Five Ways To Dramatically Transform Your Bachelor Pad For Less Than $100

You’ve finally taken the plunge and are moving into a new apartment to be called your bachelor pad. Whether you’re living with friends or by yourself, here are five ways to add spice it up for those special visitors you have coming over.

Lighting

You should defintely spend the most money to get this area handled. A few of my apartments didn’t really have anything to work with (eg. spot downs, or atmospheric lighting). They only had the traditional, (and very bland) fan with 4 lights. What you can do with that? If you don’t have much money to spend on a new fixture, go to the store and buy bulbs that are directional (not flood). You can see the difference in that the bulb has a metallic film covering around the spine of the bulb (so it doesn’t let light through except through the head). This creates a beam of light that concentrates in one location in the room, instead of filling the room with light, making washed out and very “unsexual”.

Colored floor lamps with soft light are ideal. Red lighting is killer when not overdone, it creates a very loose, relaxed and romantic feel.

Four other ways to transform your pad…

Live Plants

Live plants are key. They add an earthly tone to your room, and frame it. The key to having live plants in your apartment is that they are living. Not dying. Keep them healthy and looking great. Remove dead leaves and keep them watered at the plants correct levels. The best plants are:

Floor Rugs and Throw Pillows

Floor rugs are a total must for any bachelor pad. Women flock to them. They feel good and provide a good balance for the eye. I prefer getting the base color dark, and solid. This has a multi-pronged effect. First, they require less cleaning because of dropped food, shoes, grime and dust. Second, darker colors usually work with more colors in the room, so you have less to stress over, and looks better. What type of floor rug should you invest in? Something with natural fibers are better. Artificial fibers tend to itch and scratch, and last less. This is a part of your bachelor pad that you might want to think about spending more money on. Find a wholesaler and see if you can get some good dark animal fibers (wool) for less.

Throw pillows for your bachelor pad are an awesome addition. I recommend brighter colors like yellow, red, bright blue, even mixing them up for added impact. Softer fabrics and stuffing makes throw pillows excellent for the impromptu pillow fight with that special lady to get the sexual tension revved up. How many should you get? The more the better in my opinion.

Have the floor rug where you would like the center of the room, and you can even loosely place throw pillows on there to give your pad an even more relaxed feel.

Oh, and if I needed to say it: stay away from leopard print.

Sofas and Beds

Many bachelors live in studio apartments, which are single room apartments. Not just one bedroom, but none. They have to sleep where they entertain guests. The trick here is to keep the room exceptionally tidy. Say to yourself, “Would I feel comfortable having the woman of my dreams looking at it the way it is this second?”

If it isn’t, time to clean it up.

Sofas are great to have in your bachelor pad, although they are expensive. Try Ikea for some great bargains with style. If you can afford more, go to Crate and Barrel and pick something out of their range, they last longer and look less cheap (because they are).

I prefer dark colors with the sofa, and off-set that with those light and bright colored throw pillows.

On your bed, I would suggest dark sheets, dark covers, with a bright pillow to add some contrast. Keep your bed frame simple, sleek and low to the ground. It’s easier to wake up with, and the frame designs are usually cheaper.

Less Means More

What an unoriginal man does is he tries too hard and floods his main room with CD’s, books, DVDs, posters, statues, and other items. The key with your bachelor pad is simplicity. You want women and other visitors to feel a sense of curiosity about you through your apartment, and doing so helps you portray your personality.

A few simple rules:

• Don’t make your entertainment system and electronics the center of attention. Computers, Xbox (although fun), CDs, DVD, HDTVs, & TiVos. Place them in a way that doesn’t make them your main reason for being in the living room (even if they are). A living room is meant for living, not wasting time. Basically, you want the living room to be a place of refuge from the craziness of life, not a conduit.
• Posters - Don’t have posters (that aren’t framed) in the main room. Lame. Framed art makes a huge impression, and the bigger the better. Be prepared to pay something for the framing!

Basically what you want to be is minimal. Don’t crowd your room. Be very sleek, and basically say “WWAMD”. What would a museum do?

These are a five suggestions for revamping your bachelor pad. If you have any more you’ve personally found, you can use the comments below. I think I’ll branch this post out into specific topics real soon.

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