Wednesday, February 11, 2009

To The Man Cave, Cave Man!

A couple of weeks ago I was watching TV when a commercial for the DIY Network came on. The DIY Network stands for the Do It Yourself Network, which is kind of like HGTV. They show programming to the viewers about how to perform home remodeling themselves. The commercial that came on was for a show called Man Caves. My curiosity was instantly piqued. I want to have a man cave I thought to myself. I did a search on the Internet and found this.

As I've been thinking about man caves for the last couple of weeks, I've come to realize that the concept of the man cave isn't new. The website for Man Caves states: "Every guy needs a space to call his own… a sanctuary where boys can be boys, where life essentials include a wet bar, a poker table and a place to watch the game with the fellas." Batman has the Bat Cave and Superman has his Fortress of Solitude. ESPN Zone's are large public man caves.

Heck, even my dad had a man cave. I think most of our dad's did. Usually it was an old couch sitting across from an old TV where they could watch the game, or the den, or garage. My dad didn't call it a man cave. It was the shed he built in the back yard where he and his friends would hang out. I remember he put in a wood stove and a dart board. I think he convinced my mom it would be an extra storage space for all of the things that had accumulated in the garage in order for her to let him build it. Even as I type this, I realize that my grandpa has a place where he goes to be alone too. My grandma even calls it "the cave". It has his computer and I helped him set up a little black & white TV over Thanksgiving.

Today man caves are much more sophisticated and modern. They have big screen TVs, bars, and pool tables. Still the concept is the same. It's a place where a man can get away and hang out with the boys. Women don't seem to understand the man cave concept. Women will call each other up on the phone or get together for dinner in order to bond. Men need an event like watching a game, or playing golf, or poker, or going fishing. A man cave provides that type of environment to do those things.

I'm still in the process of designing my ultimate man cave. I'll show my design in my next post. Until then, I figured I would post some pictures of man caves that are already in existence.

I like that you can see the screen from the bar.

The pool table is a nice touch.

What's better than one projection screen? Two projection screens.

1 comment:

Sandy Brunson said...

I think women do get the concept. For us it might be deemed a "craft room." But I think my favorite was this caption from the website you linked to..."taking back the world, one man cave at a time." Nice.