My hubby is a very lucky man. He doesn’t just have one man cave; he has two 😉 Yup, two!! The garage and his pub. And while I know that I’m not really allowed to have a say in how he decorates his “me time” space, I do enjoy making things that he can, hopefully, use there. He sure didn’t mind when I revamped some office storage and turned it into a toolbox. This year I thought I’d make him a rugged and manly message board. Is there even such a thing?

Isn’t it cool? It probably took about 2 hours to put together, including waiting for the paint to dry. So if you want to make one for your hubby, here’s how I did it.
What you need
- Drill, screwdriver and masking tape
- A piece of wood 40 cm x 65 cm (14,5″ x 25,5″)
- Paint. I used blackboard paint and a bright red
- Galvanized pipe fittings and screws
How to make a Man Cave message board
Connect all the pipe fittings to form an “L-shape”. Sorry, I don’t know how else to describe it, but hopefully, the piccy below says it better than I can. Give the L-shaped thing a good wipe with some engine de-greaser before spraying it black.
I wanted to use the L-shaped thingy to hold garage wipes, but I was a little worried that the wipes would slip off. So I sneaked into the hubby’s garage man cave and found the tap portion of a gate valve. Sshhhh, don’t tell him 😉
What happens in this garage stays in this garage
Screwing it onto the end cap created a much better stopper. Ugh!!!! Why can’t I think of the right words today?
Now for the message board. After sanding the piece of wood to a nice smooth finish, I gave it a coat of fire engine red spray paint and then painted the inside portion with blackboard paint. I found this adorable sign for Sinclair Motor Oil that I added on top. That’s the hubby’s surname. Unfortunately, he’s not related to the Sinclairs from the oil company, though.
To make it easier to tear the garage wipes, I just used one of those serrated metal strips that come on the box when you buy cling wrap or freezer paper and screwed it onto the message board.
Before screwing on the L-shaped thingy, I covered the board with white chalk to cure it and added another 90-degree elbow to hold the chalk pieces.

And the valve tap is a great stopper 😀

I’m guessing the hubby likes his man cave message board since he’s added it to the decor 😉

What do you think? Does it work for you?

If you like the idea of making a message board for a man cave, don’t forget to pin it for later.

Have you made anything for a man cave? I’d love to hear about it. I’m always looking for new ideas to make for my hubby.
Oh, before I forget, if you don’t want to go to the trouble of finding some of the materials we used, we’ve got you covered. Disclosure: Clicking on the links below means we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry, it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us come up with more crafty ideas to share with you 😉
Or how about these super cool signs?
Until next time, be safe, and I hope you have a beautifully creative week.
Last update on 2026-08-16 / Source Amazon Affiliates






90 comments
Wow! You are amazing.I love your craft ideas.Thank you for sharing them.
You’re welcome Vickie, I’m so glad you like our projects. We enjoy sharing them with everyone
This is really great, would go into any man cave. We must be on the same wave lenght because I am doing a galvanised pumbling project now. Lol
Ooooooo, I can’t wait to see what you’re up to Anita. Those galvanised pipes always come in so handy
That looks great, thanks for the idea!
Thank you so very much Sir ?
This is so fabulous, I love this idea. I went out in Hubs garage and spent hours organizing it, but it has absolutely no style because he doesn’t see the need. I bet he would like this idea though. Awesome work!
Thanks so much Leanna. I would love to organize my hubbies garage but I think we might need to go for marriage counselling afterwards ? He has this amazing ability of knowing exactly where everything even in all that orgabized chaos, so it’s probably better to leave it as is.
Your creative mind hit again! I love the industrial look and I think it is perfect for my husband’s office in the lab! He loves everything made of spare parts… thank you again for sharing such wonderful ideas Michelle!
It’s a pleasure Christina and thanks so much for always leaving such lovely comments. It just makes my day