Turn Your Unfinished Basement into a Man Cave
Owning a home with a "man cave" is the dream of many! With a space to call your own, you can spend time with friends or spend time alone while you kick back and relax.
Man caves have been rising in popularity for a long time. If you're paying attention to home renovation websites, you may have noticed that homeowners have devised many creative themes for their man caves.
If your basement is sitting mostly empty or even unfinished, it could be the perfect place for your man cave. Finishing your basement can give you the space you've always desired and increase the value of your home at the same time. In this article, we'll talk about man cave theme ideas to help you get your creative juices flowing.
1. Sports Theme
Imagine a space that's created around your love of sports. There's a station for sports viewing, including elevated couches and lounge chairs made of leather.
Draped over the backs of the chairs are sports throw blankets - like the Green Bay Packers blankets you bring with you to the stadium on a cold Wisconsin day. In front of the chairs, there's a big screen for watching the game and scattered around the room, there may even be other screens for watching other games.
The walls feature built-in display cases, showing off jerseys, trophies, sports pictures, and more. In the background, there's a wet bar for serving your friends. It's the perfect place to spend an afternoon celebrating victories. Want to reinforce the "sports" theme? Install Astroturf for carpeting.
Are the Packers your team of choice? Work with your contractor to paint the walls green and yellow.
2. Modern Upscale Man Cave
Go classy with dark colors, comfortable furnishings featuring stand-out patterns, real paintings on the walls, and decorative millwork like crown moldings, wainscotting, and more. Leave some spaces for sitting and talking and other spaces for engaging in hobbies and watching movies.
Plan to work from home in your man cave? Install a hand-built desk and work with your contractor to install plenty of outlets and USB plugs for charging computers and devices.
Not sure what to do with that open space in the middle of the room? It's the perfect spot for a billiard table.
3. Arcade and Game-Themed Man Cave
If you're like many guys, you probably enjoy playing games. The arcade and game theme man cave is the game aficionados' heaven and perfect for young and old alike. When planning your game room, include space for playing video or pinball games. If you like vintage games, consider old arcade favorites like PacMan, Duck Hunt and King Kong. Or, my personal favorite, Galaga.
Be sure to include plenty of seating for friends, including a game table where you and your buddies can play card or board games together. In the corner, install a juke box.
Do you love golf? Bowling? Work with your contractor to build a nook for a golf simulator or a bowling alley. Use creative neon LED lighting to give your game room a fun ambiance, and install a wet bar to serve your friends their favorite drinks. Don't forget to include a nook for eating!
4. The Movie Buff's Man Cave
For some men, the best man cave is a simple media room with a home theater for watching your favorite movies. Ask your contractor to build in risers that allow for rows of comfortable chairs (recliners or more traditional theater chairs). Install a large flat screen toward the front of the theater, or use a projector to project the movie onto the screen.
Complete the look with movie posters inside built-in display cases as well as theater lighting, which can be raised or lowered depending on whether something is being watched. Built-in speakers create a surround-sound effect and make hearing even the subtlest movie noises easier overall. Install tables near each recliner or chair, where friends can place their drinks and popcorn while they're viewing the movie.
For a variation on this theme, consider crossing your home theater with a sports-theme room. Instead of movie posters installed in the display cases, place sports memorabilia. You can use this space for watching the game or watching movies - whatever you'd like.
5. Musician's Man Cave
Do you play multiple instruments? Turn your man cave into a music room where you can celebrate your love of playing whatever you play - whether that's guitar, drums, trumpet or something else. Have your contractor install built-in shelves or display cases for each instrument, leaving extra space for the inevitable impulse purchases coming up in the future.
Soundproofing will make your man cave complete, giving you the freedom to practice and play in your basement without bothering anyone upstairs. Have your contractor build in speakers for your sound system, and tweak the quality of the acoustics by installing acoustic panels and similar features.
One last tip: splurge on a sound-proof basement door to make the setup complete.
6. Wine Cellar and Wet Bar Combo
If you love wine and drinking, then a wine cellar and wet bar combo creates a relaxing space where you can enjoy your hobbies and interests. A basement is a perfect place for built-in wine storage because basements tend to have the right temperature, humidity and light levels. It's important to work with a contractor that has some experience creating wine cellars in the past, so ask your builder about their experience before selecting the right contractor for this project.
While you're at it, create a nook for eating and drinking, and carefully chosen lighting for ambiance. Tall tables around a wet bar help to complete the look.
Get Started by Finishing Your Basement
Unless you've got a spare room somewhere in your home, the basement makes a fantastic spot to create a man cave - provided it's finished first. If you are not a DIY kind of person, Sugar Creek Homes can help you design and finish your basement. We give FREE consultations and take care of all the details, from pulling all the required permits to ensuring the quality finish of your basement.
Excited to Create a Man Cave? Contact Sugar Creek Homes
The team at Sugar Creek Homes has finished basements around Wisconsin, and we can help you with this project as well. To get started with your basement finishing project in or around Verona, WI, call today to set up an appointment for a consultation. We can answer your questions and provide a quote for your basement finishing project.
