With so many people spending more time at home I decided to write about how to turn your garage into a man cave in time for Fathers Day. Some years back when our children were younger my husband and I used to have Friday night date nights on our patio. At some point we ended up migrating to our garage because there was more space. As time went on we decided to turn the garage into a man cave. Here I will give you tips on how to do this on a budget.
Use what you have to make your garage into a man cave
Furnishing should be low budget. After all, this is a man cave. Expect that beer will be spilled, food will be dropped. For ours, my sister-in-law was getting new furniture so we took her old couch and love seat. Ok, so the floral pattern isn’t so manly, but the furniture is very comfortable. We also had a friend who moved across the country so we got an old coffee table. You get the idea. No need to buy anything when you can use second hand stuff. The best part is that nothing has to match. If you aren’t so lucky to know people getting rid of furniture, you can always just use your lawn furniture or folding chairs. Although not as comfortable, they do take up less space. We also had a neighbor give us an area rug. You won’t care about spills when your stuff is used.
In case there are odors
Our garage has many unpleasant odors. For starters our cat’s litter box is out there. Then there are the gas cans and generator. Also, during the rainy season it can smell a bit mildewy. To prevent unpleasant smells, we spray Fabreeze, or at times, Lysol to kill any germs. But another important thing to have on hand is scented candles or incense.
Snack and Drink Storage for Your Garage Man Cave
Once you have a place to sit, you need a place to store snacks and beverages. When our family was larger, we put an old full size refrigerator freezer in our garage for extra food storage. Now it is used to store beer, wine, and to chill vodka. Extra freezer space is great for chilling glassware. If this isn’t an option, you can always buy a mini fridge like the kind college students use in a dorm room. Another option is to use a large cooler. We use our beach cooler for extra storage as well as for an extra end table.
Here are some sponsored links for mini fridges of different sizes with good ratings:
Entertainment for your garage man cave
Let’s face it, this is the place to hang out so you will need entertainment. Last year we bought a larger television for our living room so we migrated our old one to the garage. We also moved our old CD player/radio out here for music. And as you can see we have some old bookcases filled with Stephen King and Dean Koontz novels.
Now for some games. We would love to have a pool table, however, that is not practical. During hurricane season we have to be able to move everything out of the way to fit our cars in here. Plus a pool table is just too large to fit along with furniture. Eventually we plan on getting some old school video games like Pac Man and a foozball table. But for now we are happy to have a dart board. All you need is a little wall space and room to stand far enough back to throw the darts. This has become one of our favorite past times when getting together with neighbors. And now that our kids are older they like to play too. We also have a nice chess board that our neighbors gave us. My husband and I don’t play, but it looks nice.
Here is the brand we use for dartboards:
How to cover up the storage spaces when making your garage into a man cave
If your garage is like ours, you probably store a bunch of stuff against the walls. For example we have bikes, scooters, a peg board with tools, a bin of rags, bags of cement, old pieces of wood. Then there are the shelves of old paint, gardening tools, sandpaper, garbage bags, and boxes of cat litter. You get the idea. In order to avoid looking at this mess when entertaining we came up with 2 ideas. In the photo above we took some metal displays we had from our old craft show days and covered the back with black fabric. After that we added a series of hooks and hung our youngest child’s art work. Our second idea was to hang this scenic canvas we originally bought years ago for our patio, but never got around to hanging it.
Manly Decor
Now that you have your furnishings, entertainment, and most important- beer storage, you need some manly decor. My dad had this old Budweiser sign, and one of our neighbors gave us a bunch of beer posters to hang up. In addition, our friend Mike at Mike’s Metal Studio makes some unique manly decor. If you aren’t lucky enough to have friends and family donate to your cause, I have listed some sponsored links below. I tried to include a variety of neon, retro, and customizable.
On a practical note
We live in an area with lots of mosquitos so during the rainy season it is not practical to sit outside. Some people screen in their garages, but as I said before, we need to be able to put our cars in here in case of a hurricane. After some searching we found that you can buy removable screens on Amazon. We’ve had ours for several years now so it has a few holes in it from my cat trying to make it into a cat door, but it still keeps out the bugs.
I have included several sponsored links for screens below. The first is the one we have. It snaps in place and doesn’t separate in the fierce winds we often have here. The others are magnetic and more affordable, but we weren’t sure how well they stay in place. Of course you can check the ratings after clicking on the links. There is a link for 2 car garage, 1 car garage, and side door.
I hope this inspires you to create your own man cave or of course woman cave. I would love to hear any additional ideas in the comments.
Donna Emperador is a travel and food blogger and copywriter. Donna believes in learning about different cultures while sharing good food and cocktails. She has lived in South Florida for over 20 years and enjoys spending time exploring the road to find unique places to share with readers. She can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.