*Originally published on 10/30/09
I wrote an article that covered the basics of what goes into a man cave, now we're going to get in depth and create the ultimate playroom for men. Rooms like this are why people buy houses in the first place. Some of this will be familiar territory, but I'll go into more detail to give you the ingredients to make the ultimate man cave. Now before we start, I should mention that you should obviously stay within your limits and not go overboard. You want to stay within budget, however investing in a man cave is money well spent. You will most likely want to use either the basement or attic as opposed to just an extra room. They will grant you more space so that you can put more awesome stuff in there.
Posters
The walls of any self-respecting man cave should be lined with them. What sorts of posters they are will depend on what sort of hobbies you have. I would suggest adding a bit of variety though. Movie or sports posters are all well and good on their own, but mixing things up better reflects your diverse range of interests.
Music
You have a lot of options with this. You can place your desktop or laptop down there, hook up some speakers and create a decent sound system with your digital library. However, if you have a lot of CD's, tapes, and records, this would be a perfect place to store all of it. Rather than just cram it away into storage, you can turn it to your advantage and enjoy it for years to come. You can get a pretty good stereo system for a low price nowadays and I'm sure you could find a record player on Amazon or Ebay if you really needed one. I would assume though, that if you still maintain a record collection that you would have a working record player, but if not I'm sure you could find one with little trouble.
Television
The bigger the better, though again, be sure to stay within budget. It must, however, be an HDTV. If your old television still works, that can go in the living room, man caves demand 1080p. Whether it be for sporting events, movies or video games, you'll be glad to see it in such clarity.
Refrigerator
No man cave is complete without easy access to tasty beverages. You can either get a mini-fridge or a full sized one, depending on how much you need to store at any given time. Most mini-fridges provide plenty of space for drinks so I don't think that you'll need to go to a full one to suit your needs. If you really want to go all out, I would suggest getting a deep freezer and a George Foreman grill. Why? So that you can cook burgers indoors. Nothing goes with sports better than burgers. You can store sliced cheese in the fridge and make cheeseburgers. It would be awesome, let me tell you.
Video Games
I mentioned playing video games earlier, but it is still a great addition to any man cave. The more consoles you have the better. If you're not a big gamer you can get away with having just an Xbox or PS3 (it plays blu-rays), but I can tell you that all three consoles look really cool standing up next to each other. If you have old consoles and games, then the man cave is the perfect home for them. While the current gen consoles are great, the Genesis and Super Nintendo games still hold up to this day.
If you're well off, you can even buy arcade games. Like, full on arcade machines, it's awesome. You can also get pinball machines, which are good times as well. If you can afford it and have room, these will definitely add some flavor to your man cave and make for great things to show off to your friends.
Games
Not all games have to be of the video variety. Nothing adds to a man cave better than tabletop games. Pool, air hockey, ping pong, all of these are good times. You can have just one, or if you have a huge area to work with, you can try to get all three in there somehow. A dartboard is also a great addition. It doesn't take up a lot of space and it's a great way to entertain yourself when you're hanging out with your friends.
Board games can also be a great addition. You laugh, but getting a group of people together to play Risk is good times let me tell you.
Seating
This is a tough one, recliners are the ideal, however, if you're going to have a group of friends over to watch a game or movie or to play some Left 4 Dead, a couch would be a better fit. If you can get a couch or recliners with cup holders in the arm rests, that makes it extra convenient, though a table works too. I remember that episode of Seinfeld where George buys a recliner with a mini-fridge built in. If these exist, they would be perfect for a man cave. It would save you space and money. When my roommate and I went to look for recliners, we didn't see any at La-Z Boy. I hope that they actually do sell those somewhere as that's awesome in so many ways.
Books
Oh, yes, these can go in a man cave too. A man cave, after all, is a retreat, and what better way is there to relax than to kick back with a good book. Obviously, reading doesn't lend itself to parties, but when you're alone and just trying to unwind, books are a nice addition. It also is a great way to let visitors get a general idea of your interests and personality.
If you read comics, they are a good fit for a man cave as well. Collectors can build rather large collections over the years so you will need a room for them eventually and a man cave is just the place for them.
Now it goes without saying, that with all of this stuff, you're going to need places to store it. Shelves are great, if you don't already have built in shelves, I would suggest seeing if you can have some installed. It will be more expensive than just buying shelves, but it will give you more room. Also, if you do fill in the built in shelves, you can always buy more later so you get the best of both worlds.
While man caves are highly customizable and can (and should) be suited to fit your own personality and interests, there are essentials that belong in any, if not all, man caves and these are those essentials. Put these in your basement and you can't go wrong.
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