Design a man cave — the definitive starter kit
Everybody wants a man cave; almost nobody can name what goes in one. Here's the answer: a screen wall, two recliners that actually recline, cold beer that doesn't require a trip upstairs, and one glowing machine full of music. Six catalog pieces in a 14×14 zone — place them on the plan, check the clearances, and the cave is designed before a single thing moves.
Watch it
Design a man cave in 40 seconds
Every piece at its true size, clearances checked, then a walk around it in 3D. The list, sizes, and steps are below.
The man cave is the most wanted and least planned room in the house. Everyone can picture the feeling — screen, recliner, cold beer, good music — but ask what actually goes in one and the answers get vague. This is the definitive starter kit: six pieces, each with a job, each with real dimensions, laid out in a 14×14 zone.
Search the exact names in the Furnish panel and place them on the plan first. Recliners need room to recline, a kegerator needs a path that doesn't cross the screen, and a jukebox earns its keep at an angle — all of which is much cheaper to discover on a floor plan than on moving day.
Or let the app place it: tap the Auto-furnish wand in the toolbar, drag a box over the area you want to use, type Man Cave in the search box and pick its card. Every piece lands against your walls, with a Fits or Tight badge for the space you drew — then edit anything. More in Auto-furnish.
What you'll need
- •Entertainment Center (84″ × 20″, 72″ tall) — the screen wall
- •Oversized Recliner × 2 (42″ × 44″ each) — the seats of honor
- •Kegerator (24″ × 26″, counter height) — draft beer at home
- •Jukebox (32″ wide, 56″ tall) — the glow in the corner
- •Bar Cart (30″ × 18″, rolling) — the backup bar
- •Area Rug 8x10 (96″ × 120″) — grounds the seating
- •A 14×14 ft zone — basement, bonus room, or the corner of a garage you're claiming
Step by step
- 1
The screen wall, centered
Search Entertainment Center and set it along the top edge of the zone, centered — 84 inches of screen wall, 72 inches tall, with storage for every console and remote behind doors. Everything else in the cave takes its bearings from this piece: the seats face it, the traffic avoids it.
- 2
Two recliners at 46 inches
Search Oversized Recliner and place two side by side, both facing the screen, with their front edges about 46 inches off the screen wall's front. That's the number that makes the room work: each chair is 44 inches deep sitting up and 70 inches reclined, so it needs about 26 inches more to recline fully, and 46 gives it with room to spare. Select a recliner and tap Recline to see it on the plan — Flow Check warns if one can't recline. With your head back in the leaned seat, your eyes land about seven feet from the screen — right where an 84-inch wall of screen wants them.
The cave on the plan — screen wall at top, both recliners at 46″, everything that pours or plays on the right rail. - 3
The kegerator gets its own lane
Search Kegerator and park it to the right of the screen wall, along the top edge — 24 inches wide, 34 inches tall, a counter-height cold tap. The placement rule matters more than the placement: the strip down the right side of the zone is about 39 inches wide, a full walking lane, so every refill travels the right rail and nobody ever crosses the screen mid-play.
- 4
The jukebox angles in, the bar cart parks beside it
Search Jukebox and set it against the right edge, angled into the room so its face points at the seats. At 56 inches tall, its lit-up front glows exactly at seated eye height — an angled jukebox is furniture and mood lighting in one. Then search Bar Cart and park it in the corner beside the jukebox: 30 by 18 inches on wheels, the bottle-and-glass backup to the kegerator, and it rolls to a recliner armrest when the occasion calls.
- 5
The rug grounds it, 3D proves it
Slide the Area Rug 8x10 under both recliners, long side running toward the screen — 96 by 120 inches that turn two chairs into a zone and take the echo out of a concrete floor. Then switch to 3D and take the seat test: lean back in each recliner and check the sight line to the screen, walk the right-rail lane from kegerator to jukebox to cart, and confirm the reclined footrests clear the screen wall. If it works in 3D, it works on game night.
The cave in 3D — both seats see the screen, the jukebox glows at eye height, the right rail pours. - 6
Or let Auto-furnish place the Man Cave for you
Everything above can also be done in one go. Open your plan, tap the Auto-furnish wand in the toolbar and drag a box over the spot, tracing the walls you want the pieces against — at least 14 × 14 ft for this layout. In the Ideas list, type Man Cave in the search box and pick its card; if it isn't among the first six cards, tap Show more. A Fits badge means the layout fits the box you drew, Tight means it is up to about 12% too big and a piece may sit a little past an edge. The seven pieces land against your walls, and Variation 1–5 offer other arrangements — mirrored, turned to another wall or corner, or with a piece swapped for a similar one; where it can, it skips arrangements that would land on furniture already in your plan. If the plan still looks empty after you pick the card, tap Variation 2 (or any other variation) and the pieces appear — a known glitch can leave the first variation undrawn. Tap View in 3D to check it, then Done: the whole placement is one undo step, and every piece stays editable. More in Auto-furnish.
Drawn over the top-left corner of a plain 18×18 ft room, the Man Cave lands in a few taps — seven pieces, a choice of variations, every piece still editable.
Tips
Not a keg household? Swap in a mini fridge
The kegerator's footprint is the same two-foot square a mini fridge needs. If draft beer isn't your thing, put a mini fridge in the same spot with the same right-rail lane — the layout doesn't change, only what's cold inside.
Treat the sound before you blame the speakers
A 14×14 box with hard floors and bare walls makes every explosion sound like it's in a parking garage. The rug is the first fix; heavy curtains, a fabric sofa upgrade later, or foam panels on the wall behind the seats do the rest. Soft surfaces are the cheapest audio upgrade there is.
A dartboard finishes the far wall
Hang a dartboard on the wall opposite the kegerator side, with its bull 5 feet 8 inches off the floor and 93 inches of clear throw line in front — the left strip of this layout holds it. Keep the throw lane out of the walking lane, and never between the recliners and the screen.
Common mistakes
Backing the recliners against a wall
A recliner placed like a normal chair can't do the one thing it was hired for. Each one grows from 44 to 70 inches deep when it opens — which is why they float 46 inches from the screen wall instead of hugging the back of the zone. Leave recline room behind the headrest too if your model tilts back.
Routing the beer run across the screen
Put the kegerator on the far side of the room and every refill walks a person through the sight line at the worst possible moment. The whole point of the right-rail lane is that drinks, music, and traffic all live on one side while the screen stays sacred.
Flattening the jukebox against the wall
Face-on to the room's center, a jukebox against the edge is just a cabinet nobody looks at. Angle it toward the seats and its glowing face becomes the room's second light source — at 56 inches tall, exactly at the eye height of someone in a recliner.
Frequently asked questions
What goes in a man cave?
Six pieces cover the classic cave: an entertainment center for the screen wall, two oversized recliners facing it, a kegerator for draft beer, a jukebox for music and glow, a rolling bar cart, and an 8x10 rug under the seats. Search each name in the Furnish panel and place them before anything gets moved in real life.
How big does a man cave need to be?
This layout fits in 14 by 14 feet. The math that drives it: 84 inches of screen wall, 46 inches from the wall's front to the recliner fronts so both chairs can fully recline, roughly 90 inches for two recliners side by side, and a 39-inch lane down the right side for the kegerator and jukebox. Smaller works if you drop to one recliner; the recline clearance is the number you can't shrink.
How far should recliners be from the screen?
In this plan the recliner fronts sit about 46 inches from the screen wall's front, which puts a reclined viewer's eyes roughly seven feet from the screen — comfortable for a 65 to 75 inch display. The 46 inches also covers the roughly 26 extra inches each oversized recliner needs to open fully, so one measurement solves both problems.
Start designing your room
Put this into practice in the 3D room planner: draw it, furnish it, walk through it in 3D — on web, iOS, and Android.
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