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Thinking of adding a Game Room?

Home Theater – Family Space – Man cave – Surround Sound – Game Room Additions

The evolution of the game room has taken on many meanings and certainly many design elements over the years and the understanding and expectations of what a game room should be is equally diverse. In trying to understand this evolution, you have to look at the generations within the family unit. Asking a millennial would probably get a definition of a place with multiple screen monitors hooked up to a supercomputer with a surround sound system around a gaming chair or two. Taking that same question to the millennia’s parents and the answer would be pretty different; maybe to be described as a family space that includes a home theater, fireplace and some nice seating areas for family interaction or a gathering place when guests come over. And finally, asking the parents’ parents, the millennia’s grandparents, and the room would be lined with wood paneling, a wall or corner full bar with the centerpiece being a billiard table or poker table or both.

All explanations, however vastly different, all have a common factor which is a place in the home to de-stress, a gathering place, a general place for anyone in the family either alone or with their guests to gather and enjoy. So how do you plan and create a space that addresses everyone’s expectations because the last thing you want is to invest all this time and money into your new game room and the kids never go in and don’t plan on it.

Think of it this way; everyone gets the concept behind a Man Cave and the ever so popular new fad of the She Shed; so in general theory we were able to segregate the entire family with these couple of projects. The kids probably weren’t getting the warm and fuzzy feeling of hanging out in the Man Cave, and dad would never imagine stepping foot in the She Shed, so yep, we did it to ourselves. Now, time to change all that. Don’t worry, the Man Cave and She Shed can stay, but now focus the attention on creating a true family space.

Now the creation of a game room family space can be renovating and building out a basement or adding an extension to your home, and both scenarios will need some professional help. The first step would be getting your design ideas together, deciding on by gathering the general consensus of what elements are important to each family member. Having that list of desirables is your starting point. The next step would be establishing a general budget for the project while giving yourself a little cushion room for anything that might add cost to the project including any changes you make during the renovation.

Once everyone in the household comes to an agreement a great next step is contacting an interior designer who can plan the looks and functionality of the entire project. When designs are final you will need to hand them off to a professional builder, a general contractor will oversee the entire building project and handle the subcontracting of specialists needed such as electricians, plumbers and other specialty tradesmen along with also working with the interior designer to ensure you get what your expecting, especially if changes or alterations are made mid project.

If your project plan isn’t so elaborate to involve a building an additional space at your home, you can go on a smaller scale and get very similar, and maybe even a bit cozier, results. A game room can be simply accomplished by converting an unused or underused room that already exists. That spare bedroom or obsolete den area can be a great place to deem the new family space, and at a fraction of the cost and time to create but planning for a smaller space while trying to accomplish the family wish list will be a much more difficult task taking all decoration, accessibility and functionality in consideration.

Don’t lose track of the goal which is having a comfortable family gathering area, basically build or create your game room where it will best fit for the family needs and budget. And lastly, fill it with awesome stuff, use items that are engaging and people want to pick something up and participate. Keep it comfortable and inviting, and whatever your space turns out to be; keep in mind the most important element is what it was always intended to be, which is much more than a new space in your home.