Man Cave/Vintage Lounge - Thoughts, anyone? (Heavy with photos)

[Roving_Bohemian]

So my wife and I will be building our house from scratch in a year or two and she's agreed to let me have ONE room I can decorate/furnish ENTIRELY as I want, rather than according to her taste...

Anyway, I want it to be modeled and decorated to feel like a place a tired detective (like Dick Tracy, for example)

would go to unwind:

hang up his fedora, put his gun on the table,

play some good soft music (like David C. Williams' "The Meaning of Love") sip a drink, and relax...
(soft light & dark wood help a lot to get that ambient)

I have some of the furniture, like a red leather wing-back love-seat:
this color but stretched for two

And I'm thinking an overall feeling like this room (Not just "vintage" but classy)

with just a hint of "Little Bohemia"

and a wall like this

to separate the main room from a vintage weapons room.

But I want suggestions from everyone else, and please, include photos of your suggestion!
(they don't have to be your photos, just something that portrays your idea)
Thank you!

 

[Roving_Bohemian]

No suggestions? I suppose it's only been a few days....

 

[PADDY]

Cocktail Cabinet.

 

[hatophile]

What you have so far looks great to me. Maybe some animal heads on the wall would be good.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

In order to go truly vintage, you need to have a screen door that shuts using a large spring to get the great wham sound when it shuts. Obviously the rooms above don't need a screen door though.

The leather chairs are good, but many older places I've been used the old Windsor wooden chairs. Buy more than you need because you'll eventually break a few leaning back in them to spit at the spitoon.

Later

 

[randooch]

Hat racks and a billiards table.

 

[O2BSwank]

Any room should cater to your interests. I would have a comfortable reading area, a conversation area with perhaps a screening area. Extensive bookshelves and display cases. Artwork. A cocktail cabinet or an actual small bar. A fireplace goes without saying. You are a very lucky guy. I'm hoping to carve a little space of my own at my house, which won't be easy.

 

[Lexybeast]

Chesterfield sofa...

... and a whisky cabinet like this guy's.

 

[RRButka]

Very Nice!

 

[rue]

If you're going to have a wall of books, don't forget the library ladder...

 

[Connery]

What will the dimensions of the room be?

 

[m0nk]

I don't have any pics to share, just a couple of thoughts:

As a former antique/collectible book dealer, if you go with the wall of books and a fireplace, you need to be sure that the fireplace has a completely sealed front hatch, or else use cheap books to fill the shelves. Older books, especially leather-bound ones, will dry out and get damaged over time with an open fireplace nearby; especially if the flue isn't cleaned regularly. And if you do go with the older or leather-bound books, don't smoke in the room... pipe, cigars, or otherwise also damages the books and they'll start to smell like it, too. There are some cheaper quality books that might get the same effect, though. Anything published by The Franklin Library can be found on the 'bay (or at least that used to be a popular hotspot).

I also like the bookshelf/hidden door idea. I've been saying to my wife for years that what I need is a secret passage or room. And as with any man-cave, the bar is a MUST. For the vintage appeal, I'd also go with plenty of Scotch whisky and Irish wiskey, as well as some choice gin products, along the wall behind the bar.

But I really like the look you're going for. Wish I had some space to do the same. :eusa_clap

 

[dnjan]

Since I assume you won't have a butler to take care of things, you should probably make sure there is a wet bar (hidden behind paneling?) so you don't have to take your dirty glasses all the way to the kitchen.

 

[Rathdown]

Sorry, no pics; for some reason I am blocked from posting them. I have three refuges to which I can retire: my home office (in the basement), the library, and the media room-- all squeezed into a house that dates from the 1820s. I spend the most time in my office which is equipped with an oak roll-top desk, a 42" circular oak table that will expand to 69", 5 matching oak chairs, four book cases, an "Elizabethan" oak trestle table, three comfy desk chairs, an adjoining full bath, and... a twenty foot indoor pistol range (if I stand with my back to the wall and face the faux Elizabethan table).

I have an air extractor which helps with the occasional smoke from a cigar and the "smell" of fulminate and gun powder when I plink in the office. There's a cheap "Persian" carpet on the floor, a dog bed next to my desk and a hat rack in the corner.

It is, all things considered, an okay place to work when I don't have to go into the studio or my office in town.

 

[GreatWhiteHunter]

Animal Heads. The more the better. You can never have too many animal heads on the wall.

 

[Rathdown]

Animal Heads. The more the better. You can never have too many animal heads on the wall.

Only one trophy on the wall in my office, a Corsican Ram that I shot at the YO Ranch about thirty years ago.

 

[Roving_Bohemian]

well, I had some more pics to show of the reversible billiards/cartographers table I chose, but my computer crashed and I lost the pics...
Here's one of the cabinets I thought of...

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I really am hoping for a thread of photos, similar to the "showcase" threads but specifically ideas for my Man-cave/Lounge.

I know my overall PLAN is good, but I want suggestions of specific furnishings... like a painting/cabinet/carpet/fireplace/desk/bar/etc that you think would go nicely in such a lounge.

If you have an idea that's a "variation" of the same item, by all means, post it! All suggestions welcome, I have two years to plan and once it's done it's done, so I want it perfect before I start building... Even if someone posts say, another sofa, that's OK, because I want as many ideas as possible!

Edit-- My wife now claims it's 10x12, but originally we agreed to (and by the time we build will probably be back to) a full size room, with an additional 8 feet of hidden space for my weapons room
[that hopefully looks like this one... but classier]

The main part will be close to this room in size

 

[Shangas]

Like another member said, we don't know the size of the room.

But if it's a big one, perhaps you might have space for one of those antique partners' desks?

These things are monsters of the cabinetmaker's art. The reason they're this big is so that two men could use it at the same time (one at each end), hence the name 'partners' desk'. Even if you don't have your loyal sidekick detective or clue-chaser with you, the extra storage and desk-space could come in handy.

Alternatively, if you wanted something a bit more compact, you might like a slant-top desk (also called a bureau):

...or maybe a Secretary desk?

...or a rolltop?

I think certainly, you should have a bentwood tree. Here's mine:

 

[Connery]

A smoking jacket would be nice.

 

[rue]

A smoking jacket would be nice.

Orson Welles would be nice too ... hubba hubba