We have a mancave makeover in progress! Hurray!!! 

Well, to be precise…we’ve never had a mancave in our home so we’re doing a basement makeover and creating a mancave for Russ. When it comes to our home, my husband has pretty much given me free reign to DIY, design and decorate as I please. We call it my life sized doll house. As you know, it’s kind of my thing, what I love to do and it’s still a work in progress with lots to be done but last summer, we started cleaning out the basement and it was time to start planning a space just for him. 500+ square feet all dedicated to him, his hobbies and his likes. He’s a home brewer so the mancave will include a bar for entertaining and because he enjoys football season, a living room area with enormous television…I’d call that a mancave, right?

I want him to make the decisions on this space but I appreciate that he includes me in his decision making and asks my opinion. See my Pinterest Board of Mancave Inspiration here. 

Our basement is two parts. 1 part old 1927 below the original house with ceilings so low he has to duck his head and 1 part newer addition – we’re guessing sometime in the early 1990s. The overflowing storage of junk had reached our puke point. We had a yard sale last summer. He tore down a wall that separated the space. Here are some before photos when the wall was removed and the junk was heading out the door…

We’ve been here going on 12 years and never really did anything with the space other than he ripped up some nasty carpet when we moved in and we did have a wood burner for a while before insulating our home and new windows. But mostly, it just sat collecting junk, dirt and dust. It often also served as a workshop for DIY projects upstairs so lots of sawdust too! 

The duct work that sits head-hitting low for his 6’3″ height will be encased in cabinetry. More details on why coming up later!

Once we got it empty, he patched, primed and painted walls.

He really liked the sage green walls we used to have in our kitchen and I really like gray so we decided on a gray-green. He used Benjamin Moore Aura paint color matched  – Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray.

Then we started the search for flooring. We had our local Shaw Floors dealer stop by to determine which floor covering suited our space best. Frank from our local Shaw dealer, A&S Carpet recommended engineered hardwood for our basement. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 for what we chose and installation!