Masculine Design - is it over?

Recently, fellow blogger and personal design inspiration Joni Webb of Cote de Texas did an interesting post geared toward the difference of design sensibilities in masculine and feminine design. It's no surprise that Joni prefers to decorate on a more feminine scale, her beautiful home a testament to that. It's also no surprise that she finds inspiration from designers like Saladino, Smith, and McDonald; what I find more interesting though, is the severe shift to more feminine spaces in the design world at large these last few months.

Every time I pick up a magazine, every page (that isn't filled with advertisements) has a beautifully decorated, artfully designed feminine space. Now, certainly the popularity of Swedish, Belgian, and Gustavian styles, furnishings, and finishing has attributed to the mass photography of feminine rooms, but what are you to do when you crave masculine spaces? You know, those rich but time warn, Ralph Lauren sort of hideaways. Leather, tapestry, and heavy wrought iron paired with linen, velvets, rustic woods and antique, often muddy artwork?

So many of the most fabulous design magazines, and design blogs are geared to feminine design. The loss of leather and the move to white linen slips, the banishing of rich textured orientals in favor of a more fresh and popular seagrass, the preference of snow white woodwork over rich, paneled wood tones, and the turned noses and disgust filled sighs when someone even begins to mention a jewel tone has me wondering if, perhaps, I'm alone in my preference of masculine designed spaces.

Enter inspiration, the well designed, beautifully masculine spaces I had stored for a rainy day - enjoy:


Design by Scot Meacham Wood, Thane Studio

Design by Scot Meacham Wood, Thane Studio

Design by Scot Meacham Wood, Thane Studio

I hope you enjoyed just a few of the many inspiration pictures I have filed away to remind me of the masculine design aesthetic. Maybe it's the fact that for 6-months of the year here in the frozen tundra that is Western New York, we live with white and grey. Grey skies, and snow - lots and lots of snow. So coming home to a white room with grey furniture just loses its appeal. However, cocooning away in a warm, rich, and intimate space like these - just the ticket.

And I hope that's evident in the many photos you've all seen of my home. With that said, keep the fingers crossed for a big reveal of the many changes we've made to make the house just a little more warm, as summer waves goodbye and fall settles in.