or texture for emphasis. For example, I’ve got a living room with dark walnut DVD cabinets ($250 each - World Market) with matching dark brown shelves for TV/amp/XBOX sit on ($199 for the set - World Market), with matching color, but not exactly matching shaped, coffee table and end tables (which I got on sale for $30 for all three! - Target). The rug is a light brown bamboo mat ('cause the cat pees on carpet), bordered in the same dark brown color fabric ($60 - Target) - so it coordinates with the dark brown even though it’s light. A wall hanging (cheesy wall hanging that belonged to my Grandparents - it’s a pirate ship of some sort) hangs from a light brown bamboo rod on the wall by those same dark brown rings (like shower rings, but sewn in). In the corner is a dark brown flowerpot with bamboo handles. There is a bamboo remote holder on one of the dark brown endtables. There is a living green “bamboo” on one of the dark brown DVD cabinets, and my sofa is a bamboo-like sage green. It might sound odd in print, but the overall feel is one of warmth and wood, but light and airy, not heavy and ponderous. Every item that was chosen was chosen to fit that light brown/dark brown/bamboo theme without making it look like Gilligan’s Island. The sage green sofa and the green living bamboo are my “splash of color”. They “pop” and keep it from being monotonously brown.
Watch home makeover shows with your eyes closed. They SAY good things, but their creations are usually so over the top they’re ridiculous. One consistent exception is Clean Sweep, which has consistently great advice and won’t tell you to cover your bedroom walls in feathers with a hot glue gun. (No, I’m not making that up. No, I won’t tell you which show it was on.) Clean Sweep’s rooms tend to be the most acceptable to men, in my experience - focus on function and clean looks, without a lot of useless tassels and doilies.
If your landlord will allow it, I suggest color on the walls, other than white. It doesn’t have to be anything dramatic, but I think painting the walls makes a place look a lot more finished.
We have off-white “fur” throws on all the couchs and chairs. They look great draped over the furniture and feel great on your lap in winter. I advise against art on your walls for decor’s sake—put up something you love. I never tire of looking at my maps of Middle Earth.
rent or own?
Paint, paint, paint. You will never get such a big difference from $18 as you will painting a room. Subtle colours with dark trim look very sophisticated.
Don’t put things directly on the wall (posters, albums, etc). The same poster will look like a million bucks if it is framed. Big items, one to a wall, will look a lot nicer that a mountain of little items all over the place.
As said, throw half of your stuff away. Give yourself an oreo for every plastic bag of junk that you can throw away.
And don’t buy everything from the same place. You don’t want to live in page 37 of the Crate and Barrel catalog, no matter how much you like their stuff.
And if the landlord won’t allow that, you can buy fabric, add a little starch, and essentially glue it to the wall. When it’s moving time, pick up an end and pull it right off and clean up the residue. No one will ever know it had been there. I’m thinking of doing it in my bedroom, not because I’m not allowed to paint it, just because I don’t wanna.
Invite some black people over - oh wait, nevermind, that would only make it loud and nobody would drink the coffee. 
We are in the process of moving and there is something I did that makes our new place look so much better that I would have never thought of. Go to the bathroom section of a home goods or big box store and buy coordinating things. Get a shower curtain, some hand towels and maybe something else that all match. I think it made our bathroom look great, although anything to cover up the brown tub would probably have helped.
fruit bowl on the dining table.
glass fruit from a Cost Plus or Pier One type of place.
(plastic fruit = not good)
I’d suggest picking a theme before you start with some of the other suggestions. Not necessarily a theme like French colonial (although feel free, if you’re into it) but a particular style you have/like (modern, clean lines vs. traditional, dark wood, for example) or a color scheme or a real “theme” like decorators talk about, like Old World Pub or Sports Fanatic*.
Also, ask yourself what you like about the well-decorated places you’ve seen, that will also give you some ideas.
Then whatever pictures/furniture/colors should compliment that. It’s better to have a fairly good idea of how you want your room to look before you just buy crap that you like and throw it all in there regardless. I think that’s the real difference between a well-decorated room and something just blah, or even atrocious.
Here’s an example of what I did for very little money:
My living room is a retro sailor-themed room. I know, you’re thinking, what the hell is wrong with you? It actually looks, IMHO, pretty cool. I chose red and black for the bold colors in the room (the walls are neutral, wood floors, white baseboards and trim). My couch is a neutral tan with red throw pillows with a red ottoman in front of it. I have an old black leather chair that’s very retro (it is an old office waiting room chair circa 1960). I have a simple bookshelf painted red and black. My TV stand is an old cedar chest circa 1960 as well. The end table, couch, chair, chest, and desk, and dining room table are all either vintage or vintage-inspired (the couch’s description said something about based on the design of furniture in a 1930s hotel). I got it all for free (liberated from my parent’s over-cluttered house, and dumpster diving) or cheap (garage sales) except for the couch and ottoman. For art, I have a Rosie the Riveter poster (not strictly sailor, but worked well), a vintage Navy recruitment poster, an anchor, and a giant tall ship sign my friend bought from a bum for $4 and a cigarette to apologize for an argument we’d have. If I ever get around to it, I’m painting it to fit the rest of the room. I also have a lamp with a ship’s wheel on it I painted red and black.
I didn’t go overboard on the sailor theme. If you remove the wall decorations and the lamp, it looks like a funky hotel lobby from the 1930s (some eras work better together than others- 1930s and 1960s, at least with the furniture I have, is hard to tell apart). Total cost of everything in the room, including furniture, paint, and decorative items, less than $500 spent over the course of a couple years.
My kitchen is done in a similar style (I live in an Art Deco building, so the architechture fits a 1930s style). I started off with the colors baby blue and yellow. I bought a retro yellow step-stool and a baby blue collander (used as a fruit bowl unless I make spaghetti) then yellow and blue towels, and I had an old vintage French food calendar. Once the calendar was useless, I took the pics from it and framed them in yellow and blue frames.
I like funky, retro stuff. It’s not for everyone, but it fits my style and works well in my apartment. Most of my furniture/stuff has been amassed over several years, but because I like that particular style, it all works fairly well together.
Just take a look at your current furniture- is it mostly dark wood and traditional? Light wood? Black? Do you lean towards traditional, or more contemporary? That should give you a good idea of what you have to work with, and you can go from there.
Then, like other posters have said, brighten the place up with some paint (if possible), bright pillows, pictures and posters, candles. Contrasting colors really make a room pop. If you have a lot of blue and white, a few spots of orange (whether pillows, flowers, or candles) will compliment the blue. The same goes for yellow and purple, red and green. Or you can pick a cool pallette (blues, greens, purples) or a warm pallette (reds, yellows, oranges). A room full of neutrals will also look great with one or two sparingly used accent colors.
Go dumpster diving (actually climbing into the dumpster is not actually necessary… though not as gross as you think if it’s behind a used furniture store or something). If someone has a pile of furniture next to their trash, take a look. Some of it might actually be in great shape, the person is just downsizing. Garage sales and thrift stores are also great. Don’t forget you can paint or stain whatever you buy or find, so a dirty scratched surface can look great with $20 and a couple hours of work.
I second the fruit bowl idea, although I’d suggest real fruit if you will actually eat it, it looks nice and is good for a snack.
*Try not to go overboard with a theme, it looks cheesy.
If there’s an entry to a room with no door, I found that hanging drapes across it will help define space, add color, quiet noisy spaces and look all around classy. I did this for the kitchen in an old apartment of mine and it looked great and dimmed the noise of the dishwasher so we could watch TV in the attached living room. Plus, if the kitchen’s a mess you can throw the drapes shut!
Keep in mind also that you can frame anything flat; if there’s magazine cover, etc that you like, go for it! Target has cheap frames, the bigger the better.
Good luck to you!
Hopefully you have solid, rather than print or pattern couch and chairs. If that’s the case, PILLOWS, dude. You can buy some coordinating pillows for the couches and chairs, and then some BIG coordinating ones to stack in a corner, which people can sit on, on the floor.
Pick up those coordinating colors in your vases and picture frames and all that sort of bric-a-brac. You can (and should) also include a contrasting color.
Hang up a mirror or two. There are many pretty ones on the market that will add interest to the room.
If you’re a neat-nik kind of guy, you actually can semi-set the table with beautiful dishes and some sort of centerpiece. This only works for people who can leave the presentation looking awesome without having your weekly junk mail and paperwork strewn all over the place.
Funny enough, a very quick way to add color/decoration without paint or glue is to buy Cello rolls in printed patterns or colors and just wallpaper with it. The cello actually will stick without glue due to static – and will stay up until you take it down. You can get HUGE rolls of cello very cheaply through many sources. I know a girl who decorated her entire house like this – she could change her walls at any time very cheaply.
Let’s not do this in this thread. Thanks.
This is so very, very true. I do cross stitch and embroidery and other needlework, and I always frame my work in some way, even if it’s something out of a $2.99 kit. Matting the item inside a frame makes even more of an impact. I’ve also looked at other artwork before it’s framed, and after, and the difference is amazing.
Thirded. Apples and citrus fruits will keep for a while, and it’s a good idea to eat fresh fruit regularly. I think that lemons and limes are particularly attractive in a fruit bowl, and lemonade/limeade is easy to make from fresh fruits.
I strongly second this. Pick your colors and stick with them, so that in six months when you are on vacation and see something you like (blanket, martini set, whatever), you don’t have to debate over which color to get. You will already know. This also works for materials for things that aren’t exactly “colors” – stick with things with chrome finish for your bathroom, if you like that, or clear glass or bottle green glass, etc. At a beginner’s decorating level, I would suggest avoiding plastic like the plague. Don’t get a plastic soap dish, or a plastic bin for your mail. If your kitchen cabinets have plastic knobs, browse around Home Depot and replace them (this is one of my cheap thrills, it’s very inexpensive to replace cabinet knobs).
If you have open plan rooms, you can use different but coordinating colors in each space. Our living room opens right into our kitchen, and the living room is green and the kitchen is yellow with green accents.
I’m also a huge fan of things that close … if you have a basket for magazines in your living room, try to find one that is more like a hamper with a lid. It keeps dust out and just looks neater. Same with the front of an entertainment cabinet – doors are great to keep your stuff in as opposed to open shelves. And I confess that when guests come over, it’s easy to quickly hide any clutter. You do have to be disciplined about this, and be sure to go back later and put stuff away properly.
Don’t forget about the top of your room. Because of, well, gravity, most of our stuff is in the bottom half of our rooms. Look around your rooms and see if you are using the top space well. Use tall things (a bookcase, a long and narrow mirror, etc) to bring your eye up.
I also second/third/whichever we are on now the bit about the frames. Framed things look 500% better than not framed things. You can even frame funky things. One thing I would avoid is the art poster. My rule of thumb is that anything that can be recognized by the average person is not worthy of my wall. So no Van Gogh’s Starry Night, even if it is framed. It makes your room look too much like a college dorm. It’s a little more expensive, but using a matte with your framed stuff also makes a room look more “grown up” decor-wise.
Remember that all rules are made to be broken, but it helps a lot if you know the rules to begin with so you can be strategic when you break them. I like antiques, so the wood in my living room isn’t all the same … with antiques, the finish is simply not standard. But if I was buying new furniture for a room, I would absolutely insist on finding pieces that matched.
I like all of the suggestions so far and struggled to find another one that hadn’t been mentioned. So how about lamps? Lighting is something people don’t think much about but plays a key role in how a place ‘lives’. Most men I know don’t have enough lamps in their homes; they rely on the overhead lighting that came with the place. Go to the thrift store and buy some table lamps, floor lamps, desk lamps, etc. They don’t have to match. If there’s a place that you sit to read the newspaper, put a lamp there. If you have a cozy couch, put a floor lamp next to it. Add a lamp to your desk area. You can even put a tiny lamp in the bathroom and leave it on when you have company. And when people come over, turn off as many overhead lights as you can and turn on as many lamps as you have. With the overhead lights off, lamps make a home warm, inviting and charming.
www.allposters.com has an amazing selection of posters and photo’s. They will frame your purchase for you, and you can preview if the framed poster will look nice on your color wall.
One thing that’s not expensive if you shop at K-Mart or thrift stores is the entry table with mirror and vase with a silk fern. If you find an old table and give it a glossy white paint job, it will look new again, and the process will allow you to fill in the nicks.