Mark Baker and The Man Cave in the garage of his home. Photo/George Novak
Mark Baker and The Man Cave in the garage of his home. Photo/George Novak
Adam Dromgool is scared to add up how much his man cave cost, but thinks it's about $100,000.
The Matapihi painter had wanted a man cave for as long as he could remember - his dad has always had one - and with his wife's encouragement he decided to build his dream room.
The 30-year-old father of two considered adding a second level to his house but kept looking at his backyard.
"I thought, 'I got all this land out here. Why don't I build something new?'" he said. The end result is a new standalone man cave approaching the size of the Dromgools' house.
"It's 76 square metres," says Adam. "My house is only 85."
It includes a 70-inch smart TV that can be hooked up to an iPad, and seven speakers in the walls and ceiling "to get the whole place pumping".
Adam told a mate he had bought an 84-inch TV to fuel a long-running banter about TV size, and says the revelation of the TV's true size could cause him grief.
In the TV area, there are comfy blue sofas, a heat pump, and framed photos of Adam's and wife Margaret's sons, Kace, 2, and Tait, 3, while the centre of the room is taken up with a dart-board and restored pool table Adam bought off TradeMe and later discovered came from the Tokoroa Tavern.
"I was stoked when they told me that. My old man was brought up there. I'm sure he would've played a few games on it. There would've been a few broken noses around that thing, I'd say."
Next to the pool table is a bar, toilet and office ("future-proofing," says Adam), while a second TV is recessed into the bar wall so "if you're playing pool, you can watch the Warriors".
A signed Warriors shirt and carved Warriors emblem take pride of place, Adam explaining they are his team of choice because he doesn't really like rugby.
Adam Dromgool in his Man Cave. Photo/John Borren
"I'm more of a league fan and the old 80-minute rollercoaster you're on every week, that's probably the main reason I like them. They give you a heart attack every week."
The second TV also serves another purpose: "We can watch the horse racing while the kids are watching cartoons. It's the best of both worlds. We do our $1 bets."
Margaret, a preschool teacher, says she uses the man cave almost as much as Adam. "It's pretty neat and it's ideal with little ones because you can't go out."
Creating the man cave has taken "a lot of late, late nights" and Adam is doing the finishing touches on the bar with his dad.
A concrete bench-top and a $1000 bar fridge with lights are already in place, but they plan to add schist and railway sleepers to give the bar a rustic feeling.
Bottles of Waikato line the fridge shelves, and Adam recently held a small thank-you party for his tradie mates.
He put on pork roast, buns and salad but Adam expects friends to bring their own beers and has installed a $1 coin slot in the pool table. "I'm not paying for all of this," he says.
The walls throughout his man cave are white and pristine (bar one dart hole, for which Adam blames his wife), and although he initially envisioned hosting lots of big parties, he's starting to change his tune.
Now I've done it, I don't want other people coming down and wrecking it
Mark Baker got a sign for his 40th birthday a couple of weeks ago.
It stands on his driveway, one arrow pointing to "The Man Cave" and the other to "Baker St".
The Man Cave is his garage and Baker St is the Matua home Mark shares with wife Helen and children Ashleigh and Jack.
The Man Cave belongs to Mark but Helen spends most nights watching TV out there with her husband. The Baker kids were away when 48 Hours visited, but Helen says they also get lots of use from the Man Cave.
"Jack, our little one, is absolutely taken with pool. He's getting to the point now, he's wanting to play every adult that comes around."
A wooden cover on the pool table also bears the Man Cave logo, which Mark designed, the cover doubling as a buffet table.
The interior of Mark Baker's Man Cave. Photo/George Novak
The Bakers say they are always hosting gatherings - some planned, others spontaneous (those are often on a Wednesday night) - and their biggest party saw "north of 100 people" crammed into the Man Cave watching a three-piece band.
The interior is classic home pub, and Mark's and Helen's vehicles don't get a look in the double garage. Instead, the space is given over to the pool table, bar leaners, stools and chairs.
There is also a rocket-like heater, two TVs, dart-board and shiny new pizza oven. A stereo, DVD player and Sky box sit in a custom-built pillar, the two TVs on different walls ensuring nobody misses anything on big game nights.
Sports memorabilia is big, including a signed portrait of new PGA tour winner Danny Lee from 2008. There is also a life-size signed cutout of Richie McCaw and another of the Immortals - an All Blacks side featuring the likes of Sean Fitzpatrick and Sir John Kirwan.
It is autographed by Colin Meads and, as with the McCaw photo, belonged to Mark's dad, who passed away recently.
The Bay of Plenty Steamers are represented too, as is a map of Ireland, where Helen comes from, while a set of Man Cave rules hang on the fridge.
No Chick Flicks, Selective Hearing Only, Belch Freely and My Team Wins are among the exhortations.
The Bakers began renting the house five or six years ago, inheriting a drinking area in the garage from their landlords.
Everything was kind of an ode-to-alcohol shrine. Now it's a bit more focussed on the entertainment rather than just being a booze bar.
After buying the house this year, the Bakers got rid of the landlords' collection of empty bourbon bottles and other drinking kit, and although a Lion Red light still hangs above the pool table, Mark, a business development manager at Vodafone, says he and Helen want the place to be a more positive environment for their kids.
After a past studying hotel management and waiting on the Queen when he worked at Government House (she told him he was a "very nice young man"), Mark no longer uses the Man Cave for smoking, either.
He gave that up on St Patrick's Day and won Sportsperson of the Year at Matua Bar for his prowess in golf, bowls, darts and pool.
The trophy hangs in the Man Cave.
HARDWARE stores are reporting a jump in the number of people wanting supplies to create man caves and "she sheds", their female counterparts.
Bunnings Mount Maunganui says more people are converting the garage into bars or DIY and hobby spaces. "They're lining it out for warmth," says store manager Jim McCall. "They're certainly carpeting it too."
Among those renovating homes, Jim says there is a trend towards adding space for man caves and she sheds, while others are purpose building standalone structures.
She sheds, Jim says (speaking from personal experience) tend to have a different focus. "My man cave is mainly taken up with my 'wife cave' things," he says.
