Manspace: A primal guide to marking your territory

by Sam Martin

a shallow review

Home decorating books, for the most part, are glitzy, glamorous and though beautiful, they are highly impractical. As much as I would like Michael S Smith or India Hicks to help me fine tune my home, the reality is that most of the books in this genre are either low end DIY guides or high-end “hey look! you too can have a 747 hangar just like John Travolta“.

However, Manspace is one of those books that falls well within the realm of practical, visually pleasing and humanly possible examples of interior decorating. Showcasing rooms of all styles with predominately male interests, from the classic car collector to the tech geek to the international hunter. With chefs kitchens, theatres, model railways, baseball collections, cards, wine distillers, houseboats, caravans and rock-climbing walls every manspace in this book reflects their owner but also gives the reader the scope to imagine creating their own space.

I live in a testosterone driven house. 3 males and a (used to be) male dog. I was never a girly girl but once I had sons I felt the need to buy chintz.  Now, apart from a set of flowery tea cups and my many romances strewn around the house, my home has masculine undertones. Ships, maps, and trains are present in most rooms and, of course, there is the garage for the spare TV, nerf gun wars and bikes. My men love their “manspaces” and this book has helped inspired them. So whether you call it your mancave, manroom, manshed or manspace this book is all about encouraging men to reclaim their homes and leave their decorating mark.