"Manly" decorations

[steph96]

My fiancé requested that I find some manly decorations for our living room. We have built in cabinets with 20" between the shelves, so I would like to add to those. He is into sports, but not any other typical manly stuff like cars, motorcycles, or hunting. 

Does anyone have any ideas or PIPs of your manly decorations?

[emjacobs]

I think nautical or vintage game stuff can have a manly feel to it without screaming man cave. Also vintage sports stuff is nice

[TBM]

What does 'manly' mean to him?

I don't think it necessarily has to be a room with sports memorabilia or anything like that to have a masculine feel. Sometimes it is more about the colors, patterns and textures used in the room.

[Deleted]

I'm kind of laughing that "manly" decorations means sports posters and harleys.  There's a difference between adult and "frat-boy".  We are kind of mid-century around here - DH likes and picks out a lot of our stuff.  I consider anything that isn't pink/purple/floral/country to be fair game.  But our stuff is minimalist.  

[steph96]

Mar 9, 2013 15:15:23 GMT -5 TBM said:

What does 'manly' mean to him?

I don't think it necessarily has to be a room with sports memorabilia or anything like that to have a masculine feel. Sometimes it is more about the colors, patterns and textures used in the room.

I totally agree with you! The room actually has quite a few masculine touches, but Unfortunately he doesn't see things like that as manly. Right now his has his favorite sport teams' ball caps as place holders (hello middle school boy decorations! Lol). I think he is wanting physical objects that a man would buy for his own house. 

emjacobs Can you give a few examples of vintage game stuff? That sounds really cool. The vintage sports items are a brilliant idea. I feel like it sort of makes it semi-classy.

[auntie]

I agree that color and texture play into the gender vibe of a space. I'm not big on dust collectors for decor's sake. Most everything in my house means something to those of us who live here.

I have a wooden hutch my grandfather built for my nana in my LR; DS and DH have taken it over with their stuff. DS has a couple antique model trains he's been given, DH has some vintage toys that were his as well as some old medical books (Civil War era) and his slide rule collection. I have some vintage advertising stuff which trends manly- a large wooden Mr. Peanut, a giant Swiss Army Knife, some Coke trays and my Nipper.

My father has his office decorated with photographs of his favorite gold courses and antique clubs on the wall.

[magdala]

My husband is a baseball nut. Rather than decorate with with baseball caps and pennants, we framed posters like this one (http://www.historyshots.com/Ballparks/index.cfm) and started a collection of signed baseballs. We also have two vintage baseball programs in shadow box style glass cases. He has been collecting tickets from every baseball stadium and have about half the stadiums collected. I am trying to figure out a good way to display these.

[mrspez07]

When I think of "manly" I think of squared or straight edges instead of curves. Darker blues, galvanized steel or dark greys, dark greens, browns. I think a lot of vintage could be manly. My brother created a great wall hanging on a wood board of some of my grandfather's tools and metal lunchbox. Vintage industrial things like gears (bike, car, machine), metal advertising signs, golf stuff, farming stuff, etc. could allbe themes. Things like that might be fun to display on shelves as well.

[Deleted]

The pps had great ideas. Everything I thought of anyways.
Ask him directly what qualifies has "manly" In his eyes.
You might be surprised.

I mean my Hs definition of manly is, "The least amount of sh*t out and around as possible. Florals are just fine though. I don't notice patterns anyways!"

[steph96]

Thanks for all the ideas!

[FoxInFiji]

Mar 9, 2013 16:48:45 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

When I think of "manly" I think of squared or straight edges instead of curves. Darker blues, galvanized steel or dark greys, dark greens, browns. I think a lot of vintage could be manly. My brother created a great wall hanging on a wood board of some of my grandfather's tools and metal lunchbox. Vintage industrial things like gears (bike, car, machine), metal advertising signs, golf stuff, farming stuff, etc. could allbe themes. Things like that might be fun to display on shelves as well.

Yes this exactly.  I think of industrial, leather club chairs, dark colors, and vintage pub pieces. 

[salsaverde]

When I think of manly I think of framed vintage-looking maps and subway signs.