Notice I have purposefully avoided the term bachelor pad here. Thats for good reason. That expression conjures up immediate visions of complete, utter cheesiness. And if you expect to invite women over at any point (which I trust is a given) the last thing you want your place to be as a single man is cheesy.

OK, maybe thats second-from-last. The very last thing you want your place to be is dirty. And you can take that anyway youd like, because no matter what you are thinking you are understanding me perfectly.

Interestingly, Ive had numerous guys (and some women) ask me how to get the topic of this section right. Heres the thing: EVERYONE has his or her unique set of circumstances. Some have lots of money, some have hardly anything extra to spend. Some live in the city, and some live in small towns. Some live where you have satellite TV, and others dont. With all of that in mind, Im going to approach this from the mindset of an average guy with average income who lives in a suburban setting. You are welcome to take what you can use and leave the rest on the shelf, although the more philosophic bits are probably universally applicable.

So lets take this by room, shall we? Ill weave in the more general principles along the way.

1) Door/Entry

Make sure the front light works and there are no spiders living in the corner outside. Have a mat to wipe feet on and a rack inside the doorway for coats/umbrellas if you dont have a closet by the door. This is really important to making her feel comfortable immediatelyand we all know by now this is job one.

2) Bathrooms

For most of your house or apartment, keeping things straightened-up as opposed to Felix Unger pristine is the key. Ive actually heard from some women that a surrealistically clean place creeps them out. They recognize It just aint natural, as we say here in Texas. So clearing out the clutter is the key. That may get us off the hook for dusting the floorboards, but the absolute exception to that guideline is the bathroom. CLEAN THE TOILETS. Clean AROUND the toilets. In fact, clean the whole room, including the tub/shower and the sink. Use the Clean Shower stuff or equivalent every time you shower and youll save yourself major trouble later. Clean the spots off the mirror. Finally, as my good (and female) friend Amy Waterman pointed out once in an interview, get everything out of your medicine cabinet that you dont want discovered. According to her, most women consider it their birthright to spy on your medicine cabinet. Sure you have condoms, but put them somewhere more discreet por favor. That goes double for the recreational Cialis.

3) Kitchen

You are cooking for her, arent you? (Remember who youre hearing from here, right?) When you are shopping for an apartment or a house, make the kitchen a higher priority than most guys do. You want enough area in there that two people can work together. When you go for kitchen appliances, make sure stuff doesnt clash. If at all possible, I highly recommend the stainless steel look. Its got a high-end feel and comes off as masculine. Get a full compliment of kitchen utensils, decent knives and a set of pots/pans that gives you the flexibility to cook whatever youd like. Get at least one set of matching dishes (make them masculine looking) and flatware service for four. If you have a suitable area outside, get even a small BBQ pit.

Keep the fridge devoid of rotten, moldy stuff at all times. This grosses women out on sight. Make sure you have a variety of beverages, including bottled water and diet sodas if you dont drink that stuff. Make sure the ice is fresh.

If you can, invest in one of those mini-fridges with the window in the door that doubles as a wine cellar. Keep a bottle of red and a bottle of white in there. If you are blessed enough to live near a Trader Joes, Charles Shaw is dirt cheap and does the job if you arent yet a wine connoisseur. You can populate the rest of the thing with singles out of the last dozen six packs of various beers youve been drinking, etc. It really doesnt matter as long as you have a variety of stuff to draw from when putting a drink in her hand as soon as she walks in the door.

And oh yeahempty the trash. While you are at it, make sure the dirty laundry is out of site.

4) Living Room

Yeah, youve likely got a killer big-screen and an X-box. When a woman comes over though, the best use for that TVhands downis to have it tuned in to whichever music channel best fits the mood you are setting. Some satellite or cable systems come with Sirius or XM channelsGET THAT SET UP. Its amazing how cool it is to set it to the New Orleans channel while cooking dinner, and to move it to Urban Contemporary, Classic Blues or Smooth Jazz later. Awwwwyeah.

And yesI had a black leather sofa and loveseat. Stereotypical, but for good reason. I also parked my sofa directly under the air-conditioning vent. This proved strategic. In fact, contrary to popular wisdom, I always cranked the a/c down to about 70 when a woman was coming over. This encouraged closeness as the evening progressed.

¹²3Ò³: ÉÏÒ»Ò³ 1 [2] [3] ÏÂÒ»Ò³