We don't (and won't in the new house) have a male-only space, but our den sort of sounds like your mancove, minus the taxidermy. :)

You have to have recliners or a couch/sectional with a chaise or ottoman. Gotta have comfy seating! Side tables and/or cupholders are necessary, too.

...and a dartboard.

This was the top of the wish list for dh. Ours is not a huge space but adequate for a media room. It's 21'x 19'. We just ordered the John Elway Sectional from Bassett. It's kind of a bomber jacket leather with baseball stitching. We are also getting a pub table and two bar stools. I'm not sure the kind of TV dh has decided on but it will be big..LOL! Wet bar with mini-fridge and microwave and cabinets. Wish we had room for the pool table or that would go in it as well. This room is on the second floor with a balcony and french doors.

P.S. Hey Buzzsaw, We are getting a dart board!

We finished our house in May, but are just finishing the basement now. My dh has wanted a room just like this for years. Not shown in the picture is the dartboard and also the separate weight room. There is even a small redbull refrigerator. The only thing missing is a urinal in the bathroom (with 4 males in my house, I'm only half kidding.) My dh's favorite touch are the two wall mounted plasma tvs; one near the bar and one by the pool table.

Jo

My neighbor has a urinal in his basement bathroom. He likes the convenience, but hates the cleanup...fellas you know what I'm talking about...especially after parties.

We're doing a rec room in the next year or two, mainly for the kids, but I'll get my corner as well. Not into hunting/fishing, so that stuff is out. Will be getting a vintage pinball machine to go with two vintage pachinko machines. We are both musicians, so the guitars go on the walls, along with assorted record albums as art. Also some "man" movie art, like Terminator, Indiana Jones and the like.

Great ideas! I feel sorry for you guys who's DW's will not allow it. My compromise for this room was a room for her to do crafts and hobbies.

I thought of one more neat thing sparked by iinsic's pinball machine. There is a place by me that restores arcade games from the 80's. They go from $700-$1200. That would be neat to put one of those in there.

Keep the ideas coming.

Um, mancove 101, where is the BEER FRIDGE?

Speaking of vintage video games, have you ever looked into setting up a MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) system? This system lets you emulate most any video game on a PC. There are even emulators available to run the newer game systems (e.g. Playstation, NES, Gameboy, Apple II) on your PC. And your PC could be hooked into that big screen TV...

You download the free emulator and then IF you are 'elegible' to own the ROM (a.k.a. have a copyright license - or if you choose to ignore it), you can download about any game you can imagine from various sites. (Google ROM and MAME together). Or if you want to skip all that work, buy a system similar to the one from X-Arcade and get 190 video games on one machine.

Here is a link that might be useful: MAME Info

Our house will be too small, so the entire barn will be my mancove. I plan central heat and A/C, and a bathroom, so I can make it comfy. I can sit on a REAL tractor seat (attached to a tractor!)and watch football. I might even try to sneak in one of those vintage pin-up calendars, with the lift-up transparencies. I'm showing my age now!

Isn't it actually called a mancAve? Much more macho than 'cove'...

The problem I have with it is that it enforces the modern woman's assumption that the male of the species is a bit sub-human and deserves no input on the shared habitat [other than signing the mortgage].

But if the lady of the house insists on pink walls and floral fabric, having a space a bit less 'pwecious' might keep the testosterone from evaporating entirely.

Surely our gender, having pretty much invented civilization [mostly to get women], deserve better than plastic singing fish and urinals.

Masculine doesn't need to be juvenile. I would suggest a more evolved version: no sports jerseys unless they're signed by the pro that wore them [your own from high school are a little too 'Glory Days']. Lots of real stone [slate floor?] wood [oak wainscotting], exposed metal [steel, copper, brass], leather furniture, Gauguin prints [you know the ones], hard bound editions of Conrad and Hemingway.

Pool table is fine if its solid hardwood, but the video games might be better left for the kids playroom. Euro-mounts instead of the hairy kind [skulls are cool, and women other than Gerogia O'Keefe find them scary], Grampa's army medals [lovingly framed], any black and white photo's of male relatives [doing masuline things], nothing fuzzy or fluffy unless it once had a pulse.

Oh, and a case of Walker's Blue Label[What the heck, the kids can always get student loans...]

I keep telling my DH how lucky he is as he has TWO mancoves!

The first is actually a manCAVE. It's a 10x18 room that is all cement as in walls, floor, and ceiling with a 2ft wide full-height door opening into the basement. We actually plan to use this as sort of a "safe room" (no money just a place to go that is well protected in an emergency). We call it "the cave" and it has a chair with stool and beer holder all of which are actually rock boulders.

DH's 2nd mancove is a 22x22ft room with 12ft walls and a cathedral ceiling. This will be his trophy room for all his mounts. He's very big into hunting and has filled the local sports club with mounts as we could not fit them in our old home. Finally he will get to bring his trophies home. I expect that he will spend at least the first month staring at his trophies as he's never gotten the chance to really sit and study them. The interior of the room is sheathed with 3/4" plywood under the drywall for hanging mounts. For larger mounts he measured and added additional blocking. Eventually there will be a big screen TV and sitting area. I happy that at last I will have a living room that is not decorated in the style of "early deadhead".

As if that is not enough ... DH will have a hunting workshop and indoor archery range in the basement. And then there's the 32x28ft pole building. I'm a little concerned once we move if I'll be able to get him to leave home to go to work.

Interesting...very similar to liketolearn, we will have two mancoves, we jokingly call one the "Man Room" in our floor plan and it's actually on the second floor in what would otherwise be a large bedroom (14' x 22'). My husband is using it as a library with floor to ceiling bookcases and will have a large chair in front of huge windows overlooking the golf course we're building on. The designer has also designed a built in area for his computer and the printer/fax, etc...will be behind closet doors. A very large library table will be in the center of the room for him to spread out all his reading/study materials. He will a second mancove in the basement where he will have a work bench, utility sink, sports gear storage area, a gun safe and that's also where he'll mount his trophies, on a finished wall opposite the work bench area. Spoiled isn't he?

Well, sort of---But see I get to come in too....

Antique pool table
1/4 bathroom (@toilet and sink)
outdoor smoking area (2 friends WON'T give it up!)
shuffleboard table
1930 slot machine
bar
and instead of dead animals DH is putting in an antique motorcycle
and this......

liketolearn,
Does your DH plan on adopting a mid 30's man with his own family? His set up sounds like my dream. Your own indoor archery range-wow!

kats love the sofa!!

Great idea!

We have 4,200 sf, plus finished basement. To give you an idea of the space apportionment--she has both walk-in closets in the MBR and the spare bedroom closet. I get a corner of the laundry room closet and share my basement office with our 5,8 and 11 year olds--so I can monitor their computer use. The main floor library, which she furnished, is for display only.

My dream is two semi attached homes--one for me, the other for them. (Just colour me bachelor till mid-life crisis and missing it.) Of course, I have the red sports car all to myself!

My DH gets two mancoves -- his study upstairs which is very sophisticated with a leather sofa, chair and ottoman in a masculine plaid, built-in bookshelves for his memorabilia (Alaskan Ulu knife, float copper pieces, etc.) and a leather topped desk.

We are just starting on finishing the second mancove -- the basement. He already has a huge golf net set up there and will finish it off with a bar area, pool table, Pac Man or other arcade game, big screen TV, lots of comfy chairs and sofas, signed Red Wings jerseys on the wall and numerous Univ. of Michigan paraphernalia in the display case. I expect this to end up with a sports bar theme -- but definitely no urinal. Can't imagine cleaning that thing.

My dh has a mancove. Not only does he love it but so do I! I'm a big sports fan and love to entertain for big sporting events such as Superbowl, KY Derby, Oaks Day, March Madness etc....

Some of the obvious needs for a mancove would be big screen, deer head, bar, pool table and beer fridge.

But here are the less obvious things things that we added that we really enjoy.

1. Small tv's mounted on walls in places that don't have a direct view of the Big Screen.

2. Buzz Time gaming system w/ sports cartridge. It's like the sports games in most sports bars/BW3'S.

3. Special beer mug that only the caveman uses.

In the new home we are building my dh wants a barber chair in his mancove. Yes, a barber chair. I have no idea why but I'll be watching e-bay for a good deal.

We're finishing our basement now. I got to have a loft for my computer/sewing stuff, so he gets the basement. It will have an exercise room, a TV/media room (16x19) and a guest suite (with private bath). Off the media room is a small wet bar with sink, refrigerator and microwave. He's already wired the room for home theater. He chose the colors - dark gold with olive ceiling and accent wall.

Don't any of you people have kids?? Our four, 5-19, take up all the available spare space.

DH is a musician so his "mancove" is the bonus room over the garage and will mostly be taken up by is vast collection of guitars, amps & speakers. He'll also have a TV area and is traumatized that he will have to choose between a drum kit and a pool table. He also will have his workshop out back.

Two large areas just for him = the rest of the house is all mine!

Maybe a pirate ship?

shuffleboard table, golf simulator, cigar humidfier, kegerator, double doors (to get large furniture in/out)...

Worthy -- we had four kids five years apart in age. The last two (23 & 25) just moved out last year before we moved into the new house. They used to take up all available space and then some! Now we have the house all to ourselves and it's glorious. Time to spread out and enjoy -- mancove and all!

worthy,
I feel for you man!. You have as much closet space as I have now-LOL! That is why we are moving, we are cramped up where we live now. Yes I have 2 kids. The "Mancove" is a goal of mine for the decorations, but chances are it will turn into a place littered with toys and sippie cups of milk that have been hidden under couches until a funk overtakes the room and you get to play the seek side of "hide and seek". Trying to plan a house for what we think we will want is half the fun. When we live in it, the plans may change. I think someone once said the definition of life is: "In the middle between your past history and your plans for the future, is life or living."

gardenchick1,
You only think they are gone!-LOL wait until they move back in!!-LOL I am amazed at how many capable adults these days are still relying on their parents to feed and house them.

Don't forget my drumset--I'll never outgrow those, much to everyone's dismay.

yea, we have 2 sons both grown so for the most part the house is all ours! But...we do have g-kids and we grab claim to them whenever possible...sour sippy cups and all! LOL

my womancove will be accessable only through my bedroom closet. there will be a bookcase that opens up ...no door so my kids (ages 3 and 4) won't be able to find me. it will be soundproof. it isn't enough that i don't want them to find me, but i don't want to hear them screaming either. i'll have a mounted plasma TV, built in shelving/desk space for my computer, stereo as well as seating ...sofa, chairs and hell, maybe even a chaise. i will decorate it in pinks and lavender w/ a leopard print carpet. sort of like the inside of jeanie's bottle meets jungle habitat. it will be mine, ALL mine. dh will have a mancove as well, but i could give a sh!t what he puts in there.

kateskouros: ROTFLMAO!!!!!

kateskourous,
LMAOT!
But...don't forget the frig for the chocolate Bon-Bons and Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey!
Oh, and better put in a soaking tub just for GPs.....

kates- LMAOT!!!! You know its bad when you don't even bother to shut the bathroom door b/c the kids will open it anyways (5 girls -ages 9 (in May) to 1 yr (next week) -so I soooo can relate!!

after ROTFLMAO....back to our regularly scheduled programing...

Our Mancave is "Guyland". Most of the above with 2 critical additions. A billiard (no pocket) table in addition to the Gold Crown back in that red walled area

And - this is critical - a sauna. Which makes another 10 degree day here quite bearable.

Hey ReliabilityMan!

Ahhh, YES, we plan to have a special "ManCove" as you call it. My DH Man has collected so many huge "treasures" through the years only to have them in storage because we don't currently have enough space for ANY of it!

The house plan we are seriously considering building this summer or next spring has a large bonus space above the garage and Master Suite area. It is 24'x36' over the 3-car garage, then another 700sqft or so over the Master Suite.

Hubby wants most of this BONUS ROOM for His Space which is where he will spend his afterwork hours...but...We all will share parts of it.

HIS SPACE includes...
Seperate H/A Unit
No carpet (spills, stains, mold, allergies, asthma)
(maybe use unfinished plank floors w/ ind. sealer and RUGS)
Ceiling Fans
Half Bath w/ heavy-duty exhaust fan

OPTIONAL: Kitchenette (Counter, Cabinets, Microwave, Ref., IceMaker, Trash Compactor to smash aluminum soda cans, DW, Sink)
(He says, when we are old and disabled, we can rent this area to our live-in caretaker!)

Masculine Decor/Theme Choices: (so many choices!)
Warm, Sophisticated masculine colors, Leather, Wood
Southern Gentleman's Quarters
Wild West Saloon with Saddles for bar stool seats
Upscale Casino Decor
English Gentlman's Quarters
Fox Hunt decor
Ralph Lauren Polo Decor w/ rich plaids
Sportsman's Lodge

RECREATION ROOM:
*Antique PoolTable 4'6"x9' (needs 19'x14' space to play comfortably) *Official-size TexasHold'em Table and 6 soft leather office chairs, *Antique Slot Machine, *Pinball Machine

HOME THEATER:
One end will be the SoundProof Home Theater for everyone to enjoy. I'll be happy to get the HUGE Big Screen TV out of the GreatRoom and into HIS SPACE so he can watch it as loud as he likes until all hours every night and I can have the main house PEACEFUL and QUIET! Ahhhh, yes! :-)

EXERCISE ROOM: WEIGHT TRAINING, AEROBICS, DANCE
There is an area just right for our large pieces of exercise equipment (NordicTrack Treadmill, AbLounge, Inversion Table, BowFlex Weight Center, and a ballet bar against a mirrored wall) with a 32" wall-mount tv w/dvd&vcr combo.

I love to help friends with "decorating themes". I have SO MANY IDEAS for Masculine Decor/Theme Choices. Here are a few ideas which include Warm, Sophisticated, masculine colors, Leather, Wood, etc..:

Southern Gentleman's Quarters
Wild West Saloon with Saddles for bar stool seats
Upscale Casino Decor
English Gentlman's Quarters
Fox Hunt decor
Ralph Lauren Polo Decor w/ rich plaids
Sportsman's Lodge

Well, there you have it. Part of our "big plans" for the new house. He has a lot of other "treasures" he wants to put in HIS SPACE, but I think it will become too cluttered and eclectic. I want him to have a Special Space, but want it to be tasteful, too.

I don't have anything extra to add to the above lists, but have to say I was laughing so hard at some of the above posts. Too funny...... :o)

My husband is planning his "Men's Den" to include his 6 Million Dollar Man pinball machine, his 4-in-one Multicade with Donkey Kong, Galaga, Frogger, and Pac-Man (our 4 year old can beat anyone at Galaga, by the way), and a soon to be purchased Shuffleboard table, at the very least. He decided that the Shuffleboard will take up less room than a pool table, since it can be placed against a wall. Of course there will also be a massive TV and a beer/wine fridge. There will also be a full bath, since the space must double as a guest bedroom. The goal is to have this space open out onto the covered porch leading to the pool.

DH gets a home office with its own halfbath and separate exterior entry door (no interior door to the house). He might eventually have to use it as an office for a part time retirement career and fix it up for the occasional guest. That's why I vetoed the urinal in favor of the real toilet, as a favor to female clients. Until then, he'll put all the leftover furniture we won't have space for in the main house but that he refuses to get rid off plus everything else he wants to pack in there. Plus a desk and computer to do some actual after-hours work in.

He promised to clean it himself (uh-huh) and I'm not going in there, so he is free, free, free. Space is 11 x 12 plus the half bath.

Out back he gets his main ManCave: a 16 x 24 prefab building for his woodworking hobby. It has a workshop style heater; a window airconditioner. And he can relieve himself out behind it in the woods if he wants to avoid a trip into the house. Again, so long as a family of raccoons doesn't take up residence in there, he can put whatever he wants in there.

When they moved into their new house, my brother voluntarily moved his taxidermy collection into the big garden shed. He can sit on the lawn tractor and commune with their spirits, I suppose.

It's about freedom, man. Men. Poor guys, all the restrictions on decor and messiness in the Big House. I've encouraged DH and planned his 2 spaces to enhance his freedom and sense of control over something. I've experienced the freedom from being tidy myself in the teardown house that's still sitting on our property. It's like a hunting or fishing shack. Stroll in with muddy boots, sweep the leaves into the corners when you start to slide on them. Has a refrig. and bath. It's great!

Now that we're further along on our house, I can respond to this. We don't have any kids yet, but we will have three bedrooms so I recently had the brilliant idea to make one of them an X-box (video game) room for my husband. It will have a TV and shelves to hold all his games, a mini fridge, a small sofa, and a special 'gaming chair' he's been wanting, not to mention the best view in the house.

If/when we have a baby, this will become the baby's room and DH will have an X-box corner somewhere (or we might finish out the attic and set him up in there).

Anyway, I don't know about him, but I can't wait for him to have his own little isolated area to play these games, which are very. noisy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Visit my progress blog

No ManCave (and it should be with an A, not an O) would be complete without a house shaking stereo.

Since I'm a bachelor, my whole "estate" will be a series of Man Caves. Even though I have 8.5 acres, the county limits me to only 6,000 sq feet of out buildings. That will be a large post and beam wood shop, and a much larger steel building for automotive and scientific research.

The true Man Cave will be my underground combination home theater and audio room. I'm planning to put the big screen and some home theatre speakers on a rotating "stage" at the front of my media room. The other side will just have a nice carpet on the wall and a pair of audiophile speakers. On each side of the "stage" will be a column of 5 (count 'em 5!) twelve inch woofers. Those will be part of both the video setup and the audiophile setup.

...but first, I have to come up with the money to install the water pump and pipe for my 800 foot deep well that I just got in a few months ago.

Step by step. Man cave described above is a few years down the road. :)

jp

Hubby's Mancave (aka Monster Den):
8 deer heads (and one Euro mount)
cowhide on wall
Longhorn mount over double doors
full body bobcat mount
HUGE rock (Austin Chalk) fireplace (10 ft long)
HUGE split cedar mantle
wood ceiling
faux *leather* painted walls
tile/wood/iron
State of Texas carved from Black Galaxy granite
Pub Table
(soon) Antelope print carpet
65" TV & surround sound stereo system
ceiling fans have "antler" blade brackets
cowhide pillows

I think that pretty well covers it. Believe it or not, he sold the VERY comfy sectional (with recliners) that sat NINE for a couch and CHAISE :o I'll never understand that one!

Monica