( CNN ) -- Like most stories that end up with a man mowing his friend 's lawn in a dress , it started out innocently enough . Craig Harrell takes a quick break for the camera while fulfilling his end of the bargain . Not long after Robert Klein began working on his man cave , his friend Craig Harrell paid Klein a compliment . He noticed Klein was looking trimmer since they 'd last met . As Klein continued to slim down , they made a bet : Whoever could get down to 200 pounds first would be the winner , and the loser would have to mow the winner 's yard -- in a dress . Klein started building his man cave in Pasadena , Maryland , so he could have the bar of his dreams and a home theater . He worked on his basement for more than a year and ended up losing 65 pounds in the process -- more than enough to win his bet with Harrell . CNN.com and iReport.com got an overwhelming response when we asked readers to send in photos and stories of their man caves : spaces that foster men 's hobbies , decorating skills and technological needs . Some of their stories were so outrageous that we decided to profile a few of them . Klein 's man cave , however , was the only one to combine dramatic weight loss and cross-dressing , so we had to give him a call to find out more . Klein said his friends wanted to talk about two things while he was building his man cave : how his amazing bar was coming along and how they thought Harrell would lose the bet . The bet was popular with everyone Klein and Harrell knew . Their wives even started a dress committee , to make sure the loser was appropriately attired , and their kids delighted in the prospect of seeing Dad in a dress . To lose weight , Klein said Harrell played golf and cut out chips , while he adopted a balanced , calorie-restricted diet , and spent at least six hours a day on the man cave , which took most of his free time . Klein did all the electric wiring himself , worked on the framing and put three coats of paint on all the walls and ceilings . He attributes his weight loss success to replacing TV-watching with hard work . `` I lost at least 10 pounds on the painting alone , '' he said . `` My neck was sore for weeks . '' Klein knew he could n't build the kind of man cave he wanted all by himself , so he contracted out some of the big jobs , like cutting a hole in the foundation to add 6-foot-tall French doors to the side of the house in place of a window well , and finding someone to do the woodwork on a custom bar he designed . Although he started out with a carefully planned budget , Klein quickly found he needed to spend more money to make his dreams a reality . The hardest part , he said , was finding someone who could build his bar for a price he could afford . After some disheartening estimates ( one was $ 65,000 ) , Klein found Lyle Delfosse , a local furniture maker who had built libraries in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. , and constructed a chair for a U.S. Supreme Court justice over his long career . Now 76 and retired , Delfosse told Klein , `` I can build anything out of wood . '' Klein said Delfosse was true to his word , and they did n't go over the initial estimate of $ 19,000 , although he said Delfosse told him `` if he had it to do all over again , he 'd have charged double . '' Klein calls the bar `` magnificent , '' and said that when people come over to see it , they feel underdressed . Convinced he 'd saved money by doing a lot of the work himself , Klein splurged on a new sprinkler system . The bet he 'd made earlier in the year was on his mind , and he wanted to ensure that the grass in his front yard would be nice and green once the weigh-in arrived . At the height of summer , Klein 's man cave was finished , and he decided it was time to step on the scales . Harrell was 208 pounds , and Klein was 195 . At the party Klein threw to show off his new bar and theater , Harrell was ready . With some help from the dress committee , Harrell became Klein 's newly acquired , frock-sporting landscaper . The wives had sewn two pink , strapless dresses together to fit Harrell , and then layered on accessories like a bow-topped headband and a corsage . All decked out , Harrell graciously mowed Klein 's front yard , with 80 people cheering him on . Somehow , as Harrell was mowing , Klein 's new sprinkler system went off , soaking Harrell and his dress . In a phone interview , Klein was coy about who the perpetrator might have been . These days , Harrell has his own man cave , complete with bar . Klein points out that his bar is nicer , but says he 's got his buddy 's back : Harrell 's wife thinks a dishwasher would be a practical addition to the man cave , but Klein is trying to convince her that the keg refrigerator Harrell wants is a good idea . E-mail to a friend .
He builds man cave , loses 65 pounds in the process . Of all the man cave tales submitted to him , this is first to include a woman . Bar of man 's dreams is ` ` magnificent '' Dress committee puts two dresses together to suit the loser of the bet .