This is Why Old Spice is the Official Deodorant of Josh

Mancave Beautification Project # 3: End Game

Do you ever hear a sound in your head every time you think of something? Every time I think of, or see anything to do with Pacman, I hear that crazy chompa, chompa, chompa sound Pacman makes when he eats. That is now the sound I hear every time I look at these new sconces I built for the mancave.

I decided that my sanctuary was lacking something to make it truly serene, and that was some calm, dim mood lighting. So I decided to build some unique sconces for the spaces between these windows.

That is the couch facing the TV / Tetris shelves. I needed some sconces for that spot, but like most of the decor in the mancave, no one makes stuff to suit my retro-nerd theme, so it is up to me to build my own again.
Cut to construction pictures!
Planning!

Drawing! ... Cutting!

Building! ... Painting! (please ignore the Halloween decorations in the background there)

Finished!

Please also ignore the burp-cloth on the couch, and the bottle of Windex there in front, unless you think they're cool.
Now let's see those sconces in action, the way they were meant to be seen.

As nice as that looks, they look way awesomer in real life. Chompa, chompa, chompa.
My mancave is nearly done, now all that's left is to hang some nifty pictures above the computer. For those I found some updated, more BAD (in a good way) pictures of my 3 favorite shows to watch as a kid.

Left to right we have Inspector Gadget from Inspector Gadget, then Orko, the little floating wizard from He-Man and The Masters of The Universe, and then Master Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

There you have it, the Mancave is now officially complete. Below are some more pictures of the other finished parts. Let me know what you think.

Mancave Beautification Project # 2: A Childhood Hero Tells Me The Time

My second project is a small one: My room needs a nice clock to go right there above the light switch:

So let me introduce you to Ralph Hinckley, the "Greatest American Hero":

"The Greatest American Hero" was one of my favorite shows to watch as a little kid with my Dad. He would lay down on the couch and curl his legs, and I would sit behind his legs and call it "my nest."

So I ordered some clock parts and a clock engine, bought a circular piece of wood from Michaels, then used my wife's Cricut with the "Sure Cuts A Lot" software to cut out some paper shapes to glue to the circular base. Finally I painted the frame, sealed and lacquered the whole thing, put together the clock-bits, and here is the result, The Greatest American Clock:

Two projects down, two to go.

Mancave Beautification Project # 1: From Russia With Love

As I said in my last post, the decor for my mancave is going to be mostly themed on the retro stuff that I loved as a kid (and still love). My first project was my biggest one, themed shelves to go around that nice TV.

Here is the TV when it was naked:

Nice TV, ugly space, let's nerdify that spot! I wanted shelves to hold DVDs, Books, and other decor, but I wanted the shelves themselves to add to the overall theme of my room, so I took the best thing to ever come out of Russia:

And I drew up some plans:

I love video games. I love Russia (lived there as a missionary for my church). These shelves would be perfect.
So, you can wipe that smile off your face Mr. Plank,

'cuz I'm about to go all Silar on you and cut off the top of your head so I can take your powers... and build you into shelves.

Initiate building pictures sequence!
THE WOOD CUTTING!

THE BUILDING OF THE SHAPES!

THE SCREWING OF PIECES TOGETHER!!

LOOKIN' VERY NICE INDEED!!!!

AND!!!
The finished product, I beveled the edges so that the individual shapes would stand out:

Let's get all panoramic on this for the money-shot:

A closely shot panorama warps things a bit, but you get the picture. By far the coolest thing I've ever built.

My Mancave, My Canvas.

Durring my time in pharmacy school, when my wife and I would go looking at houses and dream of our future home, one of the things I negotiated for was my own space, for my stuff, that I had complete control over. My wife could decide how the rest of the house looked, all I cared about was an entertainment room, that I could fill with my own decor, and would serve as a place for movie nights, gaming, and chillin'.

So my mancave was born. Right now, it is a simple place, with a nice TV, gaming consoles, a computer, and a busted up little entertainment console. So it serves its purpose well, allowing the family to play games, watch movies (including Netflix and Hulu, streamed to the TV), and the huge, wicked-awesome bean-bag chair my sister made for me serves as a great pad for some serious WWE style throw-downs between my boys and I.

The purpose for this post is not to let you all know that I have a preety cool little mancave. The purpose is to serve as a before shot, as in, "This is what my mancave looked like before it exploded into awesomeness."

I have long known that the decor would be themed on the retro, nerdy stuff that I like (or loved as a kid). Unfortunately, no one makes furniture or art to suit my nerdy needs, so I am building this stuff myself (which means that I am a manly nerd, because I build stuff out of wood, and also, I wear Old Spice deoderant).

So I give you the before shots, here is my canvas:





A partial view of the seating...





Front and side views of the tv and busted up console...



The exit.

Stay tuned for some future posts, each one highlighting a project or two on the beautification and manly nerdification of my man cave.