Before I even start this article, I want to be clear that this article is NOT suggesting you go and do all of your own wiring. Unless you are a trained electrician, there are a lot of building codes and rules you need to abide by. It is important to hire someone who knows what they are doing to wire your man cave.
This article is to make you aware of the different options and elements that are out there. There are plenty of options that do not require an electrition!
There are options for hiding wires behind your TV, USB outlets for phone chargers, HDMI outlets to easily connect to your TV, and much more. If you have an idea of how you want to set up your man cave, take a second and explore what is out there. These wiring ideas will help you maximize your space.
Like I have already mentioned, it is not a smart idea for you to do your own wiring. Leave that to the professionals. However, find the components you want them to use, and your electrician will love you for it. Not only are you making their job easier, you know exactly what you can expect. Here are some interesting wiring ideas that you should consider to add an extra level of customization to your man cave. But before we get into it…
Keep the Future In Mind:
You are in the early stages of planning the wiring for your man cave. This is a time that I loved. There is something about figuring out what you need, how to do it, and what options are out there. This article will give you specific ideas. But first, I want to make something clear.
This is your time to let your imagination run wild. Sure, you could just have a handful of ordinary outlets. Would it work? Yes. But why stop there when you could add so much more to your man cave.
Instead of thinking of wiring your man cave as something that needs to get done, you would do well to instead think of it as an opportunity to add even more of yourself into the room.
Take a moment to think of what you want your man cave to look like. By this point in your planning, you should have an idea of where your TV is going to be and how the man cave will be laid out. There are a few questions I want you to ask yourself:
- What may the future hold for your man cave?
- Do you want to be able to hook up your laptop to the TV?
- Do you want an easy place to charge a phone on the couch or around the bar?
- Is there a chance you will want to set up a surround sound system?
It’s okay if you don’t have everything you want in your man cave yet. But let’s be honest, getting someone in to do wiring is a pain and its expensive. So in a perfect world, we only want to need to go through this one time. To save yourself future headaches, have the wiring you think you will want in the future done now. You are bringing your electrician in, so you may-as-well give him a list of things you want to be done all at once. Your electrician will thank you… with a cheaper bill.
Components To Consider And What They Add:
Strategic HDMI:
One thing worth considering is if you want the ability to hook up to your TV. If you do not take the time to figure this out now, you will probably find yourself running an ugly HDMI cord from your TV all the way to your couch or your bar. There is an easier and better way.
When your electrician comes in, he is already going to be running wires all over the place for outlets and whatever else. If you think you will want the flexibility of connecting to your TV, go ahead and grab an HDMI outlet. The outlets themselves are pretty inexpensive. A long enough HDMI cord may cost upwards of thirty dollars.
Your electrician will be able to run the HDMI cord from an outlet behind your TV, behind your drywall, and connect it to your HDMI outlet by your bar or couch. Doing this means when you plug into the outlet, you will be wired right into your TV (after you connect it to your TV of course).
If you want to be able to do work from your bar, have that HDMI cord right under or above the bar. I personally feel the flexibility this adds to your man cave is 100% worth it.
Clean Up Behind Your TV:
As you start looking at larger flatscreen TVs, it becomes more and more important to mount them on the wall instead of having them in/on an entertainment center. Mounting them can be great, but it can leave a mess of cords. It doesn’t feel like much at first, but those cable boxes, gaming systems, and modems can add up!
I have seen people with all kinds of cords running out their entertainment center, up the wall, and into the back of their mounted TV. There is another way to do this. In my man cave, I used two components that allow you to feed all those nasty cords to the TV from the entertainment center behind your drywall.
After installing these, I can’t imagine doing anything different. The components are only a few dollars apiece, don’t require any wiring know-how and are totally worth it. The best part is, when installed properly, no one will even know these components (let alone the cords) are there!
This suggestion is one of the easiest to use. Some of the other components require wiring/extra cables. What you see is what you get with these, and what they do for you is unreplaceable.
Strategic Phone Chargers:
Instead of loading your man cave up with traditional three-pronged sockets, consider adding in a component that has one three-pronged socket, and a few USB ports. This is just another way to add some flexibility to your space.
Nowadays, it feels that everyone is lost if they do not have their phone. Until all phones are capable of wireless charging, we all have a use for USB ports. Since you already have your man cave planned out, sprinkle them around.
Figure out where people are going to be most often. They may be gathered around the bar, sitting on the couch, or around a dartboard/pool table. I am always forgetting my brick, but I always have the cord itself. Having outlets with USB ports on them can just help your man cave feel cleaner and less cluttered.
You were probably already going to be putting an outlet here, and it only costs a couple of extra dollars. There is a little extra work for your electrician but it is totally worth it. I am having a hard time figuring out why someone WOULDN’T want a couple of these.
Other Things To Consider:
Anyone can add extension cords/surge protectors to a room to add outlets. But this takes away from what you want people to be looking at, You want their focus on your man cave and the things in it. Wall outlets look much cleaner.
I would urge you to not worry about having too many outlets. I would much rather pay a little extra to future-proof my man cave than wish I had done more.
When placing your outlets, ask for your electrition’s input! If you have an idea what your room is going to look like (as we discussed earlier) your electrician can help you decide where to place them. If you can, find places that are out of the way/hidden.
You may also want to consider having an outlet with an ethernet connection. Sometimes when I am doing work in my man cave(at the bar of course), I wish I could hardwire my laptop for a better connection. If you are like me and enjoy doing work in your environment, I would suggest having an ethernet outlet in a spot you plan on setting up shop in the future.
There are a few other steps you will need to take here if you want to do this right. If you are interested in ways to modernize your man cave further and continue to future proof it, check this article out.
Until next time,