10 Signs Your Place has Transitioned from ‘Man Cave’ to a Home

When a guy asks you to, or you somehow end up moving in with them (personally, the conversation didn’t happen, and I just ended up here when I became a Puppy Mummy) you’ll notice a drastic transformation in his domain. From the moment you first leave your toothbrush, to decorating with pictures on the fridge which he tries to cover up without you noticing, the bachelor pad or ‘man cave’ becomes ‘home sweet home’.

I think of myself as being quite house-proud, and although the thought of spending a Saturday afternoon at Ikea or debates over what tiles should go in the kitchen makes me sick, I still appreciate a clean and tidy living quarters, adorned with a little bit of welcoming charm.

Since I moved into the two bedroom apartment, it has become so pleasant and welcoming that I’m certain it’s scared off some of the single guy friends he used to hang out with before “I came along”.

Sure there’s obvious things such as the bed being made, hand soap in the kitchen, and feminine objects in visible places, but theres a few keys signs I can note in our place which have happened over the few months when we first brought the puppy home.

1. Cutlery Drawer

When I first started spending time with my guy, I would bring food over and heat it up for dinner. His cutlery drawer was a total nightmare. Not just the fact there was only one teaspoon and no knives that aren’t designed to tear through meat, but the sharp objects and kitchen utensils were thrown into one chaotic drawer…the amount of times I almost drew blood fishing around for a fork. He was opposed to it at first, but I insisted I get one of those neat cutlery organisers from the Dollar Store, and now the spoons, spatulas, and potatoes mashers are in a cute vase on top of the counter.

2. Coffee Table

My guy is a spray paint artist, and the house has a lot of cool things like painted doors and artwork rather than stupid “Live Love Laugh” and fake floral arrangements you find in other homes.

The coffee table he used to have was decorated with his art, but it was barely spacious enough to fit more than a bottle of rum, and the legs wobbled every time Fiona crashed into it. As much as I love the old coffee table, it did look like something you’d find in a house rented by college guys, minus a giant Hookah sitting on top. My guy decided to get a beautiful marble coffee table, and I absolutely love being able to Windex it without the fear of paint coming off.

3. Calendar

I’ve always been highly organised and like to keep a “Page a Day Diary” to make note of my upcoming appointments or write down what I did to look back and reflect on. Now that we are sharing a life with a puppy, we have things such as vet appointments and dog park dates to keep track of. I also write down my appointments on our calendar just so there really is not an excuse as to where I’ve disappeared to even after I’ve mentioned it several times. We also use the calendar to write down when company came, what I made for dinner, or inside jokes to keep a little memoir of our time together. Oh and our calendar is awesome, because I made it using all of Salty’s artwork (link to Salty Sketchpad).

4. Fully Stocked Fridge

I’m pretty sure before I came along, the freezer contained Jamaican Patties and Pizza Pockets, and maybe some pork chops, and the fridge had milk, butter, cheese, and a few assorted condiments. Now, there is always fresh vegetables, pre-made meals in the freezer to defrost when there’s no time to cook, frozen vegetables, deli meats, and just about everything you’d find in a freezer shared by more than one adult.

I guess it makes sense. Single people, male or female, only eat what they want and don’t usually go to the trouble of cooking for themselves, so now that we have two picky appetites combined, it makes one fully stocked refrigerator.

5. Not Enough Space

The place is big enough and has adequate cupboard space for a guy, but it’s been a bit chaotic trying to combine a man’s personal belongings with all the crap a woman finds nessecary. I find it essential that we have extra toilet paper and cleaning products in case we run out, extra blankets so there’s clean ones when the others are dirty, and a selection of food we probably wont eat available at all times. Then there’s my clothes. Luckily our downstairs neighbours gave us a dresser and bedroom set, and 75% of my clothes are still at my parents house. I haven’t even thought about what to do with my shoes in summertime and I need to alternate between sandals, flats, heels, flip flops and sneakers.

6. Kleenex

Boys will blow their nose on paper towel like it’s not expensive as hell, or use toilet paper without considering that a girl NEEDS it to wipe after she uses the facilities. Since I brought real Kleenex boxes into the home, not only do we look more dignified, but I’m sure his nose appreciates the softness.

7. Food to offer guests

You remember when you were a kid and you’d go to your parents’ friends’ house and they’d have appetisers, cheese, treats, and food to offer their guests? After you’re a teenager with the munchies and you realise how annoying it gets to have to run to the store to grab chips or forking out money for a pizza with your college roommates, you step into ‘adulthood’ and start keeping food to just have in to offer when guests come over.

Before me, if my man had people over and they consumed anything which wasn’t a liquid, it would be something from Skip the Dishes. Now with me, I’ve stocked the place with presentable tinned shortbread cookies, crackers and spreadable cheese, and a lot of other food we probably wont eat, but it’s nice to have to offer. I even bought a cheese hostess set in the hopes maybe my girlfriends will come over and I can show them that I too am a ‘grown up’ now.

8. Added Organisation

My guy started off with some organisation as in, ‘the junk drawer’, or bread kept on top of the microwave, or ‘the hands’ (a dish he uses for his keys, wallet etc), but I’ve brought extra portable storage units so we can keep things organised and extra supplies in stock. He asks me now, “Where do we keep the ______?”. The other day he was unpacking the shopping and looked at the toothpaste, and I said “You can put that in the extra toiletries drawer. Do you know where that is?” Of course, I had to show him.

9. A range of cleaning supplies

The man cave was always kept fairly clean for a man cave, and my guy had the basic cleaning supplies needed for a home. Me being me, I find it nessecary to have a range of extra cleaning supplies and products in order to keep things to my definition of spotless. My favourite product is the Febreze Fabric Refresher, especially to spruce up the bed sheets in the morning. The only problem is it’s about 10% of my grocery bill after finding all the deals at Food Basics.

10. Framed Pictures

Although I am really not into spending lots of money on fancy adornments, or cheesy wooden sings with “Live, love, laugh”, I like having framed pictures of our good looking little trio around the house, on the fridge, and in albums to send to our mothers. I have a tendency to go overboard with my posts on Instagram and Facebook, and I downloaded this app to make collages. So far we only have one framed picture of Mummy, Daddy and Fiona, and one collage and even that was enough to make the man of the house roll his eyes in disgust. Oh well. She who cleans get’s the final say.