This is becoming quite the popular term nowadays. When I was a kid in the 1980's, my dad simply called it a "den" and it housed his manly wares like his drawing board, model trains and assorted beer mirrors and clocks and whutnot. Now, it has become a fascinating contest of who can one-up their friends. And some are impressve, to say the least (one member on here has a particularly awesome one in their garage). Guys building entire pub bars with draft taps, hand-carved pool tables, leather-trimmed poker tables, cigar rooms, Keggerators, couches straight out of a porn shoot, lighting more advance than the Technology from Minorty Report, etc. It's become a neat hobby and a pop culture staple. Focus: Man-Caves, or your "at home getaway" since we have ladies on this board as well. Do you have one? A work in progress? Feel free to post photos or ideas, this could become a tutorial thread for all we know. Alt-Focus:Your dream man-cave: what would you include? Or feel free to post pics of the best that are out there just to make us all feel bad.
I absolutely hate the term Man-cave. Fucking term irritates the shit out of me. It's like the uncreative people that have to cram two words together to make a word. Man I saw a dude today with a Murse! What? A Man PURSE! a MURSE! Fuck you in the ear. alt focus: My dream basement would include: -High def movie theater set up, probably get a fat assed 60+ inch screen since I really don't dig the high def projectors. Sick sound system and video games ect. This would be a dedicated room. -A game room with pool table, darts, and a couple of arcade machines. I specifically want to get a Twilight Zone Pinball machine. -Large bar set up with taps and fridge. A slushie machine with the make your own flavor squirt bottles. If I had the resources I'd do it all up in a 30's Art Deco fashion. I think like one of my relatives I'd have a sort of separate cabin on my property for my gun collection and reloading equipment. It could have a hunting cabin type motif but I wouldn't really dig that for my main basement.
In my future brownstone that I've renovated with my strapping young husband, I'll have a room to myself that will include: -floor to ceiling bookshelves built into the wall, possibly including a rolling ladder -a bay window with a window seat -an antique desk with an old typewriter, mostly for atmospheric purposes but preferably functioning so every now and then I can type a sentence or two with it and feel awesome -a big comfy armchair -a really nicely organized system of storing arts and crafts supplies. I'm on the messier side, but I fucking love organization. Things like this are pornographic to me. -wallpaper, but probably only on one wall - the one behind the armchair.
In order to get there, one would need to climb up/down this staircase: I practically get a boner just looking at that.
Alt. Focus: I believe the one thing most people don't realize is that a proper man cave needs recliners for watching the game/movie. Kicking up your feet with a cold one makes the experience so much better. Other things: Card table Big ass TV Old ass fridge that somehow keeps beer/booze at the perfect temp In-wall surround sound Dartboard w/ metal tip darts Pool table There are many permutations I'm sure, but if you have all of these things how is the room not complete?
We're in the starting stages of finishing our basement, and the plan is for it to be an area for us to host people and something of a man-cave. The funny part is that my wife is all about it. We're putting in a wet bar, with a mini fridge, and a fully stocked alcohol cabinet. The bar area is going to be sports themed, including flags, posters and pennants of our favorite teams (Purdue, Bears, White Sox, Colts (for my wife), Bulls). My wife LOVES this idea. We're also buying sports mugs and shot glasses for the area. The other area is going to consist of our huge sectional couch (with two recliners, seats six) and a large la-z-boy recliner. We're putting our 42" plasma down there, hanging on the wall, just above the fireplace we are putting in. The TV will be on the opposite side of the room as the bar, so we can be at the bar serving and watch the TV. Everything will be wired to the room next door, which is currently a storage room, that we're converting into a media closet. We're ripping the shelves out and building DVD/Blu-Ray shelves, plus shelves to hold our DVR/Cable Box, PS3, PS2, and Wii. Everything will be nice and clean looking, with all the wiring hidden behind the walls and in the ceiling. Surround Sound is coming some time after Christmas, hopefully (if we can afford it with all the other shit we're buying). Our home is going to become the hosting area for football Sundays and especially Superbowl Sunday. Otherwise it is going to be where I hang out to play video games and relax.
My idea of a man-cave is a library. Floor to ceiling shelves with a spot for my taxidermy armadillo (he's awesome, he even has a tiny sombrero). Plenty of natural light; possibly from a sky light, but preferably from a bay window or floor to ceiling window (MUST be able to open). A brown leather sofa for me to stretch out. An acoustic guitar in the corner. Lastly, an end table for pens, cups, laptop. That's about it. Hell I could see this being my living room save for a TV and DVD. I'm not into big ass stereos, or even enormous TVs. Simplicity for me. Read as: boring. Now if we have a kitchen thread, I'd go apeshit and easily blow $50k. Though I'm very partial to dark wood and the smell of rich lacquer, stuff along these lines: Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler
As has been mentioned, my finished basement would have; -Fuck all big T.V. for football games and consoles. -Card table for regular poker games. -Pool table, because I find shooting a few games a great way to kill some time without getting to involved that I don't want to stop. -Giant sectional couch for aforementioned football games, and Halo death matches. -The most comfortable recliner in the world that would naturally have cup holders where I would sit during most festivities. -Fully stocked bar for both company and private use. -Leather bar stools. -A kegerator of Guinness. For the happiness making. -Thick shag carpet to give me a legitimate excuse to ban small children, and for the impromptu sexing up of the fiance. -Obligatory wooden dart board. -Reading nook with another recliner, and well stocked modest library. -A couple of standing arcade systems. -And a book shelf filled with my perfectly organized magic collection in their collectors binders. Just because sorting through random boxes is a pain in the dick. -It would have a lot of gold accents so the Notre Dame and Mizzou stuff that festooned the walls and bar would blend together nicely. All in all I would happily spend double the amount I spent on the actual house to one day have this room.
My ideal man cave would be dual purpose, in that it'd be an underground storm shelter/safe room complete with hidden door. That way, if shit hits the fan, I'd have all my amenities with me. It would be equipped with: - reclining leather Lay-z-boy. That one's mine. - leather pit couch facing a flat screen. As big as I can fit. - surround sound system. I don't care about video games, but my computer will be hooked up to it for music. - air hockey table (fuck pool; air hockey never gets old) - beer. Only in bottles, and nothing lighter than amber ale. Bottle caps would be saved and used to decorate the walls. No drywall, just wood. And when open a beer, you hammer the bottle cap into the wall with a nail. That's how I'd decorate. - The only liquor allowed is scotch, gentleman jack, bourbon, and gin. No ice necessary because anything that needs mixing or diluting isn't good, and anything that isn't good doesn't belong there anyway. - wine rack. Doesn't need to be chilled, because everything I drink is red. If you drink white, great, you can go to the kitchen with my wife. - glasses: martini glasses, crystal rocks glasses (neat), and a few smaller port wine glasses for my selection. - cheese. Yes, I like cheese, usually with my wine. Have the drunk munchies? Great, have some gouda and shut the fuck up, the game's on. - There would be a restroom in there, and in the restroom would be a urinal. And charmin. - the only reading material would be Sports Illustrated, Popular Mechanics, Playboy, David Sedaris (fuck you), and 48 Laws of Power - gun case. Two 12 gauge pumps, two rifles at least .243 or over, and a .357 revolver. That'd be sufficient. - since it'd double as a safe room, there'd be a small pantry and microwave with cans of chili, baked beans, and green beans. - cell phones would be checked at the door, as would anything that could connect to the internet, or take a picture. No exceptions. - card table. This would be for actual cards, not beer pong, quarters, spoons, or any of that other fratty shit. Men get drunk slower, drink for longer, hold their alcohol better, and wake up to mow the grass with fewer complaints; this room would be a reflection of that. The motif would be James Bond and Frank Sinatra. Because, you know, why not?
Don't forget a hook to hang whatever it is that he's strapping on. I'm with Kubla on this one. "Man-cave" is a bullshit term that says one thing - the rest of the house is belongs to the woman, but she'll condescend to let you have one room you can put your shit in. And every real man knows that the motherfucking garage is the "man-cave". Pussies.
I think I'd want my space to be combined with a garage. Bar pool table TV up in the corner (I don't really watch much, so nothing fancy here) An amazing tool storage set up and work space I'd need at least a two or three bay garage so I could have a lift as well as space to build an airplane or helicopter. I'd ultimately like to combine all of this with some sort of library as mentioned above; although the two seem hard to mesh in one room.
Ideally, in my future home, I'm gonna have a recording studio. There are plenty of awesome things listed in this thread I could have in a den or library, but I really want an awesome studio, set up to my specifications where I can go make music with my friends, my future kids, or just myself. My ex girlfriend's father had one. Their house was nice, but nothing special, however, upon hearing about my obsession with music, he took me downstairs and showed me his recording set up, complete with soundproof isolation chamber he made for vocals. It was amazing and his oasis when he just needed to get away and mess around with stuff. I need one of those. Oh and Golden Tee, cause who doesn't want Golden Tee in their house?
Wait a minute. You're saying that the pussified man gets relegated to a single room while the real man gets kicked out of the house entirely? Focus: Since I live alone, my "man-cave" is most of my entire house. My front room is tastefully decorated so I can have a woman over and not have her feel like he's in a frathouse. But my basement consists of my 46" LCD (considering upgrading to a 70" LED) TV and media equipement with surround sound - that's on one side of the room. On the other there's some open space where I could conceivably put a bar - there's already a mini-fridge tucked into a cubby that's built into the wall and opposite that is my pinball machine. On the first floor the bigger of the two bedrooms is my gaming room, which basically consists of a huge table for playing whatever game me and my friends are there to play, with a 32" LCD mounted on the wall in the corner in case we want something playing while we game. My garage is big enough for my daily driver and my project car (if I ever get around to finishing it) plus has a bench along one entire side. Eventually I'll get rid of all the shit that's cluttering it up and make some space for power tools I want to buy.
My "man-cave" would definitely be my garage. I couldn't find the link i think someone posted on the auto thread about that awesome garage with the lift, but it would very, very closely resemble that. I would be able to blast some music, work on my car with whatever tools I deem necessary for the job, then have a space with a couch, tv, and a good surround sound system with dvd/bluray, xbox, ps3, wii, and large enough mini fridge to support an entire football games worth of beer...not much else is needed.
The whole idea seems absurd. You build a fantastically expensive room in the house in which you live to get away from the people who live in that very same house? My dad used to call his "Liquid Assets". That's the name of the bar that was between his office and his parking lot.
My perfect room would have the usual nice TV, surround sound, hidden components/wires, comfy sofa. However, there would be two special elements. 1. My recliner. My recliner itself won't be anything super special--maybe one with the massage motors all over it. But what will make it unique is that under the left armrest will be a button. When pressed, speakers in the back of the headrest will play Powerhouse (starting at 1:28). At that point, a single beer will rise out of the fridge in the corner via a trap door in the top and pass through a series of Rube Goldberg-esque stages, eventually ending up in a small enclosure underneath the right armrest of my chair. 2. My secret room. I'm thinking that a rotating bookcase will probably be used in this case--perhaps a cabinet where the shelves swing out as a single unit, revealing a secret door in the back. Behind the bookcase/cabinet will be a room filled only with pillows and soundproofed. The only modern element of the room will be speakers in the wall. This room will be used exclusively for sex.
I have a few different locations on my imaginary property: An old weathered barn. A minimum of four stalls with runs, stereo system wired throughout, connected to an indoor arena with recycled rubber footing. My tack room, reeking of old leather (YUM!) would have a bar, an old leather sofa and one wall of tack. My library, paneled with dark woods (like CJ), a large mahogany desk, a typewriter and a nice computer setup (all the ugly bits hidden behind clever shelving and such), vaulted ceilings, and a walk out patio with a view of my garden. My entertainment room will also be amazing, but nothing new....