An Editorial by Scott Girvan
The Man Cave. The Dood Den. The.....well you get the idea. There has been much said about our spaces and places. Good and the bad. Our buddies love them, our wives think they need cleaning up, our kids marvel at them, our wives think they need cleaning up. For me the Man Cave is a constant work in progress and from dwelling to dwelling, an evolution.
Grandpa, tell me bout the good old days
As a teen living at home it was a coffee table in the reck room. A snap kit, tube glue and go. Good times. I still remember it like it was yesterday. Funny how that works. I can't seem to remember yesterday. Just sitting in the middle of everynight chaos and building a model.
A place to call my own.
The first house. In the far nether regions of the floorplan lied a long, narrow closet. Measuring 3.5' x 7' it wasn't of much domestic envy and therefore was quickly conquered and transformed into a plastic paradise. Granted with a narrow width it was tight but I had enough room for a work surface, shelves, storage and a few posters. I rigged some poor lighting, overloading a power strip and basked in the glory of my first man cave. My arsenal of tools were quite limited. Knives, sandpaper, glue, cheap brushes and limited paint reserves. That was about it. But that was all I needed.
A move.
House 2 came along and with it another cave. A spare room that apparently was an afterthought to the builder. No insulation. No heat. No modeling in the winter. But in the warm months, man! I was able to expand my kingdom. Bigger table, bigger shelves - a DIY spray booth. Compressor and airbrush. A lot of Tamiya paint from eBay. A Dremel. The good life. Garage sale furniture or cheap DIY stuff. I preferred it that way. Still do.
A move. The SequelWatch the video tour
House 3 is the current one. The cave (as seen in the Xwing builds) was in the basement. Nice and cool in the summer, warm in the winter. It was a bit of a downsize from the previous but I made it all mine. This time I knew we (family unit) were here to stay for a while so I went to town and attached everything to the walls. Computer, spray booth, shelves, custom tool racks. Old furniture claimed for the kingdom. More gadgets monthly. This time around I managed to finish a build. Horray! But there was still something missing. I hadn't yet achieved the dream. The dream of semi-detached.
Renovations.
So a plan was hatched to build a garage and renovate the kitchen. Excellent. New kitchen for you my love and wha'dya think about a loft? It took a summer but by September '09 renovations were complete and I packed up the dungeon and moved into the turret. 760 square feet of man cave. Sanctuary! Tons of space for everything and then some. Vented spray booth, lots of counter top work surface, room for a photo booth, tools, stash. More than I ever imagined. Sure it's a work in progress but whenever I get a chance to get up there I arrange stuff and work at it. It's almost a model itself.
One thing I've learned is that even with more space there isn't really a 'better' modeling experience. The build is the build. Every cave starts out as a room. We make it into the cave. It's ours. Custom. Tailored. Made to order. We invent furniture. We design tools. We build a space that fits what we need on the budget we have. Sure I had a budget for the renovation but no budget for cave contents. Still inventing stuff, repurposing old furniture and checking out yard sales.
Funny thing is even with the loft I still drag tools and plastic down to the kitchen table to work. It's great to have a cave but sometimes I still like to just sit in the middle of everynight chaos and build a model.
Watch for a video tour of the loft Man Cave in an upcoming episode of SMA.
So tell us about your mancave this week on SMA!
Related Topic:
Show us your Mancave!Mancave Stash CountGlues in your Stash...Mancave DecorHigh Price Mancave ToyzFrom Mancave to Dreamcave!Workbench Inventory
