Manspace

While the major work on our home remodel of last summer is complete, a number of small jobs remain. We just got our closet in, and when the weather allows our patio will be poured, we need some new furniture, and we also have to paint. But one job in particular is especially near and dear to me, the creation of my Manspace.

With my previous home office now our dining room, and our teenage daughter now out of the basement and in her new room upstairs with the rest of us, it is the basement which is now mine to claim. It’s a mess at the moment. Last week’s burst water pipe was a setback to progress on my manspace. But I have a vision.

It will have to be a multi-function room serving as a home office, library (for books, dvds and cds), den, pub (w/dartboard), and club. It’s a tall order for any basement with a cold concrete floor, but work has begun. To get the dark club-like feeling I’m after, I’ve painted the ceiling black, while the walls are dark blue with some black mottling texture to them. It’s a sloppy paint job, dark and sloppy. The bookcases are in and already providing a welcome consolidated home for our humble library. Putting them on blocks proved prescient (remember, water pipe burst last week), so for once my preparation for the worst serves me well (remember, hard disk crash last week).

I found a great book for inspiration from the efforts of other men and the special spaces they’ve created, Manspace, A Primal Guide to Marking Your Territory by Sam Martin is full of great garages, home pubs, amazing collection displays, and manly hangouts. And I’m not alone in my desire to create my manspace, as indicated by the below story from last Sunday’s Washington Post.

Stay tuned for progress reports. And don’t think I’m a chauvinist or anything like that, women will be welcome in my manspace… I just have to find the right accessory first 😉

Man, What a Setup
The Washington Post, 2/10/07