Guys who live alone, what are some things/furniture you have purchased that brought your place to life?

30 comments

1. Depends what YOU like the look of. My favourite decoration is my LOTRs map painting.

2. My coffeetable, my couch, my tv cabinet, my entire kitchen, my game consoles, decorations on the wall (displate posters)

3. Houseplants. I’ve brought in some houseplants and they make it feel so much more cozy.

4. Smart LED light strips that change color. They really add ambiance and help set various moods. I like laying in Blue Light when I want to sleep, and green light when I feel creative.

5. A Sybian.

6. I lived on my own for years, in the early days I had the same question quite a few times, “You only just moved in?”

   Once the message had sunk in I bought a few paintings and photographic prints, a few plants and mostly tried to introduce colour into my otherwise black and white home without making it look cluttered.

7. Took me a while to figure out my own style. Antiques.. 1952 Marconi record player with a black and white TV in the center, antique fencing swords up on the wall, mirrors.. a whole wall of them of varying States of decay of the silver backing from a hundred years of just being, old metal, ornate solid wood furniture, old books, pristine white walls. I would suggest you hit up thrift stores often and check garage sales. I also have the added benefit of having worked as a carpenter. If I need something sometimes I just go back and make it. Find your aesthetic.

8. Buy a saxophone

9. I have 4 plants, other than that, I couldn’t say I have done particularly much to make it homely. I focus more on having a well stocked pantry and keeping it reasonably clean (and I am doing a lousy job at that XD)

10. I would suggest NOT buying “little knick knacks”. Of course, it depends on what your style is, but I found that collecting little things and displaying them just meant more places for dust to collect and make things look dirty. I prefer contemporary styling, with clean lines. No fringe, no froofy curlycues, no lace… But plants, simple window treatments and area rugs on cement or wood floors are GREAT.

11. Plants and books.

12. The IKEA Hauga. I bought two of them, and placed one to each side on my telly. I also attached RGB lighting strip to the back of each shelf, and it really makes the room pop.

    I now store some of my special edition Blu-ray’s and other ornaments on them.

13. A fleshlight for the table will make it very homely.

14. A lamp that looks like a sexy woman’s leg

15. art work,

16. Eames chair

17. I’d say comfy cushions for your couch, floor rugs, indoor plants, photo frames with your favourite people in them, lamps and candles but I’m a chick ha

18. There’s a bookstore in my area that sells travel posters. They have a lot of cool scenes from interesting places available. I bought a few and hung them on cheap magnetic frames that clamp around the top and bottom of the poster.

19. King sized bed so you can easily have a threesome.

    That’s the theory at least. The reality is that my dog and I can sleep in any orientation I want. Sleeping diagonally is fun.

20. Go to IKEA and get yourself some lamps even if you have overhead lighting lamps will really give your living space a nice kind of “home” feeling. Don’t feel like you have to decorate your coffee table but being able to arrange a couple of things on it like art books, coasters, If you have some kind of souvenir statue or something that you got on vacation all of those things nicely arranged on a coffee table will really hold that part of the room together.

    Don’t frame movie posters for the love of God don’t, also don’t Rush to find artwork for every part of your house to hang stuff on, if you find something nice that a street fair or if you happen upon a gallery with some really cool artwork buy it but don’t just buy a bunch of art from the wall art section of HomeGoods and put that up You want your home to be a reflection of you. Cookbooks in the kitchen are always nice and don’t be shy about getting a vase and putting flowers in it from time to time

21. Been having an extremely difficult time getting a couch into my apartment and I’ve been there for 9 months. The drop ceiling in the kitchen and the weird short hallway to the living room makes it nearly impossible to bring anything nice inside. Otherwise, I’ve been getting prints done up for a ton of frames and my walls are covered in historic/spooky art. I also put in some sconces for tea lights and found two gorgeous metal ram heads to pop up on the wall so other than lacking furniture my place looks badass. Who doesn’t want a print of Saturn Devouring His Son in their kitchen?!

22. Hanging framed prints on the wall that have personal meaning makes such a big difference.

    I framed a bunch of pictures from traveling for my living room, and my dining room wall is covered by framed drawings that my nieces and nephews have given me over the years (and a central painting done by my cousin who’s a professional artist)

23. A green banker’s lamp, an old whiskey barrel for a side table, some plants. Some of the older stuff can give off quite a cool vibe, the bankers lamps are still made these days so you can get them with usb plugs and whatnot. And if you’re really adventurous, a Govee smart lamp 😁

24. Aight mate sit down and let me give you a short rundown on how to fix this once and for all, with taste.

    First, you look at the colour of your floor. If there is carpet everywhere, remove it and replace it with real or fake wood. Light floor means light wood colour furniture, a dark floor goes better with dark wood furniture. Coloured floors are tricky (I have an orange/red one everybody found ugly until I painted my wall green).

    Now, you’re going to commit to a theme. Always choose a woodstyle unless you’re going for a minimalist industrial look (which opens the door for metal and leather furniture). Wooden furniture gives your house a homely look.

    You are going to want the good wooden furniture from IKEA (depending on your nation IKEA might suck ass though so be warned). Specifically the more expensive IKEA stuff. You do not buy a set of the same furniture, that is tacky.

    You are going to pick up a table and four chairs (6 if the table is big enough) to be able to be properly host people or give the illusion that you do. The chairs should either match the colour of your table or be the main colour of the artwork you’re going to buy later.

    Then you are going to pick a couch, it has three requirements 1. It must be comfy 2. It must be in a single colour. 3. It must be the largest piece of furniture save from perhaps the table.

    Bonus: get some throwaway pillows that colour mach the chairs and artwork. Toss those boys on the couch.

    Next, you are going to get a dressoir and a tv cabinet. I recommend you buy these in the same style and colour. The dressoir you put next to the table. The tv cabinet goes opposite the couch.

    Bonus: get a nice bowl in a different colour than anything else and fill it walnuts. Add a walnutcracker on top. (People really like this, no clue why, I don’t even like walnuts, I keep my mail in the bowl)

    A good coffeetable is essential to pull the room together. This can be a highly personal piece or basically anything as long as it fits the wood theme. (Can be difficult to find a very nice one).

    If you are a reader you can fill up some of the empty space left with bookcases. If you’re not you should buy a few cabinets for storage. The colour should match the table or mildly contrast the tv cabinet and dressoir (read either a shade lighter or a shade darker).

    Then you’re going to pick up 2 persian carpets (they don’t have to be real) one light and one dark with different patterns. The dark one is for beneath the dinner table and the light one in front of the couch. Persian carpets go well with all wooden interiors, except a very specific type which is a crime against interiors everywhere.

    Bonus: if you have a hallway, buy a thrid carpet and put it there, it will look nice and pull your house together.

    Finally, you are going to pick up some art. Get black wooden frames and fill them with posters of abstract art that matches your chairs with some of its colours or just that you like (if you have a developed art taste you won’t need me for this.)

    Bonus: knick nacks.
    For knick nacks the rules are simple, less is more. I have 4 knick nacks (2 buddha statues and 2 bookholders) they are great conversation pieces.

    Bonus: House plants
    House plants only look good as long as they are alive, so don’t take more than you’re willing to care for.

    Bonus: family pictures
    Depending on where you live people might think it strange if you don’t have family pictures around the house. I have 2 and nobody ever said a thing about it.

    And there you have it, a tastefully decorated interior. I often get praised for it by my friends and visitors and the entirety of it set me back 5k (not counting some of the artwork).

25. “Brought your place to life” ? What does this mean? How can a place be brought to life? Is this an american way of speak that I dont know?

26. Plants transform any place.
    Fish tank i find quite nice too.
    Nice lamps and rugs.
    Mirrors and, pictures.

27. When I lived alone, I found the less clutter the better.

    Far easier to keep clean.

28. Bought big stuff so i only have to have a small amount. King size bed. Big executive desk in the spare room. L shaped pull out sectional.

29. IKEA has everything you need.

30. My walls are decorated with sports pennants and music posters from eBay. I also have a few pieces from allposters.com. Pick out specific things that you like to really tailor your place to your tastes.

    Add more horizontal surfaces to your place with bookcases, tables, and other furniture. More horizontal surfaces = more room for knickknacks. I have my three goalie masks atop a short bookcase inside my place now instead of in my shed. I also started buying F1 and Indycar die-cast cars ‘cuz I can.

    What are your hobbies? My sim racing rig and desk takes up a third of my living room and my e-drums take up a corner. My place didn’t feel for sparse after I set those up.