First, congrats on deciding to build or upgrade your man cave! My goal for this article is to help make the planning process feel more manageable. I will do this by giving you 7 concrete steps to follow. I have also made a tool that can help you make and keep track of your budget.
To plan a man cave, you need to break it down into concrete steps. The seven steps you need to follow are: understand what (the room and budget) you are working with, choose a theme or design, figure out the elements/decorations to go with your chosen design, figure out your man cave’s layout, create a to-do list, create an order checklist of what needs to get done, and then finally put the plan to action.
Why Is Planning Important?
The planning phase of building a man cave is a time when you have all kinds of ideas bouncing around in your head. When building my man cave, I felt like the sky was the limit. I had so many ideas bouncing around that I had a hard time deciding and having a clear direction.
Planning out your man cave step by step can help you make decisions and have a man cave that is an authentic representation of you and what you want. Without planning, your man cave might just feel like a room with a bunch of crap in it. My way of planning helped me enjoy the man cave planning and building process as well as the result.
If you are a person that normally just likes to go with the flow, I hear you. That is normally how I am too. But by using this strategy to plan your man cave, you will probably enjoy the process more, you will likely be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor more quickly, and your partner will be more likely to buy in because they see how serious you are. The building of a man cave is more than just another silly project!
Step 1: Understand What (the Room and Budget) You Are Working With:
When planning your man cave, the first step is to understand what you are working with.
How Much Room Do You Have To Work With?
I suggest you start by looking at your room itself. The size of your man cave can have a huge impact on its design.
If you do not have as much space, then you will not have as much room to physically put stuff. So naturally, you will probably spend money on decoration and design. Similarly, with a smaller room, you can likely save money on flooring costs!
In a previous article, I talked about the specific things to consider while designing a man cave in a smaller room. I want you to have a specific number of usable square footage for the room you are choosing to build your man cave.
This number is important to remember because it will help you plan out the different things you can include in your room. What good is a man cave if it is hopelessly cluttered… Not super enjoyable…
Set Your Budget Requirements:
When I built my man cave, I made the mistake of not setting a clear budget. I think this was because of my go with the flow mentality. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think that is the best way to do it.
I think setting a budget is an important piece of this first step. You don’t need to have an itemized budget yet. I have a tool that I made to help you do that. What I am suggesting is to have an idea of a number to start with. It’s okay if that number changes throughout these steps. It probably will, unless you are psychic or something. But starting somewhere and having a concrete number is a great idea.
Is the Room Finished? Does Any Work Need To Be Done?
The last thing you need to consider when figuring out what you are working with is the state of the room you are converting to a man cave. The condition of your room will drastically change the planning process.
For my man cave, I needed to insulate walls, drywall and put down flooring. So you can bet that there were all kinds of things I needed to do before I could even start thinking about painting and adding my personal touches to the room.
If you are converting something like a spare bedroom, there probably won’t be much work you need to do. Even if you don’t need to completely redo the room, this is the time you can think about things you would like to upgrade like flooring or wiring.
I want you to think of this part of step one as taking inventory of the room itself. There will be no better time than now to make these improvements. So write this stuff down and add it to your to-do list (which we will talk about in step 5).
Step 2: Choose a Design:
Like I have mentioned in an earlier article, this is the part of the planning process that I am least interested in. Just because it’s my least favorite part does not mean it is any less important.
There are two different ways you can decide to go here. Do you want to have a themed man cave or do you want to have a man cave that is more general and focuses on displaying your authentic personality? Choose which you like better.
Do You Want to Use A Theme?
At the end of the day, if you make the decision, it’s what is right for you. If you are like me, you are probably going to want some examples to get you planning brain started.
A themed man cave is one that is held together by a type of idea or… well… theme. Some of the more common themes you will see are sports or sports bar. Some other themes I have seen are a movie theater themed man cave, sci-fi/super nerd man cave, or a music lounge man cave. All are cool options if they jive with who you are as a person.
Or Do You Want To Go With A Style?
When I say styles, I am talking about some of the more popular interior design styles. The three that are the most popular for man caves are rustic, industrial, and contemporary. I won’t go in-depth with these styles because I have already written an article on how to build an industrial man cave and an article on how to build a contemporary man cave.
At a glance, the rustic design uses a lot of natural woods in its design. Think of a log cabin, that is the perfect example of rustic design. Industrial interior design uses a lot of raw woods and metals together. It tries to display the parts of a room that would normally be hidden. Think of a warehouse, that’s a good representation of industrial design. Contemporary design focuses on the room itself. It’s all about edges, textures, and colors. Less is more here, the focus is on the room, not it’s decorations. A good example is to think of a luxurious, modern-looking living room. The one that comes to mind for me is Harvey Specter’s apartment is USA’s show Suits.
What Colors Will Work Best?
When building a themed man cave, there are no exact rules. If it looks good, it’ll work just fine. When going for a more traditional, style inspired, man cave colors matter a little more. If you want a more in-depth look at this idea of colors, I have written an article on this topic.
Long story short, look for the colors that are appealing to you. If you are planning on an industrial or rustic styled man cave, take a look at the different colors of the natural and earthy color palette. You will want to look at whites, greys, blacks, and browns. Other colors will work, but these are the most common colors for rustic and industrial design.
For a contemporary man cave, the colors that will work best are sands, greens, and blues. Another common practice in contemporary design is using an accent wall. If you are planning on using an accent wall, it is a good idea to use a darker color and put it on the same wall as your TV.
Another option for you is to ask what others think about colors. My strategy is to pick out a few options I like, and then get input from others. That way if I don’t like it, I can always just blame them… 😊
Step 3: Choose Elements To Go With Your Chosen Design:
What Flooring Are You Going To Use?
Now that you have chosen the design you are going with, what are you going to use for flooring? This is an important thing to ask because it impacts both our budget and how the room looks.
There are all kinds of flooring options to choose from. In this article, I go over the best options available to you.
As far as appearances go, the two most popular options are wall to wall carpet and hardwood/ laminate wood flooring. If you want to do something a little different, it could be interesting to do tile. But at the end of the day, look at the theme or style you are going with, and choose the flooring that will go best that.
The other consideration with flooring is its price. If you need new flooring, this can take up a substantial chunk of your budget. I ended up going with laminate flooring for my man cave. I was able to install it myself, and I saved a substantial amount of money. Wall to wall carpet is another pretty good budget option, but it is a harder DIY project. If you want exact prices, check out my earlier article.
What Furniture Will You Want?
Take a second and picture your future man cave. With the design you chose, what are you picturing in it? Are you picturing a bar? A huge projector? All kinds of your collections on the wall?
I want you to write down what you are picturing in your man cave. Everything. Even those side tables in the corner. By writing this stuff down, you are beginning to create a list of things you want to see in your man cave.
Depending on the theme or style you chose, you will have different types of furniture styles. If you are going for contemporary space, you will be using less furniture. Don’t just close your eyes and pick blindly. Furniture is an important aspect of your man cave, both budget, and style-wise.
How Are You Planning On Showing Your Personality?
I mentioned this a little bit, but the decorations you choose for you man cave say a lot about you. Your man cave is where you can feel safe. You should be surrounding yourself with things that show your authentic self.
The best way to show your authentic self is with the colors, furniture, and decorations you choose. I have written a lot about my strategies for including my personality in my man cave. If you want to read more about how to do that, take a look at my full article.
To get you started, think about the things you enjoy doing or collecting. That is where you want to start. I don’t care if you hunt, golf, love craft beer, collect coins, or knit. Whatever you enjoy, that’s what should be proudly displayed in your man cave. For me, I have my collection of shot glasses and golf balls being proudly displayed. Check out those two articles if you want to see the best ways I’ve found to display these things.
Step 4: Figure Out Your Room Layout:
All right, you are well on your way. By now, you have figured out a rough budget, you’ve picked a theme/design, and you have decided what type of furniture you are planning to include to execute your design. Now we need to plan out your Room’s layout.
This is the step where you are going to want to start getting your ideas down on paper. Don’t be afraid to get a rough sketch going. It was so much easier for me to plan by looking at a rough picture. If I could draw it, you are going to just fine.
How Are You Planning To Entertain?
You have an awesome plan for the feel of your room, and a rough idea of the furniture you want, but how are you planning on entertaining people? For a lot of people, the propose of their man cave is to do just that.
Are You Planning On A TV Or Projector?
One of the most common ways to entertain people is with a TV or a projector. These don’t need to be the only way you entertain but don’t forget to add one of them onto your list.
Like I mention in a previous article, there are pros and cons to each. Both mean you need to set up your room in a certain way. If you are planning to entertain with a projector, you are going to need to play with what wall the projector is on, where your seating is (a projectors view angle can range from 30 to 45 degrees), and where the most foot traffic will be going (DOWN IN FRONT!).
If you are going to use a TV, you are probably going to figure out where you want to mount it, how far back to have your seating, and wherein the room people will be able to see it from. Remember, TVs have a smaller view angle (15 to 25 degrees), so seating can’t be as spread out.
The distance your seating needs to be away from your screen depending on the size of your TV’s or projector’s screen.
Are You Planning To Gather Around Something Else?
You don’t need to only rely on a TV or projector to entertain, there are all kinds of other things like a pool table, dartboard, a bar, or another type of tabletop.
These things come with there own requirements for layout and space. The most space is needed for a pool table. There are all kinds of factors that go into it. For a quick reference table a look at the table I included in my previous article. Those things need way more room than you might think!
A dartboard, bar, or tabletop don’t require as much room as a pool table, but you are still going to want to be mindful of space. With a bar or tabletop, you are going to want to give people enough space to sit comfortably and give enough space for people to move by.
The same rules apply for other games like darts, foosball, or ping pong. You need to allow enough space in your man cave for these games. If you don’t, your man cave will feel cramped and uncomfortable. That’s exactly the opposite feeling we want.
Look at that sketch you’ve put together. How is it coming along? Before you move to the next step, I want you to make sure you have all your furniture and ways of entertainment drawn on paper. We don’t want to forget anything.
Step 5: Create a To-Do List:
What DIY Projects Are You Going To Tackle?
Now it’s time to make a to-do list. As you probably have already guessed, this is when we break down all the different things we need to do. The first part of this is figuring out what DIY projects we want to do. This is totally up to you. Some people are comfortable with their hands, but others aren’t so much.
The major DIY projects I decided to do were the installations of my man cave’s insulation (I built it from scratch), building a bar/island combo, installing laminate flooring and installing trim. The more DIY projects you take on, the more you save and the further your budget will go.
For each DIY project, you decide to tackle, figure out what materials you are going to need to build it. For buying my bar, I needed to figure out a cut list. For the laminate flooring, I needed to figure out how much laminate wood I needed, and I needed to buy the padding/insulation that goes under it. Get this materials list onto paper. By having one big materials list, you will make it easier on yourself when you are factoring this stuff into your budget.
What Are the Things You Need To Buy?
With any project, you are going to need to buy a lot of stuff. Sometimes, it can be kind of funny looking at the wide range of things on our buy list.
We already know we plan on buying that stuff on our materials list, but don’t forget the other things in your man cave. When I was building my man cave, I had a hard time getting a list together and making a budget out of it.
I figured I couldn’t have been the only one with this problem so I decided I would try to help others. I took the time to make a Google Spreadsheet that is ready for you to input your buy list, and it will automatically organize it for you into an easy to look at the budget sheet. It will also automatically do the math for you when figuring out flooring costs by the square foot.
If this is something you are interested in, I would be more than happy to send you the link to the spreadsheet. If you fill out this form, I will get that to you asap. I hope it helps you as much as it helps me when planning.
Recheck Budget:
However you are keeping a budget now, it is going to be a good time in this planning process to see how you are doing on your budget. I am guessing yours is different than the original budget you gave yourself. If you are coming in under budget, that’s awesome. If you are over budget, you are going to have some choices to make.
If your current buy list is over budget, it may be worth looking at some ways of saving money. If you are interested in this, take a look at this article I have written. If you are okay with adjusting your original budget, that is totally okay to do as well. By this point, you should have a good idea of a ballpark number
Step 6: Create An Ordered Checklist Of What Needs To Be Done:
If you have been following along this whole way, you have done some awesome planning. You are probably getting excited about how real and attainable your man cave is. You are almost done with the planning process. One of the last phases of planning is creating an ordered checklist of the projects and tasks that need to be completed.
What Projects Need To Be Done First?
So now that we have a plan of what we are adding to our man cave and the projects we are DIYing, we need to prioritize what order to tackle these tasks.
If you are building your man cave from scratch, this whole order thing is super important. You would be surprised how many steps there are. First, you need to have wires run, you will want to talk to the guys that are going to be installing your heat register for the room (they may have a certain time in the process they want to come in), then insulation installed, then drywall, wire outlets installed, then trim, then a bar installation if that’s in your plans, then paint the walls, then floor installation… the list goes on.
If you are converting your room, it’s not as bad. The big things are as follows. If you are planning on redoing your flooring, that is the best time to paint your walls. That way you don’t need to worry about your new floors. Not all DIY bars are the same, but mine is anchored directly into the floor. If that is your plan too, you are going to want to install your floor AFTER your bar is built and installed.
Go ahead and write down all the tasks that you will need to do during this build process. If you can, order them. This will give you some direction and a plan for tackling this overwhelming list.
What Needs To Be Bought First?
There is no rule that you need to buy everything on your buy list at the very beginning. A lot of times this build process takes a while, so it may make sense to wait on buying unneeded stuff until the very end. If you are planning to build your own bar, you are probably going to want those materials at the beginning of the process. But if you are planning on building your own coffee table, those materials may be able to wait.
Same goes for furniture/ decorations. Unless you are desperate, wait to buy those things. If you buy everything at the very beginning, you’re going to be low on space to work in. Unless you have endless amounts of space… In that case, I’m jealous.
On the other hand, it will be a good idea to buy flooring materials and paints upfront. My suggestion would be to look at the ordered to-do list we talked about. It would be a good idea to buy the materials you need to do the first chunk of tasks. I think breaking the list into thirds is a manageable breakdown.
When Do the Professionals Need To Be Called?
Like I have mentioned already, certain tasks need to be done while building a man cave that is better left to the professionals. Something that is often overlooked is the fact that we need to make sure we get each professional to our man cave at the right time.
If we get the electrician to our man cave and everything is already finished but he needs to run a bunch of wire…. Well… His job just got a whole lot harder, and probably a whole lot more expensive for us. If you are converting a room, you probably don’t need to worry too much. The wire has already been run, so an electrician worth his salt should be all set.
Things get more important when building from scratch. Like I mentioned earlier, there can be a lot of professionals we are juggling all at once. First to need to have your wires run by an electrician, then you will want to talk to the guys that are going to be installing your heat register for the room, then if you are having someone install insulation they come in, then drywall guys, then the electrician again to wire outlets, and then it’s the floor installation guys’ turn. Even this list is assuming you do a good amount of work.
If you have questions about the ordering of professionals, or how I did it, let me know. I would love to help any way I can.
Step 7: Start Hacking Away At That List! (the Hands-On Fun Part):
The final step of this planning process is putting all that planning into action. All the hard and painful stuff is done. Now you can enjoy the process of seeing your man cave come together. Order the first third of your buy list, and start at the very beginning of your ordered checklist.
Final Thoughts:
Like I said before, I am excited for you because this is an awesome place to be, the very beginning of an exciting project. Planning this project can seem overwhelming. It can help to break it down into steps: understand what you are working with, choose a design, figure out the elements to go with your chosen design, figure out your layout, create a to-do list, create an order checklist of what needs to get done, and then finally put the plan to action.
I want to help people like you during this planning process, so I have made a Google Spreadsheet that can help you plan out and make a budget. If you are interested in it, let me know, and I will get it to you.
