20 Cool Guy’s Bedroom Ideas: How to Decorate a Man’s Bedroom Like a Pro

Given that I work as an interior designer in the real world every day, I want to assure you that these tips on how to decorate a man’s bedroom are tried and tested.

I’ll not only showcase loads of cool guys bedroom ideas for you below, but you’ll get practical advice from our designer toolkit to get it right. I’ll also share some great suppliers that stock pieces for masculine spaces, so you can shop the look if you need and style it up like a pro.

And of course, the post is packed with imagery of awesome masculine design so you can bring your men’s bedroom ideas to life with ease.

Disclaimer: Now I know terms like ‘masculine bedroom’ are a little outdated. But to be fair, a lot of these ideas are from spaces we’ve created for real guys. So while we appreciate that they’re not applicable to all males (and some females may love the look), we’re going to make some masculine style assumptions based on our experience.

Hero image above is via decoist.

1. Use Moody Neutral Colours as Your Base

You don’t have to use dark hues to create a masculine vibe, but it’s an easy way to achieve a moody look and feel. Start with a base palette of grey, white, brown and black in the space in varying amounts, and you’ll then be able to lay accent colours over the top in more vibrant shades.

White schemes are great, for sure, but don’t be afraid of a dark black wall, grey wall, or deep blue one either. Sometimes a plain white wall just isn’t going to give you the depth you’re after.

2. Choose Cool Accent Colours Like Green and Blue

You’ve used neutral colours as your base, but now you need to add in some accents through bedroom decor like a duvet cover or artworks. Cooler tones like navy blue or forest green are nice dark shades and will add some interest to the space.

3. Or Go Warm with Walnut and Mustard

Not into a cooler colour palette when it comes to the accents in your bedroom? Fear not! Warm tones like walnut and mustard work wonders too. You can showcase walnut in timber furniture like bedside tables, while mustard can make an appearance in a sheet or quilt cover set or artwork.

4. A Feature or Accent Wall Can Add Mood

If you’re afraid of going super dark with a fresh coat of paint on all of the walls, then feature walls are your friend. Even just one wall in a darker shade than the walls in the rest of the room will bring interest to the space.

Painting a wall like this takes little effort and is great if you need impact on a tight budget. It also costs very little.

Here’s exactly how much it costs to paint a bedroom yourself if you need some advice.

As you can see above, panelling can also add additional texture and interest, but is a more costly.

5. Why Not Embrace a Paint Effect?

A feature wall for a guy’s bedroom is one thing, but a paint effect can take it next level. There are a number of paint finishes you could go for here, but my top tip is to embrace a concrete paint effect. It’ll give your walls a rougher, rustic finish, and make the space feel inherently more masculine.

6. Choose a Bed Frame with Clean Lines

Bed frames for guy’s bedrooms definitely tend to be cleaner in appearance. What I mean by that is that they aren’t the elaborate, ornate styles you might see in a female bedroom.

Instead of grand headboard with tufted buttons, the look is simpler. A soft grey fabric frame, a timber frame with warmer tones in it, or something with a leather strap or pipe detail is a nice alternative.

7. A Little Leather Goes a Long Way

Leather in a man’s bedroom can be done in a tasteful way, I promise. It doesn’t scream ‘bachelor pad’ if you do it right. For the modern man, less is more.

I like a leather strap on a bedhead, or some leather ottomans or a bench seat at the foot of the bed. The dark tones not only add mood, but the material itself has an undeniable masculine look to it.

8. Some Concrete in the Space Works Wonders

To balance out the warm leathers and walnut timbers, you’d be wise to introducer some concrete. Now, I love me a big concrete wall in a space as mentioned above, and highly recommend it if you want the room to feel a little grittier.

Alternatively, think about concrete decor on bedside tables or chests of drawers if you can’t commit to something en masse. 

9. Go For Plants Over Flowers

As I said at the start of this post, I don’t want to stereotype guys, but the men we’ve designed bedrooms for before have favoured plants over flowers on bedside tables and chests of drawers in their space.

Flowers can feel a little bright, bold and somewhat feminine. A cactus, succulent, Boston fern or mother-in-law’s tongue are all good plant options. 

Here are some amazing fake plant suppliers we use if you’re terrible at keeping plants alive.

10. Keep the Bed Styling More Minimal

I love a full bed, don’t get me wrong (here’s how to create a stunning full look), but when it comes to a guy’s bedroom that’s just for him, I tend to do less throw pillows, scatter cushions and decorative blankets.

Most men I know don’t love a super-layered bed. Instead, a quilt cover set, sheet set and then one throw and perhaps a lumbar cushion is enough.

11. Some Industrial Furniture is Smart

We know the bed is going to feature clean lines, so it’s a nice idea to introduce a bedside table or two with some industrial influence. That could be through a table with a visible wood grain, a rustic timber that’s rough to the touch, or even a table with metal legs or a metal handle.

In a small room, feel free to still keep it industrial if you like that vibe, but reduce the size and scale of the bedside table to keep the zone feeling spacious. You could choose a round metal side table with no drawers, for example.

12. Why Not Give a Nod to Mid-Century Style?

Outside of industrial design for a man’s bedroom, mid-Century modern is another fail-proof go-to style. It’s inherently dapper and evokes a masculine feel. The style showcases warm timber furniture with tapered legs, interesting lighting with metallic details and isn’t afraid of a bold pattern to boot.

13. Moody Artwork is Always Nice

Wall art in a man’s bedroom tends to be moodier, more of a focal point. In other spaces where there’s a couple or a female on her own you might take the look more softer, floral, colourful.

But in a guy’s bedroom I like the idea of keeping things quite dominant in the artwork. Or sometimes even a little quirky. Experiment here but always aim to have the art make a statement or add impact.

Here’s where we buy affordable art from for our interior design clients.

14. Brushed Metallics Are Great Accents

I like nickel or brushed brassed for a guy’s bedroom design when I’m decorating it. You can easily introduce metallics like this through the base of a floor lamp, or in light fixtures like pendants or wall sconces. The table lamp above showcases it beautifully too.

There are loads of industrial and mid-Century modern lights that feature this finish and will work really well in a male bedroom scheme.

15. Keep Patterns More Graphic

When decorating a guy’s bedroom, you want to include pattern, for sure, but you want it to feel more graphic. But that I mean, you want to go for geometric shapes, angular prints, and even tribal influences. The image above is a nice example of this idea at play.

Keep the soft, floral, ethereal prints for female spaces and let some more structured patterns take centre stage in the guy’s bedroom.

16. Display Some Everyday Items

Men’s rooms tend to be more functional. The male clients I’ve worked with want the basics on their bedside that are useful. Things like an alarm clock, A glass of water, perhaps a plant or photo frame.

You don’t want to clog up the tabletop too much with useless decorative items, but you don’t want it to be barren either.

I find you can strike the perfect balance here if you have three main items on the bedside that feel practical but impressive.

Here are our tips on styling your bedside tables like a pro if you need.

17. Black and White Photography Adds Interest

As you know, you want some nice abstract art in a man’s bedroom, but you don’t want the other artworks in the space to be the same. If you do that, it all starts to feel a bit visually competitive.

Instead, have art above the bed and then black & white photography on the walls in thin black frames with large white matt borders inside. Or vice versa. It’s a really nice, refined look, and you can choose pictures that reflect his interests to make the look personalised.

18. Some Vintage Items Keep it Character-Filled

Not every guy is going to want a vintage piece of furniture in his room, but I find that many men don’t mind something with a sense of story and history in their space. This could be a larger furniture piece like an armchair, or something smaller.

Smaller pieces could be a vintage print on the wall, a tray to put his watch and sunglasses in, or even a vintage light fixture on the wall. 

These smaller items often add interest and make the room feel more built over time.

19. The Tech Essentials Are Always Appreciated

Is it just me, or does the guy in your life seem to be consumed with the latest tech too? When decorating a man’s bedroom, it’s best to include some gadgets that look impressive and improve his day-to-day as well.

Think a Sonos speaker, a phone charging system on his bedside, and/or a Google Home. Find ways to mix these sleek, shiny items in with darker, moodier and more tactile decor items and there will be a nice sense of balance at play.

20. Shop at the Right Suppliers

Last but not least when decorating a man’s bedroom, is shopping at the right suppliers. Here are some of the ones we use for our design clients that stock pieces in a moody, masculine vibe:

• We love Horgans for timber furniture with interesting profiles
• You’ll find leather and other masculine bedheads at Heatherly Design
• For bedroom furniture in guy-approved designs, Bludot is your go-to 
• We also like King Living for more sophisticated men’s bedroom style
• Brosa also has some good, affordable furniture for guy’s rooms too
• For quilt cover sets, Aura Home have great block colour bedding in moody tones
• I find West Elm has great lighting in mid-Century vibes for guys bedrooms
• Need a rug under the bed? We shop all the time at The Rug Collection

Reckon you know how to decorate a man’s bedroom like a pro now? I certainly hope these ideas have made it a bit easier. Drop me a comment below if you need more help, otherwise happy styling!