So I’m a male, 42, bachelor. Found this place. Rent and accommodations are excellent, place is very nice for me. I don’t require much in life, but it’s very very purple, i.e. “girly” (maybe even lavender.) Nothing wrong with that, just not for me.
What color furniture and types of furniture can I put in to “man” it up a little bit? I was thinking about doing a black light theme and LEDs (never done that before). I don’t know. I have zero decorating skills.
by davinpantz
28 Comments
BTW, I’m not allowed to paint anything.
Lean into it. Become the Marie Schrader you were destined to be.
Maroon? I think it looks great, but I’m a girl.
Greens and grays go well with purple and arent super “girlie” colors
Hang truck nuts above your front door like a mistletoe
I don’t have ideas but i will say the black light LEDs is a bad idea lol sorry. It’d feel very juvenile if you went in that direction
That colour doesn’t actually read feminine to me since it has such grey undertones at least in the pictures
You could do Moody library vibes with black or dark brown leather furniture and brass lamps and old timey decor
Keep the lighting mostly to warm lamps and it’ll keep the vibe super nice and sharply smart masculine
I’d stay away from LED lighting and lighter furniture because that will end up reading more feminine by bringing out the red in the purple walls
Dark greens, yellows, and earthy orange tones will play nicely with the purple. I would look for a rug and masculine furniture.
For a more masculine look consider colors like navy blue, dark chocolate brown, and matte black. Darker natural wood elements should also work well. A large area rug with a sophisticated geometric pattern could pull the colors together. I personally would avoid black and led lighting and instead opt for somewhat transitional lighting design.
Red reads very masculine and goes with purple.
That’s like a heather purple. Pretty unisex.
It will look good with grays and dark forest greens. It’ll invoke a Wisteria draped over a stone wall. It’ll look classy in my opinion. You can bachelor it up with decor in nuetral tones related to you masculine hobbies.
Accent with forest green and deep plum
The whole place is purple, which means that purple is now a neutral colour for you, pretend it’s green or grey and put whatever you want with it.. I personally think it’s quite calming and goes well with black sofa and bedsheets, plus women you have over may like it
Wow that’s… a lot. It’s gonna be a yikes from me on the black lights though. Please don’t.
Hanging curtains to break up the purple would be a start; get curtain rods that extend well beyond the window and hang two floor to ceiling curtains per so that when open they cover the wall right and left.
What color is your current big furniture like your couch? Or are you starting from scratch?
Id lean into those dark floors and add more black, some cool grays and maybe navy too.
Some rooms don’t need to be de emphasized of purple, the bathroom and kitchen are fine, I’d focus on the entry room and that bed surround
Add cool green leafy plants !
Dark wood furniture, dark greens and rich ochre/mustard accents.
One word Prince
Consider yourself “royalty”. Purple is a power color. It can mean luxury or magic. Do you love space travel? Are you a Vikings or Lakers fan? Not that you have to decorate using a theme like that but if you think about what we typically associate with the color, it opens a whole palette of colors and design ideas. So, a black, gold and purple palette can look manly. So can a green, gold and purple one (the colors of Mardi Gras). Black, purple with metallics or gray can be very manly as can red and purple.
If you don ‘t yet have much art to hang on the walls, look for things with a bit of purple but other colors as well.
Get furniture with more modern lines, like a black leather couch. Make sure you have lots of table lamps and a floor lamp. Every room needs at least three lamps. Choose rugs with saturated colors (and don’t get ones that are made to look antique and faded). A black couch, a dark rug that anchors your room and good lighting (never turn on the overhead light if you can help it), will make it feel cozy and like a home. You can have a wonderful dark, academic European look to that space.
Staying moody rather than lavender bright and airy will help. In other words, stay away from other pastels. but if anything in my first paragraph resonated with you, it gives you a start to know where to look. You may discover you are purple guy or Barney’s relative if you lean into it.
Lean into the girly and just add a bunch of pink. As my oldest son would say when he was 7ish “Only real men can sport pink”
First of all I just have to say your landlord is insane for painting the whole house purple. Let’s just get that out of the way.
But you do have some options. I’d start with a rug that has a few other colors and work with that.
https://preview.redd.it/ithv9wkvcrgg1.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=65a763e91267cc8644155edcc79ed97b1cdbe03a
I would add elements of black or a walnut brown and avoid any other colorful additions. But really, those are not a particularly girly purple shades.
If you really can’t stand it you can always ask your landlord about repainting. When I was in grad school my roommate and I offered to buy the paint and sign a two year lease if our landlord would repaint it.
Prince would beg to differ. Brown leather sofas and dark wood furniture.
You can always ask the landlord if they would mind if you painted a neutral colour
I think it’s obnoxious to rent out a place with pink or purple walls and not allow a man to change them. (I’m a woman, btw. I can’t stand pink.) I would be so tempted to paint those walls just a few shades more neutral so they’re more of a purplish gray or taupe and hope she never notices. But whatever. I agree with the advice to use natural decor like browns and leathers and wood. I think purple actually goes really well with masculine stuff. Don’t use bright lighting that will brighten the purple but softer lighting that will downplay it.
Get some framed Mardi Gras posters.
Go ask your mom for advice.