The ‘man house’

Sometimes the best part of the house isn’t attached to it.

At Randy and Leesa Braun’s home south of the Spokane Valley city limits, their garage has evolved from a lifeless building to something of a personal museum with amenities fit for entertaining guests.

“Everybody will tell you not to start small when you build it,” Randy Braun said, a cold beverage in his hand after a day working at Qualchan Golf Course. “(Then) it’s too small in a year or two.”

Surrounding him are some 1,700 square feet of unpretentious luxury wrapped in a nondescript metal building next to his house. Walls paneled in wood saved from years of disassembling pallets hold antiques and artwork, national flags and souvenirs from wild parties.

“All the guys that come over walk in and say, ‘You’ve got a man house!’ ” Lisa Braun said.

Work on the man house/garage began in 1997, a few years after the lifelong Valley residents moved to the property.

In what started as simply a shed large enough for a motor home and a couple of cars, Randy Braun plied his creativity and knack for interior decorating over the years to the massive walls.

“The inside of the house is mine; he doesn’t get to do anything inside there,” Leesa Braun said. That’s not to say she isn’t impressed by her husband’s décor next door.

“It’s my favorite place to hang out, too,” she said.

The garage looks part personalized antique show, part hunting lodge, part shop and part pool hall. Plus, you can drive right in.

“That garage stuff is highly competitive,” Leesa Braun said. When they were building it, their neighbor immediately began sizing it up.

“He showed up with a six pack and a tape measure,” she said.

The new garage down the street ended up a little longer, but it isn’t likely to have as much flair.

At the Brauns’ place, fifteen radio-controlled and model airplanes spin gently from wires in the ceiling. Behind them, a stoplight and web of Christmas lights flash to life with the touch of a button.

There’s a high-powered stereo, TV and even a view of Mount Spokane that would be the envy of many high-dollar subdivisions.

Whenever they host the informal dinner club the Brauns belong to, Leesa Braun said, the group insists on dining in the garage.

While their garage is a magnet for guests at parties and big family reunions, it’s also grown fairly personal over the years.

There are flags from places they’ve visited. Among the artifacts hung on the walls is a harness Randy Braun’s grandfather used on his horses to cultivate the family farm. There’s a stuffed marlin his father caught, and pictures from his dad’s living room walls.

“You can’t throw this stuff away,” he said.

Some items he picked up from farms where his work took him. Others are just random – from seven prints of dogs playing poker to a pair of antique wooden skis. “Just a bit from every stop I’ve made,” he said.

“You can’t get all this stuff in a double-car garage.”

In fact, some times it’s hard to get it all into two. At some point, Braun ran out of room in his creation for his boat and other toys and built another, smaller garage for them a few feet away.