Six Steps To An Outdoor Father's Day Mancave
So, it's no shocker that ladies are trumping men in the decor department. Now, though there are exceptions to everything—this is more than less the truth. With women usually getting their say in home decor, what's left for our fellas?
That's right, the mancave! What's a mancave?It's simply a place where "guys can do as they please" without fear of upsetting any female sensibility about house decor or design—a mantuary if you will. Brian Flynn Patrick, producer for the hit HGTV reality-competition series, Design Star and Hayneedle Spring/Summer Campaign Spokesperson is talking outdoor man caves for the gentleman who aren't blesses with a garage, a basement, or a lenient wife/girlfriend.
He talks texture, design, and most importantly the dining area!
Take a nod from Patrick as dishes on his six man cave tips:
1. When it comes to men's spaces, I usually rely on texture and graphic shapes to tell the design story, especially in outdoor areas. The main difference between designing exterior spaces and interior spaces is the lack of walls and a ceiling. With infinite space, it's harder to create a tight palette and add delineation.
2. For this space, the focal point is the outdoor dining room. I created an original piece of graphic art from reclaimed lumber, cutting it into graphic silhouettes to resemble the ones found on, the men's and women's bathroom doors at restaurants and shops. In order to personalize it to a family setting, I used that iconic shape to create a representation of the young family of four.
3. Rustic touches are one of the most popular ways to bring masculinity to any space. Textural touches add proper layering.
4. Be sure to ground the space with proper use of scale and proportion. The table and chairs used in this set are from hayneedle.com. They're hefty enough to fill the area properly, and their relationship to one another is balanced, plus they're super comfortable and somewhat over scaled, something excellent for men.
5. The last touch in creating a designer outdoor space — whether for a man's space or an entire family — is to include a color story. In this outdoor dining room, I stuck with green as the main color and used raspberry accent tones seen in the bougainvillea creeping through the back fence.
6. When it comes to designing an outdoor dining space for men, we can't forget the grill. A stainless steel grill adds a nice touch of metallic to the space, plus they look much nicer than more basic metal versions.
All of these things combined can turn any lackluster outdoor space into something graphic, interesting and welcoming.