You just can’t make up scenes like this one in the large backyard of Val Prieto’s Kendall, Fla., home on a recent Monday afternoon: Prieto and pal Steve H. Graham grin ear to ear and grip cold Pilsner beers as they proudly survey the 8-by-10-foot space where they stand.
Both men glance up and nod with satisfaction at the sight of the sturdy white awning covering their heads. A few feet away, gentle waves from a canal lick the bank of Prieto’s property.
This is ManCamp, Prieto’s answer to the Average Joe’s age-old nemesis: lack of private, personal space at home. And ManCamp is enough to make Al Bundy and his fellow members of the “Married … With Children’s” No Ma’am group cry tears of joy.
As crude as ManCamp’s design may seem, trend experts say Prieto is ahead of the curve in a growing movement of guys – mostly married men – who want their privacy but not at the expense of their “manly” credentials.
ManCamp, which was built and “furnished” with donated materials, boasts storm-proof “counter tops” constructed of railroad ties secured to the ground with steel rods. And there are five barbecue grills of different sizes and styles. On this day, two grills are loaded with Polish sausages and bacon-wrapped prawns.
On one side of the camp is a homemade entertainment center, complete with cable TV, mini-fridge, a dart board mounted inside one cabinet door and a Miami Heat cheerleaders poster pinned to the other door. There’s also a singing fish wearing a Miami Dolphins helmet. Patio chairs and a couple of bar stools complete the actual furniture.
And just when you think ManCamp can’t get any cooler, there’s a slight rustling. A section of the fence pops open like the entrance to the Bat Cave. And another man, a neighbor, also smiling big, slips through before the hidden gate swings shut.
There was a time, says Steven Saint-Onge, Philips Electronics’ home and style designer, that a man’s private space was big and elaborate. But that was when women had more of a say in what a home office or entertainment room looked like.
“Certainly it’s interesting that in the past five years what I’ve seen a lot of is men are more involved than ever in home design in general,” Saint-Onge says. “And they have fully taken ownership of their personal space.”
Saint-Onge attributes the change to the boom in home- design-themed reality TV shows, more men watching those shows and fewer men being ashamed to admit it.
So Prieto, with a vision like Moses, designed ManCamp.
“It ain’t pretty,” Prieto says with a laugh, “but it didn’t take long for my wife to love it, because it made me happy, it kept me occupied, and it was less clutter in the house. Now, when she’s out and sees different little items that would go nicely in ManCamp she’ll pick them up for me.”
