From Rustic To Royal, Man Caves Find A Niche In Newtown

By Nancy K. Crevier

“Man cave” conjures up an image of a dank, dim space filled with shadows, a creeping chill, and a lone, bearskin-clad oaf huddled over a flickering fire. But in today’s world, the only accuracy in that vision is the lone soul — as in alone, but not lonely.

The “man cave” of today has come a long way, baby. Rarely is it sequestered deep in the woods, and it is not even the woodshop of our grandfathers’ days. Today’s hideaway for men may be rustic or high-tech, but its chief component is comfort.

Privacy is also a huge issue for cave dwellers, a few of whom agreed to share the secrets of their hidden grottos by first name only.

Bill, 27, has abandoned the man cave he built around himself while living in Newtown, but has high hopes for reestablishing a similar environment in his new home in Milford. It is a vital part of his living space, and has been for some time, he said.

“I had a man cave when I was living in Virginia, too,” said Bill.

For him, there are some essential qualifications that must be met within a man cave. “Everything has to be within arm’s reach; that’s key,” he said. “You don’t want to have to ever move once you’re settled in. There must be immediate access to every form of media, and everything must be going at the same time.” Tongue in cheek, he added, “If it means consulting an engineer, so be it.”

A retreat of some kind is necessary when living in shared quarters, he explained. A bachelor, Bill said that his man cave can spread out, but he paused to consider life for his married brethren: “As you progress through life, maybe you’re delegated less space. I don’t know,” he mulled. What he does know is that a place to kick back and wallow in sensory overload is the ultimate in personal space.

Katie O’Day’s

On the far other end of the man cave spectrum is that created by Brian; he has built an entire Irish pub in his basement. “Katie O’Day’s Irish Pub” was two years in the making, the accidental offspring of a replaced furnace.

When he bought the house six or seven years ago, said Brian, he anticipated putting in a nice workshop in the basement one day to noodle around in. “Then we found out that we had to replace the furnace. Well, we ended up with an extra flue out of that. So we thought it would be nice to fix up the basement area and have a place for our four kids to play, but then we would want to heat it,” he explained. It was shades of the children’s book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie after that. If you put in heat, a wood stove would be nice. If you can put in a wood stove, why not put in a fireplace? If you have a fireplace, of course, you can build a pub around that…. “It kind of took on a life of its own,” admitted Brian, who in his travels overseas for his firm had come to love the whole idea of a pub.

Visitors enter Katie O’Day’s through sliding glass doors that lock, a necessity with children in the house, he said. The walls that are not covered in old clinker bricks reclaimed from a Danbury company, are covered in oak paneling. The floor is made of American chestnut recovered from an old barn in upstate New York — “Man proof,” declared Brian. “You can spill on them and never have to worry.”

A ten-foot, fully stocked bar (thanks to his many friends, said Brian) is backed by a large mirror that reflects the five taps and hides one of two flat-screen televisions in the pub. If he becomes bored with the seasonal offerings of the taps, he can reach behind the bar to an undercounter refrigerator and select from a worldwide variety of other ales, beers, and porters, or select one of many wines stored in a controlled environment in another underbar cooler. There is an icemaker for chilled drinks and a dishwasher keeps the etched “Katie O’Day’s” glassware sparkling clean. For those who prefer their Bailey’s or Kahlua with coffee, a single-serving coffee maker is ready to brew the perfect cup.

But wait. There’s more.

While Brian loves his alone time at night in the pub when the kids have been tucked in and his wife is getting ready for the next day, he is more than happy to open his “cave” to family and friends at other times. Friends can sprawl on the couch, feet up, in front of the second television and enjoy a Blu-ray DVD (selected from the closet full of “man movies” like Deadliest Catch or The Matrix series) or a high definition sports game with surround sound, or just sit around the authentic Irish pub table that Brian has owned since his bachelor days. The more the merrier when Brian is not decompressing on his own, and there is always room for friends on the triple-seat antique folding pew chairs, on a cushy stools bellied up to the bar, or sunk into one of the other comfy chairs gathered around the fireplace.

A great way to chill after a long day at work, said Brian, is tossing soft-tip darts at the electronic dart board, a fun way he also passes time with his older children, Robbie, Thomas, and Ellie. “Four-month-old Kirsten is not up to it yet,” he joked. The bar is also equipped with a reproduction antique foosball table, a computer game system, and a touch-screen digital juke box with more than 38,000 songs on it.

But the high-tech goodies do not overwhelm the low-tech feel of the pub. “I wanted it to look like everything had been here a hundred years,” Brian said. The wood on the paneling and bars is lightly distressed, the floor boards are antique, and antique bar trays line the wall. Instead of baseboard heating, Brian opted for working radiators for the “old look.”

Katie O’Day’s has taken on a life of its own beyond the boundaries of the basement, too, said Brian. The pub sponsors a softball team in Brookfield, complete with its own jerseys, T-shirts, and baseball caps. Katie O’Day’s was also a sponsor of the 2008 Newtown Road Race.

“It’s turned out to be a great place to gather,” said Brian, but what he best loves about it is knowing he has a place to be alone when he needs to be. “It’s a place to read, finish my work, watch sports, and just wind down. When I decompress, it’s nice to close the doors, turn down the lights, and get away. It’s where I hide.”

A ‘Redneck Shack’

Cliff proudly pronounces his getaway “a true redneck shack.” The moment he laid eyes on the shed 20 years ago when he and his family moved to Newtown from Florida, he knew he could make something of it.

What was initially just a small tool shed has grown over the years to accommodate his interests, said Cliff. “First, I built on a chicken coop and kept chickens for a few years. Then I thought it would be kind of nice if I had power out there, so I have power now, a phone, water, cable TV, a microwave, and a refrigerator,” he said. A satellite dish, just for his cave, is installed on the property a few feet from the outbuilding.

With the easy chair and all of his paraphernalia taking over the shed, he then had to add on another section to store the tools. Next, he decided a porch would be a good idea, and built that onto the little cabin in the woods.

The porch accommodates a rustic workbench where he can “piddle around,” said Cliff, lots of his Florida Gator souvenirs, as well as a small television conveniently located so that while he is slow cooking some barbeque on the grill, or sitting at the nearby picnic table, he can keep up on his sports shows.

His most recent and final, he says, addition was for the golf cart he bought for tooling around his property.

Surrounded by all of his fishing and sports gear, yet more Gators pennants and keepsakes, and kicked back in his chair, Cliff said that his cave offers him a place to wind down and watch his games. “I’m a big sports guy, so this give me some privacy,” said Cliff. “I go out there weekends mostly, and while when we have a party, all of the guys want to come out to the cabin to hang out, it’s really mostly a space for me and my dog.”

A space heater allows him to use his cave year around, except on the very coldest days. “I really am out there more in the summer months, because I do have AC. I always had a tree fort as a kid. Maybe that’s what started it all,” he mused. “It’s just a good place to go to when I want to relax and get away from it all.”

A Work In Progress

Rob’s man cave is a work in progress. But he has a good excuse. First, he had to build the entire building. Now that the exterior work is done, he will soon move on to completing the interior.

“So far, I’ve laid a brick floor inside,” said Rob. Next will come the pool table, flat screen television, stereo system, and a bar.

The building lies just a short distance behind his house, but it will serve not only as a place for the local firefighter to hang his fire department memorabilia, but as a good alternative to putting the pool table in the house.

“It’s more of a place for the guys to come over and talk about whatever, and the nice thing, too,” said Rob, “is that it keeps some of the traffic out of the house when we entertain. I’ll probably spend more time out here hanging out with friends than I’ll ever have time to spend here alone, but it’s nice to have a place to hide and relax and just forget about the worries of the day.”

It is not just the men of Newtown who are hunkered down in their private haunts. If the Do-It-Yourself Network is any indication, man caves are a nationwide phenomenon. To view past episodes featuring man caves, visit diynetwork.com. The website also features projects vital to any man cave builder: how to hang a flat screen television; how to make a storage bench; how to hang acoustic wall panels (essential for keeping noise in and out); how to build a trophy case, how to install wainscoting; how to install an exhaust vent (for that smoking lounge); and even a tutorial on putting up a punching bag.

Or just close the door, hang out a shingle, and call it “Cave, sweet cave.”

Whether it is a nook in a room or a kingdom unto itself, a man cave serves the purpose of allowing free expression and a place to kick back and make no excuses. And the modern man cave is more apt to have a bearskin rug than a bearskin-clad occupant.