“Empty rooms actually look smaller than a room full of furniture,” says Arbuthnott. “But play around with the scale and try not to put tiny furniture in small spaces.”

The example above is clearly going for a rustic hillbilly aesthetic, but it’s absolutely fine not to cover every single surface in wood.

No matter your vibe, spotlights are a good option for highlighting various parts of a room or, as seen above, wall art. Make them “at least three times brighter than the rest of the light in the room in order to be effective,” says Arbuthnott.

Of course, a small window wherever possible will create the illusion of space by providing natural light. If that’s not an option, all the more excuse to pack the walls with all the posters you loved as a teen. “A variety of small picture sizes will create an illusion of space due to the gaps in between the pictures,” says Arbuthnott.

The Sports Den: Man Cave Ideas For The Football Fan

For some reason, the idea of a sports den seems like a uniquely American preoccupation. In Britain, you go to the pub to watch the football, and that’s that. Sure, you might binge the snooker or the rugby from your armchair, or the tennis once a year.

But, in the States, there are all sorts of televised goodness from Nascar to basketball to the NFL to ice hockey to wrestling to rodeo riding to… well, the list goes on. Did we mention baseball?

Anyway, whether you’re a fully paid up US sports fan, or a Brit with a good cable TV connection, you’ll need a sports den. Naturally, nothing screams SPORTS like sporting games and memorabilia. Hence the framed jerseys and baseball poster above. Add a few glass cases with sporting memorabilia in them and have your mates guess: is it Babe Ruth’s baseball? Maybe it’s Kevin Keegan’s shin pads. Who knows?

What is important is having somewhere extremely comfortable to cheer your team to glory. See the leather lounge chairs (British English for La-Z-Boys), and yeah, you’ve got the right idea.