The Man Cave

Does the guy in your life have a "man cave"? You know, that sacred spot he's carved out for himself in your home, the one outfitted with the ugly recliner he can't live without and the other dubious furnishings you've banned from the rest of the house? Yeah, I know. Well, this post is in honor of our guys on Father's Day.

All righty then... let's just get right to it. Men are not your "typical" decorators. (At least the ones I know!) They don't care about window treatments, paint colors or nice accessories. But if you give them a little of their own turf.... they will come up with decorating ideas galore. These "manctuaries" come in all shapes, sizes and themes. The one thing they all have in common is tons of testosterone.

I personally have trouble understanding why the XY's in our lives need their own space to watch sports and drink beer or whatever it is they do in there. And I certainly don't understand why the "bro-zone" should be where the wagon wheel coffee table goes to die; after all, isn't that what craigslist is for? (I'm just sayin'!) I really think they ought to pitch the threadbare recliner and put the collection of baseball caps or hockey jerseys in the attic. Call me crazy, but clothing is meant to be put on the body, not hung on a wall... right?

(I must confess that somewhere, deep down, I secretly like the idea that men can perform all the Cro-Magnon like offensive behaviors in there and come out when they want to rejoin the civilized, 21st century. I'm a walking, talking contradiction...)

To keep it all straight, these retreats aren't ordinary recreation rooms. Au contraire. These are rooms that fall strictly under the jurisdiction of the man of the house. In other words, NO GIRLS ALLOWED! But not all man caves are created equal. They cover a huge range of themes and styles. But they all span the ingenious depths of drinking, debauchery and self-indulgence. And some include such man-tastic features that you will have to see them to believe them.

Let's start with with this hockey themed man cave. Not too bad. Huh?

How about a little virtual golf?

Or for the Harley enthusiast...

Or the NASCAR fan.

This is a little bit crazy... looks like some kind of militia weapons cache.

Or his own personal temple packed with his favorite junk. ( I mean treasures.)

There always seems to be room for just one more piece of memorabilia… or maybe not.

And now for a couple of man caves gone terribly wrong...

I have no words, no words what-so-ever...

I can practically smell this one from here... eesh!

Now, if us girls had anything to do with it, the man cave would probably look something like this...

Or this...

Or even this.

I do think men get nervous when we get involved.

I think that they think we'll want to join them in there if it's not repulsive, stinky and uber masculine.

After all, that would defeat the whole purpose... yeah guys, we get it.

Man caves are so popular now; they even have their own TV show, cleverly called "Man Caves" on the DIY channel. The Man Caves team has renovated and built some spectacular caves and any guy would drool at the prospect of getting this team into their basement or garage. Check it out here.

The bottom line... you fellas aren't cave men. You’re just guys who haven’t shaved in three days. Now, go wash off your Pleistocene funk, turn off the football game, step away from the kegorator and for heaven's sake, stop grunting.

Does the guy in your life have a dedicated space of his own? I'd love to hear all about it!

Oh, and Happy Father's Day!!!