This Valentine's Day, how's your bachelor pad looking? Does it consist of take-out containers, a PlayStation and box spring sitting on the floor?
If you've got any cash left after that pricey divorce, a new breed of home decorators could help, reports a trend piece in The New York Times.
Interior designers have (affluent) divorced men in their crosshairs, Emily Weinstein reports, guys who apparently need help softening the bachelor pad with toys for the kids, but also want touches the wife might not have approved: think wet bars, colossal flat-screen TVs and mounted animal heads.
They're also looking for a little something for the new girlfriend: good down duvets and a double chaise lounge are popular choices.
Writes Ms. Weinstein: "It tends to be a place that balances cheerful comfort for the children with a scary new reality: Dad is a single guy."
The designers interviewed said divorced men are more laid back than their other clients, including bickering couples. They want quick overhauls so the kids can come visit.
"A huge percentage of them leave the matrimonial home and live in dumps," Toronto designer Deirdre Dyment told The Times. "And they really miss the warmth their home had."
Beyond the comfy chair, these men want comfort all around: "They don't want little towels," Houston designer Sharon Staley said. "They want the big bath towels - bath sheets."
One thing the men repeatedly need talking out of? It's a staple of mid-life crisis and divorce: The framed photo that shows him triumphant on a mountain top.
Would you ever hire a decorator post-divorce?
Zosia Bielski