As a kid living in Cape Town, South-Africa, I always used to love the idea of having a den-like place filled with all my favorite stuff where I can spend hours. During holidays, my friends and I used to build quite impressive (at least at that that time for us it seemed impressive) huts, shelters and shacks from whatever material we could gather among ourselves or “steal” from home.

At that time we would also gather our toys being; marbles, toy cars, action figurines etc and display it inside the den. For a touch of decor we would get some magazine cuttings and posters of Superman, Batman and Airwolf to put against the wall. Once the den was up and running two important things had to be done; first to choose a leader, and secondly determine what is the rules for entry into the “clubhouse”.

As us boys knew, the first rule was always “No Girls Allowed”. But the rules were always bendable, and not like the rules mattered anyway since we were always forced to take the den down before the evening, and return the toys and “building material” back home.

Now as an adult, the idea of having a place like that still existed and was quite exciting, but it didn’t seem affordable. Me having watched “MTV Cribs”, I have seen some spectacular Man-Caves with top of the range home entertainment systems, furniture, big boy toys etc. So I figured out that it will cost me a fortune and I haven’t given it a second thought, until one day i took a look inside my own garage. So before I tell you how I did it, please note I am not a handyman, I don’t even cut my own grass because I have a fear of “power tools”.

So to give you an idea of the space, its a standard double garage, but inside there was only space for one car. Why? Because the other half of the garage had a lot of “junk” which I kept from the time I was unmarried and living alone, it included boxes with old clothes, books, CD’s, DVD’s, tools, sporting equipment, bar chairs, camping equipment etc. It is safe to say I was a bit of a hoarder.

The reason my attention was drawn to the garage in the first place was neither by coincidence nor by my own choice. It was due to my wife being fed up with the state of the garage and thus giving me two options, either use the junk or give it away. Either way, there must be some order established in that space. So one long weekend I finally got to work and I did it by taking everything outside to the driveway, and then put it back into the garage one by one, taking inventory of it as it was done.

After I had a list of everything, i was only left to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. I then drew a rough plan of the perfect Man-Cave I want given the space and budget I had available to me (half a double garage space). In this creative time I got most of my inspiration for designs from houzz.com and the collectibles and electronics I got from thebargainbru.com from whom I also managed to score a high definition projector at a decent price (something i never thought ill be able to own), I then painted my inner wall matte white for perfect projection (I didn’t buy a screen). I even managed to add a bar using my old bookshelves, and the books i used as decor above it.

I actually managed to re-use everything that was in the garage to fill the Man-Cave that previously was in the garage. The only stuff I gave away were the clothes and some cardboard boxes I recycled. Among my old clothes I also found my old scout uniform with all badges in tact, which framed and put up against my wall. I stole that idea from a famous football player on “MTV Cribs” where he framed his first high school football jersey in his Man-Cave.

Soon after I acquired a portable Weber braai which I scored from a second hand shop in my area, and with my camping chairs it was a perfect combination. The whole project took about three days, and to this day it’s my pride and joy. Even the wife sometimes spend time there with her friends (so much for a Man-Cave). I am currently looking for a hammock, summer is on its way and its the last part of the project, who knows, maybe ill make one myself since I am in the swing of things.