Wednesday, April 2, 2014

One Room Challenge - Week One


Follow this One Room Challenge from its launch on April 2, 2014 to the reveal on May 7, 2014, as I transform our former family room into a Chinoiserie Man Cave. Click on the links for each post, updated weekly, and thanks for stopping by.

One Room Challenge - Week One
One Room Challenge - Week Two
One Room Challenge - Week Three
One Room Challenge - Week Four
The Beni Ourain and The Man Cave
One Room Challenge - Week Five
One Room Challenge - Sneak Peek
One Room Challenge - Week Six - The Chinoiserie Man Cave Reveal
Fabulous Friday Finds - Special One Room Challenge Edition
A Passion for Detail: The Chinoiserie Man Cave

Chinoiserie Man Cave Mentions -
blue i style
The Portuguese Prepster
Suburban Bitches
Marquin Designs

Welcome everyone and thanks so much for visiting here today for the launch of this edition of the One Room Challenge.

For those of you new to the One Room Challenge, it was the brainchild of the lovely and talented Linda of Calling It Home. In this semi-annual event that has become the rage of the blogosphere, Linda chooses twenty interior designers and interior design bloggers to remake a room in 6 weeks. Here are the participants. Quite a great group, as you can see. Thanks so much Linda for inviting me.


A big thank you also to the incredibly talented Jennifer of The Pink Pagoda for the graphics such as the banner and buttons she creates for the ORC. Speaking of buttons, if you are new to my blog or to this event, the ORC buttons in my sidebar have links to my previous One Room Challenge rooms - my laundry room, powder room, and kitchen. This week my new button will be added for this One Room Challenge.

The Chinoiserie Man Cave

As you have figured out from my inspiration board, I have chosen to do a Chinoiserie Man Cave for my husband. The room is now a frumpy and forgotten family room. Since my daughter has her own apartment and this room is now used exclusively by my husband to watch TV and read, I decided this would be a great choice for a remake. A masculine room for him with no pink!

Here is the room as it looks today. Not horrible, but sort of drab and dull.







In reading up on the Man Cave, I found a couple of quotes I had to share with you -

From the Urban Dictionary -

A room, space, corner or area of a dwelling that is specifically reserved for a male person to be in a solitary condition, away from the rest of the household in order to work, play, involve himself in certain hobbies, activities without interuption. This area is usually decorated by the male that uses it without interferance from any female influence.

Reread this - I kid you not - this "dictionary" has "interruption" and "interference" misspelled.

And from Wikipedia -

While a wife may have substantial authority over a whole house in terms of design and decoration, she generally has no say about what gets "mounted on the walls" of a man's personal space.[8] Since it may be accepted that a woman has input on the decoration of the rest of the house, a man cave or man space is in some sense a reaction to feminine domestic power.[8]

Man caves have multiple purposes: they are a place to be alone, to be away from women and from female sensibilities, to indulge in hobbies, and to hang out with male friends. It is, loosely, a male-only space to retreat to watch sports matches,[9] or play video games.[10][6] According to psychiatrist and author Scott Haltzman, it is important for a man to have a place to call his own, referring to a male area to which to retreat. Some psychologists claim that a man cave can provide refuge from stressful surroundings and be beneficial to marriage.[1] Rules are relaxed; it is a place where other people's sensibilities about standards of cleanliness are not necessarily observed; as one man said, "You spill a beer there or leave a hamburger overnight, who cares?"[2]

Who writes this total garbage?

At any rate, my husband will not be decorating this himself, nor spilling beer, nor leaving hamburgers overnight.

But he will be getting an elegant masculine space that is functional and user friendly where he can relax and do his own thing within civilized limits. ;-)

His Must Haves -

1. A flat screen TV
2. A bar
3. Comfortable seating
4. Exercise equipment
5. Books
6. A large coffee table
7. Good lighting

My Ideas on Cool Things for the Room -
1. A Beni Ourain rug
2. Modern art
3. A gallery wall
4. A sputnik chandelier
5. Vintage pieces
6. African influence
7. Greek key
8. Masculine Chinoiserie

My goal for this week is to choose my color palette and especially my paint color. This room will be quite a departure for me as I am leaning towards a very masculine color scheme with none of my go-to colors. But this will be a great opportunity to show how well Chinoiserie mixes with modern, mid century, and a more masculine look.

Here are some photos I have collected for inspiration for the man cave. Please excuse the lack of attribution on some mystery ones from my files -



House and Home - Christine Ralph


House Beautiful - Kate and Andy Spade

House Beautiful - Mark D. Sikes

Shelterness

Albert Hadley

via La Dolce Vita

Fine Little Day



Lonny

Lonny

Lonny

Now please go check out what my fellow One Room Challengers have in store -

Chinoiserie Chic - that's me



34 comments:

  1. I love the clean lines and masculine vibe here.

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  2. My word that is a fabulous pile of inspiration- LOVE LOVE the direction you are headed in!!!

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  3. Fun quotes! This is going to be one amazing man cave.

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  4. As always I love your rooms! This one will be just as fab as the others!! Love, love, love all your inspiration!

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  5. Loved seeing the "official" definitions of man cave! Love the direction you are going, your hubby will get a fabulous space that meets all of his manly needs, the perfect storm!

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  6. Your sweet hubby will love his "Man Cave!" How funny are those definitions?! Your inspirational images are amazing, and I cannot wait to follow along!

    XOXO,
    The Glam Pad

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  7. What a great plan! I can't wait to see it all come together. I have a feeling it will be so fab you will start spending time in there as well. :)

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  8. I can't wait to see you do masculine! This is going to be awesome! Good luck Beth!

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  9. Love love love the direction you are taking this room! What a fun space to makeover.

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  10. This is going to be beautiful! Can't wait to see the results!
    -Shelley

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  11. Love a good man cave! You have some good vibes going on here. Can't wait to see what happens!

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  12. Beth, your inspiration is killer and despite the definitions I think he's a lucky guy to have you directing the plan! :)

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  13. Yes! This will be fantastic. And you're right, all that talk about the man cave is garbage.

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  14. Hmmm. Interesting info on "the man cave." My husband has never had a space of his own in any of our houses and against all odds seems quite well adjusted. This room is going to be incredible and will be such fun to watch come together!

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  15. I love all your inspiration photos. The room has such great potential!! Judging from your laundry room I think this will be an amazing transformation as well

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  16. In the style of the definitions: This will be a funn and mannnley space, I'm shure.

    To date my husband of almost 39 years hasn't had a space of his own and I've had the rest of the house. I am, however, working on an office, den, dressing room combo for him and creating a small steam shower out of his bathroom which will probably become his "office" in allergy season.

    Love your mix of light and dark. It's nice to see Mr. CC get a room that's all about him.

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  17. I had to decorate my husband's man APARTMENT - which is our entire basement. I am supposedly not allowed down there without an appointment. He specifically didn't want any of my usual crazy touches around. No Foo dogs or tchotchkes of any kind. I snuck in an incredible Chinese credenza from Century Furniture. He was dubious but I put a map picture of the state of Michigan over it. Did I tell you that the themes had to include University of Michigan stuff and golf?

    I know you will do some gorgeous and manly stuff. The inspirations are fabulous!

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  18. Hubba Hubba Beth....I am gonna love this space for real. I have a whole board on Pinterest with great black, cream and tan spaces! Bring it on!

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  19. I love your research. Your husband is very lucky. I won't be sharing this with my husband because he will have unattainable ideas...like his own space. Is that huge bed for Izzy? She needs a masculine version for this room.

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  20. I am excited to see how the modern mixes with the chinoiserie! I love your plan; several of your inspiration photos are favorites of mine. :)

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  21. I'm so excited to follow along! I'm sure this room will turn out fabulous!

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  22. The wikipedia quotes cracks me up. I love your plans and inspirations. Looking forward to see progress next week!

    Jessie
    www.mixandchic.com

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  23. How exciting. This will be a stretch and a departure from your "pretty" style. Looking forward to seeing you bring this to life!

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  24. Man cave?! Can I have this as my lady-cave??? Please? I can already tell this room is right up my alley. Love it!

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  25. So excited to see how it comes together. Love your taste!
    - Linda, ny

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  26. I am extremely excited to see you go masculine, Beth! What a great space to work with. Loving the elements so far.

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  27. Beth I see where you are going and love it! My only concern is that you may want to interfere or possibly trespass in your guy's Man Cave!

    xoxo
    Karena
    2014 Artists Series

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  28. I'm already loving it! Is it just me or is there a Hemingway vibe happening?

    Barbara

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  29. What a great departure from your usual color lanes while staying true to your wheelhouse. Man??? I would adore this cave for me - the zeebs had me at hello. You are giving me some great inspo for my man. I owe him a little sans pink love in some part of the house. Yet again, another testament to the universality of Chinoiserie!

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  30. Your inspiration pictures are to die for. Forget man cave, I'd love to have any one of those rooms. I'm looking forward to seeing your room.

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  31. like whoa. can i hang out there? that is going to be ridic!!!

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  32. Wow, now that's a lucky man. I agree with others that I would love your plan for me!! Can't wait to see it unfold~

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  33. Oh! This will be fun! Lol! Hubby may even keep up with me on this one!




    Http://www.perfectpieceinteriors.com

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