Tips on Building a Game Room
Be creative with your entertainment space!
Every home needs a space where the family can gather together and enjoy leisurely activities like playing games, watching movies, or simply spending time together. Additionally, there are many avid gamers out there who would love their own video gaming room complete with a console, video games, and a comfortable gaming chair. Either way, if you don't have a spare room to turn into an dedicated gaming room, a designated gaming area in the living room or a home office will work just as well. Whether you choose to invest in video games, a ping-pong table, or a simple game table, you can create a gaming setup that works well with your home. These game room ideas can help you deck out your arcade-like gaming setup, or a small gaming entertainment center in no time.
1. Location
While having a designed game room for you and your family would be great, not all homes have this luxury. Even if you didn't have a game room designated during your home-building process, you can still create an awesome gaming space in a pre-existing room.
A great example is an underutilized guest bedroom. This space can easily be converted it into a gaming area for the kids or the gamer in your home. Our sample homeowners created a plan and chose furniture pieces that allowed an easy transformation of the guest room into a gaming room setup.
It’s important to think about your gaming storage needs when you are converting an existing room into a media room or game room. You’ll definitely want to keep the room neat and have a place to put all of the board games, DVDs, and gaming consoles. Wall-mounted accent shelves are always a good option and can serve to display gaming decor and wall art. Whatever your gaming room ideas are, there are many ways to bring them to life.
The second thing to consider with a game room is what types of activities or games will actually be played in that space. For example, if you know that your family likes to play pool or billiards, then you need to identify the size of pool table that you want to incorporate in the space. The average pool table is 8 feet long and 4 feet wide, and placement guidelines strongly suggest that you have at least 48ʺ between the end of the table and the wall or adjacent furniture piece so that the player has room to comfortably use the pool cue. Pool tables retail between $4,000 – $8,000 depending on the style of table and the customization options available.
If your family loves to play chess, foosball, or even board games, you want to make sure that you have a gaming table that's large enough to hold the game pieces and provide comfortable seating for each player. Ambient lighting is another must-have to set the tone of the game room atmosphere that you desire.
If you prefer a retro video gaming setup then you can consider investing in arcade games and matching decor. For the adult gamers, a bar area is another must-have for your game room.
Seating options can include a sofa, cushions for the floor if the game is played on the coffee table, or comfortable chairs that fit around a table without making the players feel cramped.
Typically family gaming night activities include snacks and beverages, so if you have the capacity in your game room, think about incorporating a place to grab things like popcorn or drinks. This way your family doesn't have to trek all the way to the kitchen (or even in some cases another level of the home) to access snacks during the gaming night activities.
You can do something as simple as placing a cabinet in one corner of the room to organize and store dry goods, or you can take a more elaborate approach and have a custom cabinet built to display your favorite candies and add a beverage refrigerator to cool your favorite drinks.
Having a custom cabinet built into your space can add about $1,500 to the cost of your project when you consider the construction of the cabinets, painting of the cabinets, and the countertop material.
No matter what your ideal gaming room setup is, we've got you covered.
Award-winning, Baton Rouge-based interior designer and content creator Arianne Bellizaire has been named a High Point Market Authority Style Spotter (2015), Perlick Ambassador of Cool (2017), Villeroy & Boch Color Challenge Winner (2017), Modenus Blog Tour invitee (2016 & 2019), and Modenus DesignHound (Spain and London 2016, Surfaces 2018). She was also selected as an Ambassador for NYDC 2020 What's New What's Next. Her work and expertise have been featured in Forbes, Rue Daily, House Beautiful, Good Housekeeping, Business Of Home, and USA Today.
