Decor tends to be a lady’s concern. There’s plenty of frippery and frills out there in furniture shops — florals abound and pastels float in and out of style in a never-ending cycle. Furthermore, a lot of gentlemen are not at all concerned with the outward appearance of their domiciles. All they want is a roof that doesn’t leak and working appliances.

To illustrate my point, let me take you back a few days to Saturday afternoon. The Beard and I were standing in front of a huge display of light fixtures. I was nattering on and on about the relative pros and cons and each, and kept asking him which he preferred. His answer? “You care a lot more about this stuff than I do,” he said. “So why don’t you just pick out the one you think will look best.”

That’s not to say that all dudes don’t care about decor, but I’m willing to bet that a great deal of them have no opinion one way or the other. Maybe they’d care more if they saw a few more masculine interiors like these?

This living room, put together by one Stefan Tyra and featured in The Sydney Morning Herald, was actually crafted with a mix of lavishness and frugality. Two-dollar mirrors hang over accent cushions upholstered in $2000 a meter fabric! How’s that for mixing and matching?

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