The Cool Room

A small example.

A guy needs a place to be cool.  Not that he can’t be cool around women, cause women are totally cool.  But a guy needs a place to BE COOL.  To play the kind of music he likes to play.  Drink the drinks, watch the TV, joke the jokes that he wants without the worry.  Everyone is welcome, of course.  But they are also free to leave when they want, if they want.

A rumpus room works best.  For some guys it’s a garage with tools and such.  That’s good, too.  Depends on your interests.  But then, you have to ask, why not both?  And be honest.

Rumpus rooms work well in corners, and they work best in basements.  Walls are lined with faux wood-paneling, floors covered with bespeckeled brown shag carpet.  An old couch, gently used, will accompany an old easy chair.  A gold-colored, fancily gaudy globe lamp hangs in the corner by a decorative gold chain, through which the clear-gold-coated power cord is interlaced.  A garage-sale (or homemade) entertainment center graces a wall facing the couch.  It features perhaps a console TV, turntable, and receiver, all wired to great bookshelf or (if you’re affluent) stand-up speakers.

A bar is essential.  It doesn’t have to be wet, since plumbing is expensive if not already installed.  But it does need a mirror with little golden etchings to make it look old and the logo of some long-forgotten beer company painted across it.  A padded rail upholstered with faux-leather (or, “pleather”) provides comfort for elbows which will never lean against it.  (Those rusty-legged stools haven’t been mounted in years.)  The stocking of the bar is up to you.  Maybe you managed to fit a mini-fridge under there, keeping frosty the various microbrews that you love to offer a friend.  Maybe there are dusty bottles of various liqueurs that never get touched, arranged neatly on a shelf behind very dust-free bottles of spirits that often do.  Maybe you just use the storage space for your collection of beer steins which will someday get their day in the sun when you finally throw that Oktoberfest party!  (You won’t.)

Other accoutrements, befitting your interests and personality, are certainly possible.  Bowling trophies?  A guitar case (possibly housing a guitar)?  I’m not here to tell you what makes a man; society does that already.  But make sure it’s a place where you can be comfortable doing what you want.  If someone doesn’t like it, then there’s the door.  (Up the stairs and through the kitchen.)