Mancaves are important additions to the home for some, and for others, they may be a fun but extraneous space in the home. In any case, a man cave serves a purpose, whether it be purely entertainment or somewhat therapeutic. The room should certainly convey a litany of information and personality about the owner. There are a few ways to make your home-inside-your home more of a getaway from life’s stresses and less of a second living room.
Furnishings aren’t Optional
For many men, it is absolutely the case that in most of our waking lives, we are providing a service for our loved ones or employers. Garages, workshops, toolsheds, and the ole grindstone all occupy our minds as we occupy them. It is important that the things in a mancave, particularly ones outfitted for hobbyist activities, have adequate furniture for those activities but are distinct in fashion and form from those that occupy our laborious areas of life.
Following this guideline opens a creative avenue for the owner of the mancave. Allowing yourself to take liberties within your space that may be unconventional outside of the home might be the best way to personalize your mancave. With the advent of the internet, dozens of online retailers have catalogs, storefronts, and bespoke marketplaces that have enumerable pieces of furniture.
Websites like ROOMS2Go offer entire rooms at the tap of a button, and while their options are usually budget-adjustable, even mancaves with the barest of bankrolls can be outfitted through the use of services like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and good old-fashioned Yard-Saling. It is best to look for non-office or workplace-esque furnishings for your mancave, as it allows a further dissociation with a workplace.
Instead, one might look for more of a cigar-shop armchair style, or, for the modernity-forward individual, a clinically clean look might separate the everyday world from your mancave to a higher degree. Whatever your tastes, the skeleton and soul of your decor and the overall personality of the cave is the furniture you fill it with, as you literally change the shape of the room depending on the arrangement.
Speaking of Decor…
It is often hard for men to decorate a room in a way that is pleasing to the eyes of our female counterparts. Luckily, the nomenclature of the space lends itself nicely to the exemption of the prying judgment of certain stylistic choices. Still, it definitely isn’t the goal of anyone to have a space that is reflective of one’s interests and personality, be ugly or, worse, boring.
To avoid the “blah” -ness of some spaces, one must consider a theme. Some men may find that simple sports themes are easier to shop around for, while others need a sophisticated and traditional atmosphere to find serenity. The theme of a mancave can make the decorative process easier, if not nearly automatic.
While a boring space might be particularly negative, what may be nearly as bad is a room that is “too busy.” A healthy middle ground is definitely preferred to either extreme. When decorating, most contemporary interior decorators live by a rule: If you are seated, the majority of the kitschy items need not be in your view. This is because in most rooms, the majority of the time will be spent seated, and this does sort of imply that you will spend most of your time looking around from that angle. Keeping these principles in mind will keep your room from becoming a slumber chamber or an eye sore.
Blinding Lights Make Eyes Sore
Another aspect of a mancave one wants to prioritize, without exception, is lighting. The goal of a mancave is not to have another bedroom, so it shouldn’t be unnaturally dark, and conversely, it is also not a solarium and should not be as bright as the mid-day sun. The best advice one could take is to think of your mancave as a place to read. Too much light strains the eyes against the whiteness of a page. Dimness will make print illegible. In fact, as a rule of thumb, if you can’t comfortably read a book at arms-length in your mancave due to light, it is worth changing or addressing the lighting situation.
Modern LEDs offer the broadest spectrum of colors, hues, and temperatures of lights, and it is proven, scientifically, that warmer light colors are the most comforting. Dimmable lamps and light strips are a huge bonus to those with mancaves without natural light, as they offer the most utility with far less effort and wiring. If permanent lighting is more your style, they make all-in-one fixtures that offer these features in overhead formats.
The greatest in-person selections can be found at large brick-and-mortar stores, like Lowes or Home Depot, but for those on more constricting budgets, it cannot be recommended enough to shop your local area on Craigslist or other Marketplaces for options. Another solution would be to look for Habitat for Humanity affiliate shops that sell discounted items and utilize 100% of their earnings for the HFH program. These are called ReStores, and they literally change lives.
Upshot
It is always important to value yourself and your own comfort. In this ever-changing and stressful world, you may need a mancave more than ever. A place to unwind, relax, and engage in self-care may be the home within a home you never knew you needed. Making the space as luxurious as possible is almost necessary, and it doesn’t have to break the bank.
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