Is this the ultimate male playroom?

BY TINA LAW

For many men, their house is their castle. For one Canterbury man, his play room is a submarine complete with working periscope.

Wayne Eyre has turned part of his Spencerville property into a wrecked submarine featuring "plutonium-leaking" torpedoes, at a cost of $100,000.

In the rusting interior of the submarine, which appears to have beached on a deserted island, Eyre has all the creature comforts reclining chairs, a three-metre big-screen TV and a top-notch surround-sound system.

Customwood has been sprayed with concrete and painted to resemble rusting steel beams, while plastic sheets have been melted to give the impression of bent steel ripped apart when the submarine hit an island. Speakers emit sonar and ocean sounds throughout the 12-metre by 5.5m room.

At one end of the room, a bar has been created from materials likely to be found on a deserted island. Shelves have been made out of halved tree trunks, while there is a washed-up surfboard.

The bar top is engraved with the random writings of a shipwrecked soul, while vines work their way through the submarine and smoke seeps out of interior walls.

Eyre, an engineer who co-owns Altherm Aluminium Canterbury, originally wanted his big screen surrounded by rock, so he got in touch with friend Dean Johnstone.

However, the original concept somehow morphed into a submarine.

Johnstone, who owns Belfast signwriting company JBFX, was chief signwriter for Peter Jackson's King Kong film. He also made the mammoth bones for the movie 10,000 BC, directed by Roland Emmerich.

Johnstone has had eight people working on the submarine project, including two people fulltime, for the past three months.

Eyre admitted the room was a little extreme. However, he had just built a new home and while it was lovely, it was stark and had sharp edges. He wanted one room that was different.

"It's all been very hush hush. Our friends have no idea." So what does his fiancee think?

Stacey James said the submarine room was cool and that their three children loved it.

However, she was perfectly happy with the original entertainment room.

- © Fairfax NZ News