Mancave Collection

Mancave Room Layout

About The Mancave

The Mancave was officially made in 2009, and it has gone through many changes. Before my parents decided to create the room, me and my twin brother Cade had reached the point in our progressive muscle disease where we struggled to walk. 2009 was the year I was confined to a power wheelchair, and as our LEGO collection resided on the second floor of our house (our favorite hobby at the time), change was needed. Options we discussed included installing an elevator in our house to get upstairs, or converting a room into a new LEGO space. Of course, the elevator option was much more expensive, and the unused second garage of our house was the perfect place to convert. Let's just say it was a difficult process, but my family members and others were determined to make it work. Designed to be a "LEGO room" for us at 9 years old, it was built solely for the purpose of having fun. And the room has been just that and more, and I can't even fathom the amount of time I've spent in the Mancave. Throughout the past 11 years, the room has not only held an extensive LEGO collection, but become a video game space, a place to watch TV, a place to enjoy a popcorn machine, mini fridge with drinks, and a jelly bean machine, a place to 3D print, and a place to do homework. I have many great memories of playing video games and watching movies with friends, building LEGOs, playing with my brother in the first years of the Mancave, and having many fun conversations in the last few years. I am very thankful that the Mancave even exists, and for the time and effort my family and many others put into making it a reality.

Picture of most of the mancave — The Mancave. This picture shows my desk, the LEGO display shelves, and the 3D printer.

Contents of The Mancave

The ceiling, which is painted blue with white highlights. It has been this way for the Mancave's whole lifetime so it would look like a cloudy sky.

One of the Mancave's walls with a Star Wars
poster setup

The walls are a more neutral color and have posters on them, and until last year one of the walls had wallpaper of a tropical beach scene on it. The back wall, which is still a garage door, is covered with a blue curtain to hide the garage appearance.

The curtain covering the back wall of the
Mancave

My Desk, which is where I do my online homework and make videos (a hobby that I occasionally do). Eventually I plan to get a desktop computer, since the laptop isn't very powerful.

My desk in the Mancave

The LEGO collection, which is the reason for the Mancave even existing. The display shelves, storage boxes, sorting containers, and LEGOs all around the room are all part of the collection. It is covered in detail on the Collection page.

Some of the Mancave's LEGO shelves

The Video Game collection, which has grown and migrated into the Mancave in recent years. It's also covered on the Collection page.

The Mancave set up for a gaming session

The TV, which is a 60-inch that makes movie nights and video games so much better. I have an Apple TV and a Nintendo Switch hooked up to it, and it's in a perfect spot on top of the storage shelves between the windows.

The Mancave's large TV

The mini fridge, which the 9-year-old me thought was very important for a good Mancave. The fridge has been great to have in the room for all 11 years, and I use it to store soda, Gatorade, and other cold drinks. Of course, it has been properly decorated.

The mini refrigerator of the Mancave

The 3D Printer, which was gifted to me and my brother a few years ago. My brother Cade is the one who knows how to use it and installed the software on his computer, and we have made some cool things. The 3D printer is also a great talking point with friends, and this lightsaber hilt is just one of the things we've printed.

The 3D Printer of the Mancave

A lightsaber hilt created by the 3D printer

How The Mancave Was Made

The creation process of the Mancave in 2009 was a large project requiring hard work from many people. Since the room was being made with wheelchair accessibility in mind, there would have to be a path from the house directly to the small garage the Mancave would be in, with a wall separating the two garages. To do this, my family and others removed a portion of the bathroom wall, as a bathroom was the closest room to the garage.

This is the Mancave garage door viewed from outside my house. To the right out of frame is the larger main garage of the house.

The path to the Mancave had to go through a shower, which wasn't very convenient, but we put in ramps with a lip at the end on both sides of the shower. After the shower, there is a 90 degree turn into the door we put in for the Mancave entrance.

This is a view of the pathway to the Mancave from the bathroom. You can see how the wall was carved out to create a proper path.

Here you can see where the pathway turns into the doorway leading down into the Mancave. The room is really well hidden, which is partly why we call it a "mancave".

To complete the accessible path, we put in a wood ramp to bridge the step in the concrete garage floor.

This is the ramp leading down into the Mancave. This wood ramp completes the wheelchair accessible pathway, and it's mostly covered by carpet to hide the wood.

If you're wondering, yes, those are water heaters in the corner. A few years ago we got new water heaters that needed to be on the first floor, and my parents decided to install them in the Mancave.

This path involved extensive work and was undoubtedly the hardest part. After this my family prepared the Mancave room itself, putting in the blue carpet, two ceiling fans, windows, curtains for the windows and back wall, and lots of storage shelves. Around then is when we put the mural on the wall, we put in the fridge and popcorn machine (which is no longer in the room), and my brother-in-law put in the first TV with surround sound. At this point, the room was completely transformed, and when we put in white tables it was complete. At 9 years old I didn't completely understand all the work involved to create the Mancave, but I remember seeing it for the first time, stocked with LEGOs, being blown away with excitement. Those first few years it was mainly a LEGO room, and the Mancave has gone through many changes, but it will always be an amazing place for me.