apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I (being a woman) consider myself feminine, yet I love this look!

i love the hanging spider plants on the bookshelf!

luv it!

Who's the dude in the snood?

As someone who is a sucker for roughed up wood, galvanized steel and clawfoot anything, I love this post.

And Palmetto - love the use of the word snood!

Women in live-in relationships with men need to include their men in their decorating decisions. Just because guys often don't want to go shopping for new bed covers doesn't mean they are oblivious to the choices sprung on them! I think women who insist on frilly bedrooms as though they were the only one sleeping there are narcissistic and selfish! It's a shared environment -- so SHARE it!

(The guy I live with has at least as much to say about things as me -- and anything I do that he's uncomfortable with, I change. Big things we discuss before buying. He trusts me to hang art work and like that without his imput, but if it's in his office, or non-neutral turf, I ask what he wants, and in the neutral places, he lets me know if it bothers him. And if he wants to do something I hate, I say so. Like that fantasy room in black-and-white TV monochrome where the only color is from the people in it... no.)

Oh, and his "masculine" office is apple green with blonde wood IKEA furnishings and black accents. No dark woods. No antiques. No leather. No deep colors. Make of that what you will!

I usually find the most interesting interiors to be those that combine "masculine" and "feminine," so while I like most of these examples they all feel a little lacking to me. I'd love to see a delicately faded Oriental rug in peachy tones on those shiny floorboards in the pic with the spiderplants, a textural pink silk quilt tossed across that bed, or that wonderful rough black cabinet filled with dainty pink and gold china and sparkling crystal. I think highlighting the contrasts that way makes it perfectly reasonable for a sort of manly guy to live with a fairly girly woman and each feel that the space is "theirs." I wouldn't even call it a compromise because I think the end result is actually better!

I am amused by the hard hat on display.

I agree with marie516 that a little of both "masculine" and "feminine" decor is good.
Does anyone else find it odd that the two ads on this page of masculine decor examples have women in them - one for lingerie and one for shampoo?

These are nice examples of this type of look, but I don't consider it to be 'masculine' per se. Why does 'feminine' have to equal pink, frilly, cutesy and flowery? I personally despise conventionally gendered spaces (I imagine cottage 'chic' vs. black leather and chrome). Stereotypically 'masculine' and 'feminine' spaces tend to overdo it in opposite ways and end up looking unbalanced and immature.

where are the black white and gray stripped cups/mugs from?

Haha, I have to say that while I love these spaces and could live in any of them, but I think that they are too dark, not enough plants, and not enough color for my boyfriend! However, that kitchen/breakfast nook in the first pic is totally something that both of us could live with and love (with a bright painting in place of the portrait)

Both of us gravitate towards dark wood or medium antique finish (think leksvik from Ikea!), but while I am cool with some neutrals, he likes COLOR! (yes, even pink and purple).

I think the biggest male-female taste difference with us is details. I like things that have a handmade appeal, and potentially a little sparkle, whereas he likes simple, clean lines. I also tend to gather things, while he is really really good at maintaining the necessities in an attractive way.

The other major difference is money. I am a little more spontaneous (ok, a lot) and will spend a bit more... He is much more talented at reclaiming and getting things I envy for next to nothing.

very atmospheric, I love this place. I don't however, like Martha's faux bois counterpart--it's too busy. . .