When it comes time to personalize a man cave, many guys tend to go overboard with sports memorabilia. However, you don’t have to plaster jerseys and stadium photos all over the walls to create the ultimate cave.
Sure, you can display that home run baseball or your college championship trophy, but feel free to branch out and explore other interesting themes. Here are a few design ideas to spark your imagination and help you add your personal flair to your favorite room in the house.
1. Install Ambient Lighting
Believe it or not, lighting plays a key role in creating a manly atmosphere. If your man cave is too bright, it will feel like your stereotypical living room. However, if you dim the lights, you can create a more relaxing ambiance. To achieve this mellow vibe, include light fixtures with warmer bulb types or use dimmer switches to control the room’s atmosphere.
Use wall or track lighting to showcase unique items and truly personalize your man cave. Install display cabinets with interior lights and neon bar signs or LED strips for a pop of color. Just remember to keep your lighting strategy simple. Too many fixtures can easily kill the vibe if you’re not careful.
2. Create a Cozy Cinema
Every room needs a focal point and your man cave is no exception. Depending on your taste, the focal point could be a jersey, a huge flag on the wall or even a billiard table. However, if you’re a movie fanatic, you might make your TV the main attraction.
Create a cozy movie theater at home and turn your man cave into a cinema. Use a projector to screen films on a wall or hang a giant TV and use surround sound for the ultimate movie-goer experience. Invest in some quality seats with cup holders and maybe even a popcorn machine. Decorate the walls with a few colorful movie posters and old-timey film reels.
3. Decorate With Model Kits
Do you remember building model ships and planes as a kid? Relive those fond childhood memories by putting together a few model cars or spaceships. Then, use them to decorate your man cave.
While you can certainly use various kinds of kits, it may help to choose ones that match your theme. For instance, if you’ve converted your garage into a man cave and are creating an industrial design, you might want to stick with model cars. However, if you’ve embraced beachy, coastal vibes, you might choose to display a few model ships or lighthouses. Regardless of your interests or man cave theme, you’re sure to find model kits that match.
4. Use Mini Robots
If you’re a Star Wars nerd or the guy who can’t wait to show off his new smartphone, consider adding a robot or two to your man cave. Use an app-controlled model like a MiP to hold your beer can, battle other robots or dance to your favorite playlist. Some even respond to gestures, sound and touch so you can control them without your smartphone.
You might also purchase a more functional robot to vacuum your floors. Never lift a finger to clean your man cave again. Simply sit back, relax and let the Roomba do all the dirty work. You can even schedule it to clean when you’re not there, so you don’t have to worry about stepping on it while you and your buddies are hanging out.
5. Include Bar Games
No man cave is complete without a few bar games, so if you don’t know how to play pool, now is the time to learn. Once you master one or two classic games, choose one that you’d like to have in your cave. If you don’t have space for multiple tables, choose a convertible one that will transform into two or three different games.
If you’re not a fan of pool, ping-pong or foosball, add some arcade games instead. Classics like Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Donkey Kong are just a few fan favorites. Include a pinball machine and poker table to round out your cave and give every one of your friends something fun to play when they come over.
Personalize Your Man Cave
As you personalize your man cave, feel free to draw on others’ ideas for inspiration. Just remember that your interests are unique to you and you don’t have to copy anyone’s layout or design if you don’t want to. Your passions and hobbies are different from everyone else’s, so your man cave will inevitably look different, too. So don’t be afraid to make the space your own.
After all, you’re the one who will be spending the most time in your man cave. You might as well surround yourself with all the things you love, whether your friends think they’re cool or not.
Oscar Collins is the managing editor at Modded. He writes about cars, fitness, the outdoors and more. Follow @TModded on Twitter for more articles from the Modded team.
