The Ultimate Man Cave

A Woman's home is her castle except in the man cave. More and more couples are finding it increasingly important to give a man his space to just be himself. It may be the garage or even a large shed out back, but the cave is his world and on Valentine's Day he is surely to appreciate you showing your love and support by getting him something he will truly love for the cave.

Men have their secret world where they have to bond and compete with their bros. This is the purpose of the man cave. Keep them out of trouble and where you can see them in the man cave. A good man cave will keep him home as he feels in charge again. He is king of the cave.

The photo was taken in my Husband's Man Cave

Photo Credit : Rockinpicks

A Man Cave must feel like his area. This may mean you have to give up some of the decorating control and that mounted fish head could take center stage. When my husband first said he wanted one he took over our den. Gone were the pretty curtains and out came the concert posters and his collection of Beer Mugs. I was able to make suggestions, but for it to really feel like it was his he had to make the final decisions.

Here are dozens of examples of Man Caves that anyone would be proud of.

If left up to my Husband I would have had Baseball Hats decorating the wall. I needed a plan and still needed to make him think he was in charge.

Compromising was key. The first thing we did was write down a list of things that would make him feel as if the room was all his. He listed his love of Rock N Roll, he likes fantasy movies such as Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings. My husband likes to think of himself as a Gourmet Beer Expert.

Since the room we choose for his Man Cave would be exposed to the rest of the house and not a room where I could just close the door and not look he had to be reasonable. Our friend has a Man Cave in his Garage and his wife never has to look in there. My husband had to compromise a bit while our friend did not.

I could put up with his Beer Stein collection as part of the decorations so we checked that off the list. I could put up with his large collection of Rock N Roll memoribilia. I actually like that so that became a second theme in the room. The third was his comic books and fantasy movie art collection and here is where we bumped heads.

I was not going to put up with his life size movie cut out poster of a Wookiee. I didn't even like it in the closet. After some give and take the point was brought up that my dog didn't like the life size Wookie and there was a very good chance he would pee on it. The final outcome was agreeable for both of us. The décor would reflect Rock N Roll and Gourmet Beer with just a few Star Trek items thrown in. Gone was Harry Potter's Cloak of Invisibility and the life size half Ape.

Another Masculine object my husband and I disagreed on was the deer head that he inherited from my Grandfather.

Growing up my grandparents had a deer head on their wall. Every time I visited someone had to lift me up to pet the deer. As a child I remember asking multiple times where the rest of the deer was and spend a lot of time hunting around in the room behind the wall where the deer head was hung. Nobody would honestly tell me the deer was decapitated.

My huband took great sentimental delight when the roadkill was given to him. My Sister-in-Law would not let it in her home or my brother would have been first in line. When my husband became it's new owner he wanted to hang it in my old home, but our children were young and I told him I didn't want it to upset them. I did tell him that when they got older he could hang it up. I just never thought the issue would come up again, but it did and now my children were too old to traumatize.

My oldest did object violently. It wasn't due to moral reasons. She didn't want her boyfriend to see it and someday they would have to hang it in their house.

My husband and I agreed that the real dear would stay out in the garage, but we would substitute it for something we could both live with.

This is the exact set we have and we all love it. It takes up less room than individual games. We have a separate Fuse Ball table and it doesn't get used as much as this one. With this set you can dedicate a small part of the room to gaming and concentrate on creating other areas in the room for different things.

Every Man Cave worth anything includes a poker table in one form or another. These are excellent boards that can be put away and cleaned up to make room for movie watching.

Beer Pong is sweeping the nation especially among College Students and makes a great party game. It's a twist on the old ping pong table game or the carnival game where you bounce a ping pong ball into a cup of water to win a prize. Variations of the game are popping up everywhere.

Here are the rules we use when we play. Warning, men get more and more competitive as the game goes on. This game can get you smashed if played for long periods of time. Pacing yourself is the key to winning.

The Official Rules of Beer Pong

There are two teams, Each team sets up their cups with 1/3 beer or other drink of choice. I recommend using a Beer Pong holder so they don't knock over.

Each team stands on the opposite end of the pong table and bounces the ball down the table. You can set your rules as you wish with one or two bounces to get into the cups. The rules vary with the game. You set the rules at the beginning of the game.

If a member or your team gets the ball into the opposite's team's cup one of the team members must drink. Then it is the turn of the other team. The longer you play the funnier it gets.

Each time you get a ball in a cup that cup is taken out of circulation. The winning team is the team to clear all the cups of the opposite team first. Then you fill up again.

Leave a group of men alone with a Beer pong table and they will stay entertained for hours. Something about the competition and beer just make the game irresistable.

At first I thought this Man Cave was way too over done, but they pan back at the end and it's really cool.

Enjoy your beers and don't worry about keeping score with this electronic dart board. It will do it for you.