Making the Ultimate Garage Man Cave

Perhaps you’re feeling a little trapped in the house, or hemmed in by various concerns of life (work, bills, and other responsibilities) like a caveman ambushed by saber-tooth tigers, and you’d like to have a safe refuge to flee too, an awesome cave that’s conveniently nearby, perhaps decorated with sports memorabilia and images of your favorite stars.



That dream of safe refuge is in your reach, and in this article we’ll take a look at how to build the ultimate garage man cave.

Step One: Find the Space

Chances are there is some place in your home that can be transitioned into a man cave. Optimal spaces include the garage, the basement, an unused bedroom of a kid who now has a home and a family of their own, and potentially the attic. Each one of these spaces will present its own challenges when it comes to domesticating it for the purpose of having a space to chill. The space in your garage may need carpeting. The basement may need a finished roof. A daughter’s pink room may need to be painted the colors of your favorite sporting team. An attic may need to be cleaned out and totally finished with drywall. Your selection of a space will depend on a couple of factors such as your desired degree of privacy, your height and mobility, your intended usage of the man cave, and your budget—for example, it will cost much more money to finish the attic than to lay down some carpeting in the garage, which is why the garage is the prime location for your man cave.

Step Two: Determine Your Budget

Whether you’ve got $100 to spend on this project or $10,000, you’ll still be able to make it happen. If your budget is low, don’t eschew the strategy of checking places like Craigslist for free or cheap things. First, see if there’s anything at home you can utilize. Perhaps you were thinking of buying some new furniture for the living room; go ahead and move that old couch to the garage man cave, if you need to stay within a low budget. Places like Ross, Marshalls, and Burlington Coat Factory have aisles of cheap decorative material for you to browse through. If your budget is higher, and you’re looking to do some serious work to transform a currently uninhabitable space into a man cave, get a licensed and insured contractor to come in and provide you with an estimate. Remember to add 10-15% on to your budget, because unexpected things always come up.

Step Three: Pick a Theme

What will the theme of your garage man cave be? While it’s not necessary to pick a theme, the coolest zones in the home often have a unifying theme that provides them with some consistency and aesthetic appeal. For example, if you’re a fan of a particular sports team, that could be your theme. Paint the walls the team colors—a cool effect is achieved by painting the lower third of the wall one team color, and the upper third the other team color. Remember that heavier colors should go on the bottom. Buy some pennants and posters for the walls, and maybe a throw rug with the mascot or some bean bag chairs that are also in team colors. While you might think it’s effeminate to include pillows as part of your themed décor, studies have shown that you might need a pillow for the nights when you’ll be sleeping in the man cave. Alternatively, if you’re more of a music buff, make your man cave space for music. Hang up posters of your favorite stars, put your guitars in there, and set up a nice shelf and table space for a record collection and player.

Design Tip

When hanging things on the walls, it creates a very visually appealing effect to form patterns. For example, if you’re going with the music theme, you could alternate vertically-oriented posters with framed records, all at the same height, and alternating, poster, record, poster record, etc. In the same vein, if sports is your theme, you could do poster, pennant, poster, pennant.

Step Four: Accessorize

No man cave is complete without the right accessories. Figure out what awesome elements you have the space for, can afford, and want in your man cave. Air hockey? Pinball? Pool table? A jukebox? Whatever amazing peripherals you select, there are a few staples that you'll probably want to have in there, no matter what. One of those things is a television unless your man cave is going to be a literary man’s paradise of rich mahogany bookshelves filled with leather-bound tomes. Whether you like sports, music or both, a television is a great focal point to the watering hole once your friends are over. You can watch the game, or perhaps a concert DVD as you all relax on the couch and crack open a few cold ones, which brings us to our next item… The other item you’ll want to have is some form of a beverage station. At the very least, a small fridge will provide a great place to keep beers, sodas, and guacamole (chips and pretzels don’t need refrigeration, thankfully).  If your budget permits, the most awesome thing you can add in this food and beverage category is a full-on bar, complete with stools, a counter, and a shelf for drinks. Remember, at the end of the day, if you have less than $100 to spend on all of this, you can always find a used couch, wheel an ice-filled cooler into the garage, and invite a few of your friends over to watch the game. But if you have the budget to craft something better than that, why not go ahead and make an awesome garage man cave?

Step Five: Build it…They Will Come

You may have noticed that we skipped the step of getting to work and building your man cave. There’s not much to say about that step, except that it’s best to have fun in the process. If you run into any issues that relate to plumbing, electricity, or even general construction as you’re building your man cave, take a word from the wise and do it legally. Never do work in your home without getting a permit for it—there are many opportunities for that to come back and bite you in the butt later, especially if you resell your home, and you don’t want your man cave to be the source of any problems down the road, just a peaceful haven for hanging out.

Appreciate the Value of Your Garage Man Cave

Everybody likes to have a chill spot to hang out at, and your garage man cave will do just that for you. Moreover, if you actually put money into creating a pleasing space—like finishing and furnishing the garage and building a bar—it will dramatically increase the property value of your home, a win-win that you can contemplate as you crack open a cold one and cheer for the home team. Danley's can build you an ultimate garage. Get a free quote now.