Okay so I’m aware this particular makeover has dragged on for months. One of the main reasons is that a piece of furniture I’d purchased for it had a 4 month lead time and while I had considered sharing the finished room sans this piece, I decided against it because it really just finished everything off so nicely. So finally – after a very very long wait – I’m ready to share the completed Man Cave, affectionately renamed the GLAM Cave.

Man Cave to Glam Cave reveal detail

While I realise many of you will just scroll down to see the finished pictures (hey, I get it, I’d do that too), I wanted to first start off by showing what we were starting with. This space had actually been (mostly) completed a number of years ago. Because it was a space Wayne used almost exclusively for watching the football or playing video games, I allowed him to decorate it how he liked (and I use the word ‘decorate’ loosely here. Ahem.) The room was worked on in fits and starts over the years and little things that needed to be finished off took months because I kept interrupting him to work on other parts of the house.

Cellar before pics

Although if you want to go WAY back, when we first moved in 7 years ago, it actually looked like this… a typical spider-ridden damp horrible hole in the ground. You can read about the process of making it livable here.

Anyway, with the kitchen finally completed last year, Wayne admitted that the room really never looked as nice as the rest of our home and that if I wanted to decorate it in a way that complimented the rest of the house, that he was happy for me to do so. Hurrah! So, excitedly I started my planning. You can see the initial ideas for the room here and then when we realised that there was a good likelihood we’d be moving in the near-ish future, I updated the design plans for a more glamorous look. The pieces I chose down there needed to fit seamlessly into the rest of the style of the house so that when we do move, everything could easily live in other areas of a future house. This meant choosing a few high-quality items that I knew we would love for years, rather than something that was just temporary or ‘good enough for now’.

One thing Wayne told me during the design process was that he was keen on it being a room that we both wanted to spend time in. The TV down there is a 50″ and while it makes for great film or TV watching, I was never keen on hanging out there. It had been painted white which just looked a bit grimy with the lack of natural lighting and everything always looked a bit half-finished (that’s probably because it was) and it felt really boring and tired. Well, it’s not boring or tired anymore. Here’s our new look Glam Cave. Allow me to show you around…

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - sofa detail

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design Swoon Editions ziggy gold sideboard

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design

That delicious dark colour on the walls, ceilings and doors is from one of my sponsors on the project, Farrow & Ball. I was a sceptic about their paints until I used it in our dining room last year and fell rather in love with the quality. For the glam cave, we decided to go very dark for all the walls and the ceilings, choosing Tanner’s Brown – a wonderfully warm deep shade which borders on almost plum. For a room with low ceilings and very little natural light that we would almost exclusively use in the evenings, it was the perfect choice to go dark.

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design Swoon Editions ziggy gold sideboard

It’s a stunning colour and whilst I would never have considered dark brown for a room before, there are so many nuances to this colour, that I feel calling it a ‘brown’ is almost short-changing it. It has really warmed up the room, giving it a cocoon-like cosy feel.You can read more painting the space here. We used the Estate Emulsion on the walls and Estate Eggshell for the louvre doors and trim work.

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Star Wars print and Made.com Lighting

I’ll just say at this point that I knew it was going to be a challenge photographing this space. The room is quite dark being mostly subterranean and gets very little in the way of natural light as I mentioned. I’m used to shooting in natural light so the spotlights being very bright and the walls being very dark along with the fact the room is actually really tiny made for an interesting photo shoot, to say the least! Anyway, I did my best! ;)

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design

Along with Farrow & Ball, I was also supplied some amazing faux greenery for the glam cave. The room is really just too dark to have any real plants in it so I decided to go entirely faux here. While I would always recommend layering your faux with real plants, in this case, I called on Mia Fleur to help me fill the space with a bit of life. Their fauxs are exceptional and really good quality.

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design - gold sideboard and faux palm

I used the Faux Areca Palm Tree in the corner which you might remember from my garden makeover, along with a Faux Zebra Grass House Plant on the left side of the sofa. There’s also Faux Green Amaranthus Sprays on the shelving unit in a cute Leopard vase.

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design mirror shelving

I also received that amazing mirror shelf from a company called Mirror Deco. I had wanted a mirror for this corner to bounce around the bit of light you do get from the sole window down here and the Loft Rectangular Wall Mirror with Shelves fit perfectly. The industrial design works beautifully in this space and blends seamlessly against the paint colour whilst the mirror backing adds some depth to this small room. They have such a huge variety of mirrors on their site (check out the window pane wall mirror – I wish I’d had room for it!) and they are really excellent quality and very heavy!

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design Swoon Editions ziggy gold sideboard

Of course, I can’t talk about this room without talking about the couple of splurges that I made for it. The amazing Ziggy sideboard from Swoon Editions was pricey and it was the one thing that took the longest in terms of lead time but oh my goodness, so worth it. It’s such a stunning design and the gold doors reflect the light so beautifully. It’s a glamorous piece that I know will fit in no matter where we end up in the future. It also hides a multitude of sins behind its large doors!

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - louvred doors with gold door knobs

Something we were really keen on was incorporating not just display areas but storage where we could hide the not so pretty things like game consoles and random paraphernalia. You’ll see we used louvred doors pretty much everywhere. The pretty little Faceted Octagonal Knobs were provided by Bombay Duck and I love how they look against the soft sheen of dark paint everywhere, like little stars twinkling against the night sky.

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design

The grey velvet armchair was also a new purchase for the room from Made.com. It lived in my living room for quite some time before the glam cave was finally complete and whilst I would have loved to have kept it in there, it really does work so beautifully down here as well. I love its curvy shape and it’s incredibly comfortable as well. We also purchased the cheap and cheerful Vittsjö shelving unit from Ikea for beside the sideboard. I had originally intended to spray it gold but it worked so well in black here that we decided to leave it as it came.

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design

Here’s Meisha posing in our new space. You’ll notice there is an awful lot that I already had but reused from around the house. The little gold tables are from Zara, purchased years ago. The Yoko Sofa from Made.com is also years old now but still doing a pretty good job down here. The rug was originally in my dressing room. The Star Wars prints (from Etsy but sadly no longer available) were simply reframed with white mats.

framed star wars prints

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design

The cushions are from West Elm and the throw is one I’ve had for years. The gold cushion is old as well from Anthropologie (similar here). Pretty much all the accessories in the room are ones I already owned – in fact, I don’t think any of the accessories in the space are new, just repurposed and given a little bit of new life in a different space.

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design

I did purchase this amazing canvas is by Loui Jover and called Deconstructed Frida which ties all the colours of the room together perfectly. I wanted something really big and eye-catching as you walked down the stairs from the dining room.

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design

The cowhide rug adds a bit of softness but in the interests of full disclosure: that usually doesn’t live down here. In this corner, we normally have the kitty litter tray and cat food. This is why Meisha was following me around while I did my shoot as she wanted to know where her food went! Ha! I just figured you probably didn’t want to see some half-eaten cat food and a litter tray so I dressed up the corner a little more than normal. You’re welcome.

black stairs with coir runner

Oh, yes, the stairs  – we got a new runner as well – just a simple coir one with black banding we purchased from eBay.

black stairs with coir runner

So yeah, that’s the finished space!

Man Cave to Glam Cave Reveal - Farrow & Ball Tanners Brown with eclectic boho glam design

Needless to say, we both really love the way it’s come out. It may be a little more glam than usual for a ‘man cave’ but even Wayne said it looks wonderful and really loves it. So we now have a space we’re both able to enjoy. Hope it was worth the wait! What do you think of the glam cave reveal? I’d love to know what you think!

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for any portion of this post. Some of the items used in our cellar remodel were provided free for my honest review but as always, all images, words and opinions are my own. I only work with companies I really like and think you’ll like too! Thanks for supporting the brands that support Swoon Worthy!


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