This is a guest post from April Lentini who married to a former bachelor. While she enjoys the finer aspects of bachelor living such as eating salty things on the couch while watching TV, she (as well as her husband) also appreciates a clean, welcoming, ?lady-friendly? home. April writes for http://san-antonio.apartmentguide.com. Your idea of comfort is a cold black leather couch with a glass and stainless steel coffee table. Beer and Pizza is your staple diet and cleaning may involve sweeping the crumbs off the couch and taking out the trash. But even if your apartment is spotless, do you ever wonder what women really think of your floor torch lamp and your heavy, over-bearing entertainment center? If you are a bachelor who enjoys the company of females, you may want to re-think your man cave. You don?t have to go out and buy new furniture. You don?t have to change your undemanding bachelor lifestyle. To make your apartment more appealing to the finer sex, you must simply pay attention to a few minor details. Whether you just want your girl to stick around long enough to watch a movie, or you're pursuing a more serious relationship, here are just a few basic considerations if you?d like to convert your bachelor pad into a lady-friendly dwelling. Eliminate odor ? even if you don?t smell anything Oh, the smells are there. Your nose has just become desensitized to them. Candles and incense may be a bit clich? ?even by some female standards, but you still need something to combat the odor. It?s better to err on the safe side and invest in a mild odor eating spray like Febreeze. In general, women are more sensitive to smell than men. Also, you may want to consider this: according to folks at the Smell and Taste Research Foundation, certain food smells may have an aphrodisiac effect on women ? particularly the smell of chocolate, vanilla, lavender, jasmine, oranges, and Ylang Ylang. Get a scented plugin to stick behind the couch or better yet, have some fresh baked brownies sitting on the kitchen counter (whoo hoo!). Get the lighting right The lighting in your apartment plays a crucial role to style and mood. Here is your basic rule of thumb. Overhead lighting sucks. Get rid of it. Why? Overhead lighting (that circular light that came pre-attached to the ceiling and also that torch light from the 90?s) muddles things. It casts horrible shadows on people?s faces - transforming perfectly nice looking people into ogres, giving them dark circles under their eyes, large noses, and blotchy skin. Please, take out the bulbs in those overhead lights and get some cool table lamps that add some color. Don?t be afraid of color Speaking of color, when did bachelors get the idea that everything in their apartment had to be black? Throw away those black bath towels, the matching black bath mat, and black toilet seat cover. Bathrooms are great places to go crazy with color. Think bright, bold, crisp and especially clean. For the living room area, you can add a pop of color to your sofa with a warm fuzzy throw (like a blanket only prettier). Don?t be afraid of brightly colored pillows, rugs, and other accessories that add warmth to your apartment. Women love warmth (and you win when women associate you with ?warmth?). Clean ? like your mom does it Ever go inside someone else?s place, open their refrigerator and see their food products stacked on sticky, gooey shelves? When it?s your own apartment, you never seem to notice the mystery food crumbs lining your refrigerator?s drawers because you are the one who put the food there. Think about this when you clean your kitchen. The same goes for your bathroom tub and toilet. If she needs flip flops to take a shower in your bathroom, don?t expect her to return any time soon. For women, you can?t just pick things up. You must think cleaning sprays, scum remover, etc... Make things sparkle! Streamline your wires Girls love guys with lots of gizmos. She will undoubtedly be impressed with your techie knowledge and enjoy hours of entertainment from your stereo, TV, computer, and iPod - but not if she is tripping over the wires. Do her (and yourself) a favor by streamlining your gadgets and concealing the wires as best as you can. Invest in a few cable ties to keep your wires orderly - they're not expensive and they make a huge difference. Not only are jumbled wires a huge inconvenient eye-sore, they also say ?hi-tech amateur.? Be cool about your electronics and let them blend in effortlessly with your d?cor. Consider the small stuff If you're trying to entice your female guest to spend the night, have some first class hotel-type amenities handy. A simple thing like a guest toiletry basket complete with a new toothbrush, travel size toothpaste and a new razor will leave a huge impression on the ladies. If you don?t want to look like a pretentious player, just say the guest basket is for your mom/aunt/sister who sometimes visits. Aww?(Cha Ching - points!) Other nice chick-friendly touches to your apartment include: plants, a bird feeder on your apartment patio (always nice for outdoor breakfasts), a pet (only if you whole-heartedly love it and care for it, of course), and tissue boxes. Succumb to the woman?s touch If you decide to get serious with a woman and she, in return, decides to get serious with you, you may find her spending a lot more time in your apartment. If she is sleeping over more than 3 nights a week, she believes that she has the right (by some unwritten woman law) to modify your living space because she will consider it now to be (partly) her living space too. You may as well just go with it. If you end up living together in this relationship, you?ll eventually have to surrender to her style and taste no matter what. So just let her put up photos, add window treatments to your bare windows, and whatever else makes her feel at home. You may be astonished by her keen sense of style and how cozy she makes your apartment feel. You may also be surprised at how quickly you will become accustomed to a lady-friendly apartment and even embrace it. photo credits (top to bottom): DeaPeaJay, greg.chiasson, lollaping, Topgold