Man Cave Office: How Personalizing Will Make You Happier

Are you tired of coming up with new man cave ideas from browsing 100’s of photos, but not actually gaining any insight on man cave design principles?

We love sharing photos from our community of fans to help inspire and motivate you to forge your dream man cave, but recognize that it’s not enough! We aren’t certified experts in design, but we reached out to someone who is to help us out, Edwin Tofslie, owner of BUILT.

One important aspect that we both understand is that every guy’s man cave is completely different and the same design principles do not, and should not apply to any two unique rooms. Whether your theme is sports, contemporary, steam punk, gaming, hunting, cabin, or any other myriad of awesome passions, you need to make it your own and be proud of the end product representing you.

First, we’ll take a look at Edwin’s personal office space, specially designed to fit his style. Then, we had a chance to ask Edwin some questions about his take on what it takes to make design personalized. We hope that you are able to apply his thoughts and principles to your own dream man cave!

Part 1: Edwin & BUILT’s Custom Man Cave Office

Part 2: The Interview: Personalizing Your Man Cave Office

1) How did you choose this style for your office and how did you bring it altogether?

The design really stems from about three key things.

1. The space of course. Starting with a great framework of raw but sealed wood floors, great old beams and structure along with the great brick wall. The building is actually the oldest wooden business building in Hood River. Even though there have been renovations the character left over is great. When I searched for an office, I really wanted to try and find and older updated place that had these characteristics. This was a great find.

2. My upbringing in Montana and the West in general. Lots of the design choices and general collection of items have the western but modern maker feel. Old wood tables, explosive box side table, antlers from Montana, Indian artifacts etc. That combined with many of the things that I have been involved in over the years in my design career. The Longboards, art, vintage movie posters, designs, my hats from my hat company (gasolinecaps.com) and other various things seen. Nothing is right or wrong, but they are personal and when brought together make a great canvas.

3. Most importantly I believe the design of an office should be built over time. Collecting, adding things through experience, things you pick, find and are given over the years provide the best canvas for a Man Cave office, or any Man Cave in general. Some of the best inspirations for offices have been of old office pictures from people such as Steve Jobs and other greats, as well as past inspiration such as the Ray & Charles Eames office.

2) Why is personalizing your office so important?

Many of the offices designed nowadays are pre-designed with amazing interior design concepts, clean ideas, great materials, but I usually find them to lack personal character. They are almost... fake cool, meant to attract employees with bling and cool. Then when you get there you end up at another plain desk, maybe a group working area, in a sea of others. The interior designers honestly do an amazing job, but I like the designers that allow for future design stemming from the work and people that grace the company over the years.

I prefer an environment maybe to collaborate in close quarters, but give everyone their own space and let them do what they want with it. All the people in my office make the area their own. Their own desks and whatever else they want to bring in. Even though much of the stuff has been brought in by myself, it is very important to let everybody influence the office and just make it a second home away from home. Many of us unfortunately spend just as much time at work as we do at home. So we might as well make it a place you want to be. Not just a cool flashy design.

3) What expert advice do you have for the regular guy (like us) trying to forge his Man Cave Office?

The best offices I have seen have been a combination of great bones of a building along with years of work, experiences, and time painting the floors, bookshelves, walls and desks of those who work there. These three things make the space your own. Bringing in an interior designer is not a bad thing at all, and will result in a great space, but the best spaces are built with time and experience.

My advice is to start with a great framework, cool finishes you like, colors, nice floors, beams, whatever. Then as you work and live, keep bringing in more things you love, bring in things you have made, created, built at the office or your home, or found through experiences. These will yield an office with personal character and in this case... a sweet Man Cave Office.