How to Create the Ultimate Man Cave
There’s a lot going on in the world. Everyone could use some designated personal space to hide away from the responsibilities and pressures of daily life. If you’re a man, you get the luxury of a cool, specific name for this retreat: a Man Cave. A place where you can relax with a cold drink in your hand while watching Sports Center, or run your power tools without worrying about the decibel level, or gather your friends to play games (video games, billiards, Dungeons & Dragons … pick your poison!) all night long.
The appeal of an at-home getaway is clear. The practicality of making it happen? Sometimes less so. If you think you don’t have enough space, or can’t quite decide what you’d want from a man cave, no worries. Worldwide Steel is here to help you conceptualize, design and build your own ultimate man cave.
Step One: Find the Right Space
If you’re lucky, you have some extra empty space that you don’t know what to do with. Might be a detached garage, might be a semi-finished basement, might be a bonus room. If so? Voila: man cave.
If you don’t have an extra room just waiting to be transformed (and let’s be honest … most of us homeowners don’t), you can build your own. Lucky you! The best man cave is one you design from scratch. That means you can choose everything from the location to the size to the functionality of your space.
We recommend a prefab metal building kit as the foundation for your perfect man cave. Worldwide Steel Buildings are fully customizable, so you can choose exactly the square footage and features of your space. If you’re looking for a quick-start guide, many of our customers start with designs that are typically used for metal garage kits. They’re just about the right size for a man cave and are easy to customize with all the elements you want.
Step Two: Walls and Floors
Don’t consider yourself an interior design expert? That’s alright: a man cave isn’t a showroom, and you’re probably further ahead than you think. Here’s where the intent of what you’ll do in your man cave starts coming into play.
A space that’s primarily going to be used as a home theater, for watching movies and games in a recliner, should be comfy. You’ll probably want carpet or engineered hardwood floors, and a neutral paint color that feels warm and inviting. If you’re adding windows to your design (which we always recommend), you’ll want to consider blackout curtains to reduce the risk of glare on your big screen.
A game room, whether that’s arcade games, consoles, pool, board games, card games or video games, probably needs more light. Carpet might be a good idea, since anything you drop is unlikely to roll as much as it would on hardwood. Dark wood accents can add richness to this type of man cave.
If you’re planning to use your man cave as a workshop, whether for woodworking or oil painting or vintage car repair, you’re probably best off sticking with a less finished interior. Sure, you’ll want insulated walls for temperature control, but poured concrete floors will do just fine.
If your idea of a perfect man cave is less a personal sanctuary and more a hangout destination, where you can have some drinks and shoot the breeze with your buddies, we recommend an engineered wood floor (they’re easy to clean in the event of a spill).
Step Three: Pick a Theme
Okay, so “theme” goes a bit beyond “purpose” — once you know what you want to do in your man cave, take that idea and make it your own. The easiest way to start creating the theme for your space is to find one idea or object to focus on and let the rest fall into place around it.
Are you the world’s biggest Red Sox fan and would love a baseball-inspired environment that you can watch the games in? Make sure there’s room to hang your Sox memorabilia on the walls. Maybe you have a vintage pool table, jukebox or trophy case that you want to make the focal point of the room: think of man cave ideas that will make your focal point pop.
Step Four: Furniture
When you’re deciding the square footage of your space, make sure you’re considering the furniture you’ll want in your man cave so you can utilize the space properly. Again, this comes back to what you think you’ll do in there most often.
Watch movies and games? You’ll definitely want a flat screen tv, plenty of comfy places to sit, and a coffee table to set your drinks and snacks on.
Hang out with friends? Maybe you’ll want a dart board (cork backing highly recommended), a foosball table, a poker table or a pool table. Plus chairs that can be moved around easily, depending on what you’re doing that night.
Build the newest unofficial neighborhood bar? You’ll need a home bar (wet bar, preferably) with bar stools, a mini fridge, maybe a kegerator … or a wine cellar if vino’s more your drink of choice.
Step Five: Accessories
We hate to stereotype, but unless they’re single, men aren’t usually the ones doing the decorating in their own home. Once you have a man cave? That’s your chance! The possibilities for accessorizing your cave are endless. Artwork, sports memorabilia like jerseys, album covers, road signs … go nuts. It’s your own personal space: act like it.
Build Your Ultimate Man Cave With Worldwide Steel Buildings
Ready to start on that man cave right now? We don’t blame you. And we’re here to make sure you get exactly what you want, the first time. Start by testing your design ideas in our 3D Building Designer, then give us a call at (800) 825-0316. Our experts love talking man caves and will be able to give you some ideas and things to think about that you might not have considered. We’ll also talk to you about the benefits of building with Worldwide Steel (like that industry-leading 50-year structural warranty).