Where should a cage sit in a room?

Where to put a BDSM cage comes down to one line: the line of sight between the person inside and the person outside. Everything else about placement, from the door to the floor to the view from the hallway, follows from keeping that line clear, short and comfortable for both of you.

A cage also lives in the room every day, used or not. A good position works for scenes and for ordinary life, and the two rarely pull in different directions if you plan them together.

Start with the line of sight

Decide where the person outside will be during a scene: an armchair, the edge of the bed, a cushion on the floor. Then place the cage so the person inside can be seen clearly from there, with nothing in between. The person outside needs to see the person inside, their face and any non-verbal signal, without leaning or moving.

Think about the view from inside, too. The person in the cage will be looking out for as long as the scene lasts. Facing the partner outside keeps them connected. Facing a bare wall, a window or the door changes how a scene feels, so choose deliberately.

The door side

The door is how every scene ends, so keep the floor in front of it clear, so the person inside can come out easily, with somewhere comfortable to go straight away. Keep that side away from walls, furniture and the swing of the room's own door.

The person outside should reach the cage door from where they'll sit in a few steps, without moving anything. Ask us how a particular cage's door opens before you order.

Heat, light and air

Keep the cage away from radiators, heaters and hot lamps, and away from cold draughts from windows and doors. A warm, even room is the aim.

Light the cage from the side or from the room around it. A bright lamp shining into the cage is tiring for the person inside and makes it harder for the person outside to see them clearly. A low lamp on a dimmer near the partner outside can suit you both.

The floor

Put a rug or mat under the cage to protect the floor, and a firm mat or cushion inside, chosen for the positions you've agreed. Check the floor is level where the cage will go before it's assembled. On a hard floor, a rug beside the door gives the person coming out somewhere warm to step.

Shapes and rooms

Each form sits differently in a room.

• Tower is tall and narrow, with clean lines, and reads like a column in a room.
• Kennel is low and compact, with evenly spaced vertical bars, and sits low in a room's sightlines.
• Chamber, with its rounded top over an octagonal base, suits a position where it can be seen from more than one side.

For the size of any cage, ask us, and check it against the room before you order.

Discretion and shared homes

Settle early on how much of the cage a visitor should see. In a room set aside for scenes, it can sit in the open. In a bedroom or a room guests use, a position out of the line from the door draws less attention than the middle of the floor. A finish close to the wall colour helps it settle in.

Check what can be seen from outside, too: from windows after dark with the lamps on, and from the hallway when the door is open.

A cage beside a bed

When a cage shares a room with a bed, the bed can become where the person outside sits during a scene, and where aftercare happens afterwards. That makes a short, clear route from the cage door to the bed especially useful. Keep the cage away from the route someone takes to the door at night, and make sure it doesn't block either side of the bed.

In a dedicated room

A room given over to scenes lets the cage take the position that suits scenes best. Put the cage where the partner outside has a comfortable seat with a clear view, and where the door faces the aftercare spot. If the room also holds a bed or a cross, plan a route between the pieces so nobody walks through the clear floor in front of the cage door.

Moving a cage later

Take your time over the first position, because every move means checking the cage again before use. If you need to move it, take it apart following the printed instructions, with enough people for its weight, then re-tighten every fixing and check the frame and the door before it's used again.

Before you decide

• Can the person outside see clearly into the cage from where they'll sit?
• Is there clear floor on the door side, with somewhere to go straight away?
• Is the cage away from heat sources, draughts and lamps?
• Is the floor level, and protected?
• Have you checked the size of the cage against the room? If not, ask us.
• Have you thought about who else sees the room?

Then agree how the cage will be used. Consent is a yes that's freely given, informed, specific, ongoing and withdrawable at any moment, agreed sober for a scene that stays sober. Never leave anyone caged and unattended. Agree a safeword and a non-verbal signal that works through the bars; either one ends the scene immediately and is never discussed or overridden in the moment. Our guide to what to agree before cage play covers the rest. For the uses, see what a BDSM cage is used for, and for the forms, our guide to choosing a cage. All our BDSM cages are made to order, with a current lead time of 8–14 weeks.