Dad Decor

The term 'man cave' seems to be quite common at the moment, however for most parents the chances of having a spare room/shed/cave which has not been invaded by the clutter that follows children wherever they go is quite slim.

However even when your property does not extend to the kind of proportions that Bruce Wayne's mansion offers, it is still possible to inject some dad decor into the building. Now don't get be wrong here, you are unlikely to get away with sticking up that poster of the tennis girl's bottom from the seventies, but there are many other things that can be displayed in an acceptable manner.

Metal advertising signs, or porcelain if you can afford them, are probably best displayed in the garage, unless you have the sort of internal warehouse or industrial look to your house. These are widely reproduced and available at reasonable prices. If you are after original signs with that lovely worn look then eBay is a good starting point, although there are some specialist sites, particularly for motoring related types. You also have a choice of metal or porcelain, which are very sort after, all of which are available in single or double sided versions.

Picture source eBay

Alternatively framed posters can also look rather good. I have a series of Grand Prix copies of classic 1950's and 1960's race advertisements, which are nicely, but inexpensively framed displayed in the hallway. These are also very easy to get hold of, though you do have to watch the quality if buying from some sources as people do purchase disks of the images and print them off on a variety of printers, some of which are very good, others less so. Probably the best are from the specialist poster shops, of which there are several on line. I have skipped over originals as their price ranges from expensive, to absolutely astronomic for some of the earlier travel posters.

Of course it may be that your tastes run to something a little more artistic, in which case the local auction house is the place to go. Sure some of the pictures will be sold for serious money, but it is always possible to pick up a bargain. We have a large gilt framed oil painting of a continental street scene which is appreciated by everyone who spots it, which cost the grand sum of £5 at the my nearest auctioneers and was actually just one of several in the lot.

So there we have it, no man cave, no problem, well at least as far as the wall decor is concerned, you may have to work a bit harder if you fancy slipping a barbers chair and a couple of antique petrol pumps into the house without somebody noticing.

Andy