Dan's man cave project - Page 3

a couple more progress pictures. We decided to go with new bar stools once we bought the pub table. They looked better than the blue chairs anyway. I think they were 40 dollars a stool so I figured it was worth it for the time being. Finishing trim this week and putting in the shelving under the big tv. Hoping to have it finished enough by this weekend to have a bar warming party.

You know it's a good bar when you have girls dancing on it.


Grandson hanging with grandpa


Pub table and chairs


New bar stools


View as you walk in from the patio

I bought the stools at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha. they were normally around 46 or 47 dollars but I bought them for around 40 apiece since I was buying 6 bar stools and 4 for the pub table. The pub table chairs are 24" and the bar chairs are listed at 30" but actually measure about 28 1/2". They actually are pretty good height, my bar height ended up being 41 1/2". My wife was complaining about the foot rest being too low but with the new chairs it comes in just about right. I think the brand name was Cramco. I did find out that the only thing worse than buying 10 bar stools is ASSEMBLING 10 bar stools. It did go better as I went along.. the first one took me about an hour I swear but by the 10th one I had it shaved down to at least 58 minutes. lol. Actually the last few were about 15 minute assembly time, the trick was starting all screws but waiting to tighten them untill all were started. I think there were about 16 screws per chair. I did partially strip one screw but got it to work. For a cheap barstool they are very comfortable. I was going for quantity rather than qualilty at this time as the budget is all but dried up. I just couldn't see still using the blue stools after all the work I had put into everything else, plus the blue stools were actually a little high and not as comfortable.

A few more updates.. The problem with building a mancave is that when it gets to the point of ''usable'' it is used more than it is worked on. Can't remember the last night I haven't sat at the bar and had a cold one. Working on trim work still and some shelves for the back bar. Also bought a popcorn machine at super target for 70 bucks and found a local store that sells the pre packaged stuff that tastes like movie theatre popcorn. The first week I think we popped around 20 bags of it. All of my neices and nephews have a new favorite uncle.

had a friend give me this sign which hangs on the stairway so everyone knows the rules before they enter.


a shot of behind the bar. I will have a sink eventually at the end.


picture of the tv viewing area opposite the bar


and a close up of the built in shelves I did under the tv



And I think this is my favorite part of the whole room. We named the bar xtra innings because of the fact I am a baseball junkie. bought a 20 dollar mirror at Lowes and had a local place do the decal for it. Looks like etched glass, I love it. Going to be building shelves around it . ( thanks heynow for the ideas)

Working on a jukebox system. Brother in law found a touch screen monitor on ebay for around 50 bucks. Working on mounting it and getting my computer hooked up with my mp3's. Pictures to follow. Can't tell you how much I'm enjoying this room and how much I need to thank everyone for great ideas and inspiration. (besides all the ideas I totally stole from everyone) Wife said at the beginning absolutely no kegerator.. but I'm thinking kegerator.. think I can sneak one in without her knowing about it?

On the bar front I've been doing some trim work so nothing new to post yet. Hoping to get shelving around the mirror done soon so will have pics. Has been a popular hangout lately for all the relatives and friends. Even started doing mixed drinks with the Woo Woo being the drink of choice. shot of vodka, shot of peach schnapps and cranberry juice. Hope to start getting some ''action'' pictures of everyone when they come over.

Thanks to everyone for the ideas. I sit at the bar in the evenings and look at how good it turned out and think that it wouldn't of been possible without all the ideas from this site.

I guess SLOW progress is still PROGRESS. Just thought I would update some things. Work has slowed during the summer, but am still doing a few things as I go. In the midst of all of the remodeling we decided to to a refi on the house to (A) get it appraised to see how it compared to the new tax valuation and (B) to hopefully be able to roll an equity line that we had into the mortgage and get a cheaper interest rate. Well glad to say that all worked out. It's nice to know sometimes that all your hard work actually pays off. I was sweating it for awhile wondering if I had just wasted my time on some of the things I did. I also took a couple weekends and painted the house and garage before we did the appraisal. I did end up getting some sweat equity in it. So on with the pictures.....

This is the house before. Faded paint and front step sinking on one corner, and old storm door.


and this is the after.. new paint. Changed the color of the garage door to accent and new lights and storm door.


Some friends from Texas that came up over Memorial Day weekend and stopped by to check out the bar.


New countertop behind bar


Sink installed..still hoooking up water and drain as you can see by the sawdust in the picture.


another shot of behind the bar. I am still working on the cabinets. I have doors that will go under the sink to hide the plumbing and will build a shelf and finish around the stereo reciever.


Now on to some of my accessories. Still working on my mini helmet collection. Trying to get all the Big Ten helmets plus all of the Husker non conference teams by football season.


College World Series mini bat signed my Jackie Bradley Jr on the final night of this years series. My future daughter in law had went to the game with her brothers and were sitting in general admission in the outfield when Jackie Bradley Sr came over and asked to sit with them. He was trying to avoid the ESPN cameras since it was the last college game for his son. After the game he took her and her brothers down to the field to have him sign whatever they wanted him to sign. Was a cool experience for them.


and what's a beer without a glass with your bar logo on it. My brother in law bought me 12 pint glasses and had them etched with the logo I had made for my mirror.


and a few pictures of a party we had over the weekend.




and last but not least.... because of the good situation with the refi the wife ended up replacing her 2001 Olds Alero with 125,000 miles with this 08 anniversary edition Implala with only 15,000 miles. I think this gives me a free pass to put anything I want in the mancave now.

The Huskies is the only non conference helmet I don't have yet. The store I buy my helmets from are out of the Washington helmet. I'm beginning to think they took it off the shelf due to bad memories of the bowl game.

I know it's been awhile since I've posted on here. College football season and parties every Saturday in the new mancave seem to take up alot of time. Judging by the beer drank and boxes hauled out I would have to say the mancave was a success. Although it is 90 percent finished I am constantly tweaking it. I am about to embark on my touchscreen jukebox and my dual tap kegerator conversion wish is the reason for resurrecting this thread. So on with the pics:

Actually although alot of people are dissapointed it wasn't too bad of a year. I do have to admit that the Wisconsin and Michigan games took a bit more beer to watch. We're still young.


Thanks. Actually I"ve always been around the Omaha area. Just can't bring myself to cheer for the Royals and I have been a Mauer and Morneau fan. We toured the new stadium last year and hope to get to a game or two. I always told people I couldn't root for a team that played in a domed stadium so when the new park was built I jumped on the bandwagon, although last year was a bit of a dissapointment.

I went back and forth on the wood floor thing, mainlytrying to justify it so I could save on some labor costs. Flooring people told me that concrete would hold condensation. I wasn't sure until my parents basement house with concrete floors started peeling up the edges on floor planks so that pretty much ruled that out. I really am glad I went with the ceramic tile in the bar area, cleans very nice. I carpeted the rest of the room to keep the sound down a bit. It gets plenty loud during parties the way it is.


I found it on Amazon. I had looked around and found the ones on the cart for about $270. This one cost me around 150 on amazon. I had enough oak laying around from the project to build the popcorn stand. It has the 8 oz kettle. We had worn out a small 4 oz kettle popper already during the summer so on the advice of Brian I went with the biggest I could get. I love it on football saturdays to be able to pop two kettles and turn on the warming light and it lasts all afternoon

I promised an update on the bar when I put in the jukebox.. Which (a) I totally stole this idea from the O'Shea thread and (b) is the best friggin thing I ever did. It's unbelievable how it draws people to it and how much fun it is for everyone. I had found a computer program that I thought i was going to use but then on the advice of many on here I went with the albumplayer. So glad I listened. So on with the pics..

The initial hole in the wall. Nothing says crazy like spending a year making a room and then taking a knife to the drywall.



and the mounting and trim





And on a side note.. since I stole the jukebox idea from Brian I thought I would post a couple pictures of some craft beer I bought when I was in Atlanta at Thanksgiving. A guy in Hampton Georgia bought an old Jailhouse and turned it into a brewery. It's called Jailhouse brewing company and the beers all have names that are police related.

Slammer Wheat.. Had a few of these when I was down there. even though they were 4 bucks a bottle.


Smokey.. some of the worse coffee tasting dark beer I've ever had but the bottle was cool.


The other two beers which for the life of me can't figure out why I didn't get them were called Community Service and Conjugal Visit.

And last but not least some party pics..

My wife, brother in law, and friend of ours trying to do some shots to forget about the Husker bowl game.




Proof that people do have a good time.


The women of Xtra Innings.. they stopped me short of calling them Hooters girls.


And lastly... the reason for having a home bar... to be surrounded by good lookin women.

thanks brian.. tried to find ya on facebook btw... you must have shut it down when you became so famous

Got a call from a local newspaper that was doing a section in the paper about mancaves. They asked if mine could be the feature of the section so they came over and did pictures and interviews on Saturday. I believe it will be out sometime at the end of January so if I have a link I will post it. I also tried to give this awesome website a plug so we'll see how that goes.