Wednesday, June 2, 2010

"Man caves," "Manlands," "Manchuaries"

Every man’s home is his castle…you would not know it most of the time when flipping through the remodeling magazines at the check out counter or the home shows on HG TV. Here at Clawson Architects, in our Residential Design Studio we have noticed a surge in the Man Cave requests: A space where the King gets his say, the final say in one particular area of the home…no compromises…just what the Man Wants.

The requests have included:

A room to be designed around an inherited Snooker Table being shipped in from England.
Outdoor Living Spaces with deluxe outdoor kitchens and Grills.
Outdoor fire pits and fire places.

New Garage Additon built into hillside with room above.
Outdoor patio grill and fireplace.

Humidors and smoking rooms.
Wine Cellars.
Cabinets for Scotch Collections
And libraries.

Bars
Workout Rooms where former NFL player can use an elliptical without hitting his head
(Structural Engineers called in to re-frame area in existing Basement)
Big TVs, Really Big TV’s with surround sound and Really, Really Big TV’s/home theaters.
Decks with hot tubs and endless pool…and amazing views of Manhattan
(not sure about this one, client was a single guy, so more like the ultimate Bachelors Pad than a Man Cave.) http://www.endlesspools.com/endlesspool/index.html

Garages with:
Private office above
Hydraulic lifts for sports car over luxury sedan
Temperature control for collectors’ car
Basket Ball hoop attached in the traditional way but with Lighted Court
Indoor Basketball court…for the kids …wink wink.

This Garage with Room/Private office above also has a Hydrolic car lift to
create room for that sports car to be parked above the everyday ride.

And there are the homes with private docks for the floating Man Cave.

There are lots of themed rooms mostly around teams that now include stadium chairs from demolished stadiums...most are finding that this is not as comfortable as the Lazy Boy www.la-z-boy.com/

#1 request is simply a urinal in the house
…some guys are just easy or maybe they have given up…to them I say, "take control and seek help". There are websites now dedicated to the Man Cave with toys galore… http://www.theman-cavestore.com/
Some of the toys could get you into trouble i.e. …I would avoid the stripper pole especially if you get the Kegerator unless you have a good lawyer and think you will get to keep the castle for yourself if it all ends.

2 comments:

  1. I love this post!! I just went to the Mansion in May tour and the "Man Cave" aka Humidor/Smoking room was the most popular. Design one for me please. Get the caveman out of the woman-house!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Today's NY Times Home Section talks more about "bat caves" lowering cars instead of lifting them. Visit www.Vasari-lifts.com

    ReplyDelete