Man Caves and a Sitcom

I’m not sure when I first came upon the term, but it was not long ago that I first read about “man caves”.  I entered the term into Google and selected images where I found what looked to me like good old fashioned rec-rooms. I rarely saw anything that looked particularly manly about them. They were just more casual than living rooms and because they often had a bar, maybe a pool table and a large TV, could be just as well used by a group of women wanting to have a house party.

At any rate, I guess the idea is that she gets the entire house to decorate as she wants, and he gets the basement, or maybe the garage, or some other space that she doesn’t care about. So, she gets everything that she wants, and he gets what’s left, you know, the left-overs. I’m not sure how one squares this with the idea of male privilege, but, who cares. It’s not my problem.

For those of you who are interested, (and this had not occurred to me before starting this entry), many years ago when my mother visited me, she described my décor as “caveman”. What a coincidence! I’m writing about man caves, and my décor is caveman! I think of my décor as simply being functional.

It’s a lot of work hauling sheets of plywood down into the basement, so why not throw a table cloth over the table saw and “presto” you have a multi-functional kitchen table! I don’t know if I missed my calling in life, but I’m beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t have been an interior decorator specializing in helping bachelor’s think out of the box, and providing real-world solutions to everyday inconveniences.

So, just where am I headed with this? In addition to “man cave”, not too long ago I also learned what DINKs are, Dual-Income No Kids. So, we have these couples who have no intention of ever having children, but they spend their money on this big house which is hers to fix up as she wishes, except for that space which she doesn’t want which becomes his man cave.

Why not be democratic and split the space 50-50? It may not be a simple matter to try and divide a traditionally designed house into two nearly equal parts, but this is where I may have a solution. Instead of this one big house, why not buy a side-by-side (row house), or a house with an upper flat? She can get one part, and he can get the other. If they buy a side-by-side, they can cut a hole in the dividing wall and put their bed in the middle of it. She gets into bed from her half, and he gets in from the other side, his half! Something like what Thomas Jefferson did in his home in Monticello. He could enter his bed from both his living quarters and his study.

As I thought about how this would work in a modern marriage, it dawned on me that this has the makings of a great sitcom. Now, I do not possess the talent, but certainly some of you out there could turn this into a popular TV series. A modern couple with modern friends and relatives trying to lead their lives (almost) as independently after their marriage as before, but under one roof!

I even came up with a name for it. When our modern couple discusses having dinner (or some other activity) together, one of them will inevitably ask: “Your Place or Mine?”, and that’s the name of the series.

It’s something to think about.