We’ve been busy coming up with the best ideas for your rustic man cave. We’re going to inspire and light a passion inside you for your rustic man cave that you won’t be able to control.
Whether it’s rustic man cave decor, how to achieve a simple man cave that provides that rustic feeling, being surrounded by wood in your wooden man cave or wood clad man cave – we’ve got you covered.
We haven’t forgotten the obligatory rustic man cave bar and all the rustic man cave goodies you’ll want to keep your dose of self-isolation at the peak of enjoyment!
Rustic Man Cave Ideas
Nothing beats that “cabin in the woods” smell of pine, sawdust, and oil. Surrounded by wood, tools, tech, gear, equipment, and all kinds of other rustic man cave décor is what makes this space so homey and welcoming. But how can you achieve this look in your own man cave at home?
Well, the answers to that might be simpler than you may think. For starters, you work with the space you’re given. If you’re lucky, then you’ll be able to fit all of these into your man cave and come out with a rustic masterpiece worthy of magazine covers. Can I hear a hell yeah?!
So hang on tight as I talk you through some kick ass rustic man cave ideas from top-to-bottom – so you can get your rustic looking man cave project planned and executed to perfection!
Let’s get on at the ground level – quite literally, starting with the floor!
Rustic From the Ground Up
Making your man cave as rustic as possible starts with the ground up. So, an authentic wood floor or wall paneling, such as this one is a badass way to kick off and begin storming your own man cave.
There are many options here, and many guys save scrap wood or get reclaimed wood from a Habitat for Humanity or other similar second-hand building materials store. Once they have enough saved up, they will piece them together like a game of Tetris until they have covered a wall or floor space fully. Then they can decide on a complimentary stain to accompany the wood surface, maximizing the appealing nature of the old wood’s appearance.
This gives a rustic “work in progress feel” that personally I think SHOUTS Rustic!
You might be surprised how much doing something as little as wrapping a column in a room with some reclaimed wood panels will help produce that ultimate rustic look we are looking for.
But that’s just the start…
The more you can incorporate wood into your room design, from the floor up, is the more that rustic look will start to come out in your man cave – like a rustic canvas you can build on.
A Place to Park It – Rustic style
The next thing you need to think about is where you spend your time unwinding inside your rustic man cave. Some great seating is an absolutely necessary feature of any man cave.
You can DIY it if you’re skilled enough and have some 4″ x 4″ or 2″ x 6″ in that old woodpile of yours and build yourself some great lounge chairs made of wood and leather with some padding built-in.
Otherwise, there are some great chair kits out there, or even better, there are the pre-built options available such as this or this that really bring that rustic look home to your man cave while maintaining a high level of comfort and allowing you to sit for hours to unwind while watching a game comfortably.
Although, these are not the only options you have available. There are many amazing chairs, sofas, ottomans, and other furniture made of wood. Making your own and then furnishing it with some great pillows and cushions is an authentic and earthy route to take if you’re good with your hands and have the tools already available, and the time—of course!
A Place to Wet Your Lips – a Rustic bar
The next addition to the perfect rustic man cave design and rustic man cave décor is the bar. If you have room, having even a small bar is a prominent feature to incorporate into your own man cave at home. We’ve seen some crazy bars made all of solid wood and often of one solid piece of wood to make the entire countertop of the bar. Or there’s wood with epoxy made countertops for bars that you can make a stand for using those reclaimed wood beams you have sitting on the side of the house or shed.
This is a great way to make a wooden man cave that is the pinnacle of rustic man caves. Plus, you need somewhere to get a drink without having to leave your man cave, so a bar is an imperative option when it comes to making a man cave you and all your friends will never want to leave.
You can use simple 2″ x 4″ and plywood to build one in a pinch, or you can buy a kit to build your own bar. Or, even better, you can buy a pre-built and solid wood bar for your man cave. We suggest one’s like this one or even this one adds an instant rustic look to your man cave and gives you a place to grab a drink from any time you’re hanging out spending time in your rustic man cave.
A Place to Relieve Yourself – with Rustic Charm
After you’ve been drinking from your bar all evening (maybe even all day…), you will need to use the restroom right?. For that, sure you can use the one in your house, but why leave the cave? Now, if you don’t have one plumbed into the room already, then you may be able to do so easier than you think. Sometimes it’s as simple as punching through some drywall and adding a coupling to the existing drainpipe, and you’re good to go.
Now, if you want to stick with the rustic man cave theme, then you can do a couple of things. The first is to install a wood-paneled stall in your room around the new drain outlet. Then, you can use an antique barrel or even a cask cut into a “J” shape to form the perfect man cave urinal that is completely rustic looking.
On the other hand, if you’re not so handy or don’t have the tools or skills to make your own urinal for your room, then consider adding a urinal that looks rustic to your man cave like this one wrapped around by wood paneling to hide the modern toilet from view. This adds some creature comforts of civilization to your man cave, and having a urinal at all puts you ahead of the game.
A Rustic Place to Feed the Body
Another more modern creature comfort that you’ll want to add to your rustic man cave design, will be something to heat food up with. This could be anything from a wood fire stove to an instant pot plugged in on the bar. For those with the ability to do so, installing a wood stove will not only supply you with a place to cook but also a way to heat your man cave for cheap in the wintertime or year-round.
This requires installing a stove pipe out through the wall or ceiling. This is easier than you may think, and you can watch a YouTube video or two and learn exactly how it’s done the right way. This is the most rustic way we can think of to cook some food in your rustic man cave, and it adds a cozy touch to the room that really brings things together.
The smell of the wood fire and food cooking mixing together is unique and always brings back memories of great times with close friends and family. If you’ve ever stayed in a cabin in the woods during the winter, you know exactly what warm feelings that smell can bring about.
If this isn’t a workable route, then you have options like indoor BBQ grills such as this one or even this one. These options are great for those with limited space but still have a counter or bar available and want something they can set up to cook from or remove when they’re serving from the counter space.
Still not what you’re looking for? Well, luckily you have plenty of options when it comes to cooking up some food to feed yourself and your guests during the next big game hanging out in your man cave. For example, you could use an Instant Pot. These are excellent for whipping up an array of dishes very quickly and easily. All you need to do for many dishes is toss in the ingredients, set the pot to the right setting, and let it sit until it’s done.
As you can see, cooking has many options and you can choose any single one or combination of these to stock your rustic man cave with some high-tech gadgetry. Just because the décor and theme are rustic doesn’t mean you have to rough it while you are spending time there, and some modern-day comforts add a pleasant touch of class to any man cave.
A Place to Get Toasty – Rustic & Roasty
If a wood fire stove isn’t an option for you, and you live somewhere damn chilly, then you’ll need to heat your rustic man cave some other way. This is another area where you can go rustic looking or opt for a more modern touch to add some extra comfort to your room also allowing you to rapidly heat up your man cave.
When you want to stick to the rustic theme and go for the more authentic looking décor, you can heat your room with a heater that is a faux fireplace. These are electric usually, sometimes natural gas, and offer great heating in a rustic looking package. Some of our personal favorites are this one or even this one. Both of these are phenomenal additions to any rustic man cave and have the bonus of doubling as entertainment centers or shelves.
Then, you can always opt for the modern touch and get something more like a ceramic or oil heater to make your man cave the warmest place to be on a winter day. Some ceramic heaters are better than others and if you stick with this one or a comparable product with equal specs, then you can’t go wrong.
A Place To Watch The Game – Rustic-tech
You’re creating a place to plug in just as much as a place to unplug, so you’ll want to think about your media options when it comes to your rustic man cave. There are some ways to watch the game and then have your television remain hidden the rest of the time, and one way is roll away panels in front of the screen made from wood paneling you’ve reclaimed. A great option for a thin television that would easily be hidden is this one. Here’s some inspiration for hiding your set and keeping that rustic feel!
Another method you can use to hide your television screen is to not have one at all! Don’t worry, I’ve not lost it completely! Of course I’m suggesting you get a solid HD projector and a roll away or hung up screen that you can put up and take down easily when not in use. One such projector is this one that is also plenty bright and sharp enough to game on too. These are just a couple of examples of what you can do in this department. Plus, you get the chance to show off your skills in making a way to have your screen hidden somehow. Built into the wall with doors that open in front of it or some other design with a wooden and metal front would look incredible here. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out this tutorial on how to build your own wall hung tv cabinet with bi-fold doors
A Place to Let Off Some Steam – Rustic Style
This is where your sense of touch gets some attention. You want something you can use your hands and maybe a little skill to perform some task perfectly. For some really manly examples that stick well with the rustic theme are an axe-throwing board/target and axes, or a dartboard with a wooden theme.
Both options are really fun routes to take that fit perfectly well in a rustic man cave, especially if you’re going to be throwing some axes around!
WORD OF WARNING!
Just make sure you have solid plywood or another type of backing and never throw axes at bare drywall because you could hurt someone on the other side when it busts right through. Trust me, I know (and so does an ex-room mate… Don’t worry, he’s still alive, just no longer a room mate!)
Otherwise, once you’ve taken all the necessary safety precautions, throwing some axes is a primal and tactile practice that takes some skill but also allows you to just blow off some steam. It’s similar to learning to golf, just you can do it indoors. This opens it up to being a year-round sport.
Maybe just lay off the brews on days when you want practice your axe throwing eh?
You also have a regular dartboard set up you can go with, and there are plenty of these that comes housed in a nice stained wooden cabinet that would look right at home on the wall of even the most rustic man caves. They’re perfect for any simple man cave ideas you may have and are great at allowing you to burn off some energy while hanging out in your favorite place in the entire world… your simple rustic man cave.
Still with me?
Good – there’s some explosive shit to come, so keep reading my man
A Place For A Change of Pace – More Rustic-Friendly Tech
Rustic doesn’t mean roughing it guys. We live in a gifted time where gaming technology is ever present. Your rustic man cave (or man cave of any sort!) would simply be incomplete without your favourite console. Maybe even consider upping your game – you can now get some amazing game consoles and even Virtual Reality, or VR sets to accompany them. If you’ve been hiding from the world of gaming there are some recent additions to the marketplace of gaming that have changed the face of gaming forever. For example, the PS4 has a VR Headset that’s freakin’ spectacular to play on, and it lets you experience any kind of surroundings you want.
Hell, you could even virtually transport yourself to a cabin in the woods whilst your REAL LIFE Rustic Man Cave is under development!
Or, you can jump straight from your rustic man cave décor into a futuristic world full of guns and cars if you wanted to escape for a bit. It’s a fantastic way to explore new things and your man cave buddy’s will want to give it a try. So much so in fact that you may want to keep the VR secret to yourself!
A Place For Your Arsenal – Rustic or Not
Of course, if you’re into the outdoors theme, then you most likely have at least one firearm lying around. If it’s an antique, then this is a great place to display it for some rustic man cave décor. Old muskets, muzzleloaders, and other black powder rifles are especially great for setting the tone of a great rustic man cave, and since they’re so difficult to use no-one untrained will ever be able to make use of it. These make them the safest option to use for room décor – whilst being epically cool
If you have other arms in your arsenal, then you need a safe and more importantly secure place to store them. Your rustic man cave can be the perfect location for this, and we will talk more about room security in a minute, but first you need secure trigger locks, action/barrel locks, but that is not all.
The most important thing you can invest in is a secure gun safe that fits your entire arsenal, including ammo. This makes sure you can keep everything all secured in one place, out of the reach of anyone who shouldn’t have access to them. This also makes sure that no accidents ever take place using your weapons and is just a great idea all around. They can be lavish looking and still keep a room looking rustic simply because of what they represent.
The ones that stand out head and shoulders above others in terms of security are this one which is also the best for the price, and also this one deserves a mention because of the high-tech nature of the fingerprint scanner that gives you instant access to your weapons in the case of an emergency. Both are excellent options for keeping your guns out of the reach of any unauthorized hands.
Not that this gun hideaway is what I’d call a ‘gun safe’, but hell – it’s pretty damn cool and would look SWEET as a centerpiece on one of the wood-clad walls of your rustic cave.
A Place to Work On Those Arms
Another thing to think about, that can really set off a room’s feel and make it authentically rustic, is a place to set up shop and work on those arms in your secured locker. For example, if you check out this gun vice you can see how it can add a touch of metal to the room’s décor and still make things rustic feeling.
These are phenomenal if you are one who loves to clean, disassemble, reassemble, and generally toy with your arms, like the rest of us. We love to learn every single piece and where it goes in every single gun we ever own, it’s almost a compulsion, and it’s one we know very well. When you Storm The Cave with us, you will see how important these kinds of additions are to any man cave, no matter the man cave room design or man cave theme.
A Way To Secure The Rustic Man Cave
Now that you are keeping all your arms in your man cave, you’ll want to further secure the room from outside intruders, including your own family members. What’s the point of having a man cave space all to yourself if others can come and go freely? Well, room security can go well beyond some secure door locks that you can access with no key in your hand.
You can get as deep into room security as you feel is necessary, but if you store arms in that room, then we highly encourage you to get yourself a camera security system like this one. This way you can keep tabs on your arsenal any time, day or night, and know exactly what is going on in or who is intruding in on your man cave with a recorded history of any movement that takes place. This is also excellent for insurance purposes – boring, but true guys.
Just The Beginning of a Rad Rustic Rodeo
This is just the beginning of ways to make a great man cave rustic. You can add some antique farm or logging equipment to the walls to really set off the mood and feel of being in a cabin deep off in the woods somewhere. The wood floors and walls are great for filling your sight and smell with a natural wood sense. Then, add some leather and metal using some great rustic man cave furniture and rustic man cave décor and you really set the mood to that outdoor feeling.
What other ways can you think of to make your man cave more rustic and give you the look or feel you’re looking for while still providing you with modern comforts that every man caver needs?