Dating and relationship expert Dan, from The Modern Man, told Bored Panda that how a man's home looks and how he acts can send completely different signals, meaning people who come over to visit can get wrong first impressions from the interior, the furnishing, and the decorations.

"A man’s home is part of what people initially use to judge his social status and character. However, how he behaves and acts with the people who come over to his place says so much more about him," he said, following up with an example.

"A man might have a perfectly tidy, well-designed, and stylish home, but be very nervous and try too hard to impress people who come over. So, rather than seeing him as a cool, confident, successful man they can admire and look up to, most people just perceive him as a nervous, insecure guy with a nice place. Alternatively, they may see him as a guy who tries hard to please others with material things because he's insecure about himself and doesn't feel good enough in their eyes."

I asked Dan about what we should keep in mind when having guests over to avoid creating a negative impression. According to him, it's best to avoid being overly ego-centric. Let others stand in the limelight, you don't always have to be at the center of attention. "Remember that most people care more about themselves than other people. So, allow people to talk about themselves, rather than always trying to be the center of attention," he said.

"Also remember to not try to oversell yourself or your place, to hopefully gain people’s approval. Be confident and secure in who you are as a person and let your surroundings provide additional clues about who you are and how you approach life."

According to Dan, there's a lot of subjectivity when it comes to home interiors and tidiness. While some men can only feel confident if everything is "perfectly clean and in order," others can feel completely confident in themselves living in a messy house.

Dan stressed the fact that we "should always do whatever we want" when it comes to our homes. The point isn't to try and impress everyone, it's to make ourselves happy with where we live.

"If you enjoy placing a lot of importance on your home because it means a lot to you, then do that. If you only see it as a place to live and want to focus your attention on other things, you should do that," the dating expert explained to Bored Panda. "You can never impress or please everyone, no matter what you do. Just look at celebrities as an example. They have millions of people who love them and millions who hate them."

He continued: "The same applies to your home. You will never make it, furnish it or arrange it in a way where everyone loves you for it and wishes they had it. Some people will love it, others will like it and some will hate it. So, just enjoy doing what you want to do. That’s the only way you’ll truly be happy."

The ‘Male Living Space’ community has been around since October 2012, and they celebrated their 9th birthday just a month ago. In that time, the group has grown immensely, attracting people from all around the globe with one common interest: sharing tips about how to make their homes look the best that they can. Some like to show off, others are reaching out for help, but it’s all done in a lighthearted manner.

If you’re going to be a member of the MLS community, you need to play by their rules. For one, there’s no room for low-effort posts or any advertising on the subreddit. What’s more, if you have any feedback to give, make it constructive: you should be helping people instead of calling them names or being mean. We’re all in it to improve, not to make ourselves feel better by putting others down. Also, you should aim to post actual photos of your living space instead of mock-ups and renders.

Not everyone is a fan of how the subreddit works, however. The person behind the ‘Reddit Spaces’ Twitter account that reshares r/malelivingspace’s content, told Vice in an interview that he believes the subreddit has created its own unique style of interior design that others try and copy before posting photos.

“There are definitely very specific trends that crop up in terms of posts on this subreddit that most people probably aren't aware of," he said. The man heavily curates the content he reshares from r/malelivingspace to show off its more entertaining side and those people who can’t decorate at all.

“The decorating trend among the popular posts will almost always be a neutral grey or brown minimalist space, big couch, big TV, fancy computer setup, plants, and staging the photo to look like it's out of a magazine," the man behind the ‘Reddit Spaces’ Twitter account told Vice.

"There's a checklist of sorts when it comes to what qualifies as popular. If it has plants, a rug, a clean minimalist couch, big windows, a view with natural light and a Herman Miller Eames lounge chair then that's an instant upvote magnet. It can get very stale very fast, but it's especially appealing to men who have always dreamed of their perfect ‘bachelor pad with no roommates,’” he said.

“While it’s easy to laugh at places that are just an air mattress and a pizza box, the worst offenders will always be people who have too much money and not a lick of creativity or basic housekeeping. I'm talking about people who rent four-bedroom homes exclusively for themselves and decide to exclusively use folding tables for any and all surfaces,” the man said.

“Someone renting a $3,000 high-rise luxury apartment in a big city and not knowing what a rug is for. It's such a waste of potential and at that point, I'd decorate for them for free.”

Tim Antoniuk, an Associate Professor of Design Studies at the University of Alberta, told Bored Panda in an interview some time ago that not all great design is timeless.

"Given the speed of change that we encounter today in our lives in the digital environment that we live in, I believe that some great design is not necessarily timeless. One example is seen in Interface Design, Ux Design, and in-service design. As new layers get added into our lives, things naturally have an evolutionary cycle. This is different from furniture which naturally can be more ubiquitous and designed to fit the human body. There is a great deal of fuzziness in this discussion but I do believe that the essence of this idea is true," he said.

While there are definitely objectively good and bad designs, furniture, and products, some fuzziness pops up when you start considering people’s tastes.

"The gray area comes in when people start to talk about taste and about degrees of aesthetic. I may love the design of Bauhaus furniture, for example, while somebody may feel that it is too cold and void of personality. Not unlike great art, I believe that much of what came from this era is ‘great design,’ in part because it represents an era and a philosophy. When we start to mix in discussions of taste and preference, that is where the gray areas of good and bad design get blurred."