Friday, August 10, 2012

The Appeal of the Man-Cave

As I am working with my wife to outfit and decorate our new house, we have found that since we married late in life, we have two of everything. Mine has mostly been stored for four years, though I bought it new and it all matches. In spite of that, my wife prefers her pieces and we will likely be moving my furniture to the basement; even though I consider it worthy of the living room.

Men rarely win this battle as women generally assume they are better decorators than men. Most women, however, will defer to the abilities of a man only if they are not married to him and only if he would prefer to marry a man himself.

My personal opinion is that women are only better at decorating in the eyes of other women. Men have often claimed a portion of the house that women don't care for; such as the basement--and then they proceed to decorate it the way men like it. These spaces become the envy of other men who come to visit and the living room is largely ignored.

Your average adult human male does not care for artsy paintings of Victorian scenes. He wants to see engines, sports and guy stuff. A table with a pretty vase serves no purpose in a man's world and could easily be replaced by a Foosball table. Finally, furniture should actually be comfortable. It should look good, but comfort is the real reason we have furniture am I wrong?

So guys, don't believe you are inferior interior decorators even if you are straight. You just like guy stuff and that is because you're a guy.

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