Designing a game room is a fun experience, but it does require a little thought and planning. When you get the opportunity to create a dedicated game room of your own, you want it to be a space that both caters to your family and guests and reflects your personal tastes and personality. You want it to be a place where family and friends can gather for hours of fun with a touch of competition. You also want it to be stylish and presentable, a room you can be proud of, filled with quality furniture and accessories. Whether it is a merged indoor-outdoor space, or a converted basement, you can design a beautiful game room, filled with the games, furniture and decor that speak best to your preferences and personality.
A few key principles to follow when designing your game room:
- Make provision for multiple activities, from pool and poker to board games, video games, maybe even vintage arcade games.
- Select quality materials. Your game room furniture and accessories are likely to see a lot of use, so choose good-quality materials from a reputable dealer. RAM Game Room is a leading, dedicated provider of game room equipment, and we carry a wide range of game room furniture and accessories in a variety of styles, all built to last.
- Remember to leave space in your game room. Don’t overcrowd it, especially if the room is quite small. This means choosing your games and furniture with care and discernment.
- Pay careful attention to lighting, from your bar lights to your pool table lights, and the freestanding lamps in the corners. Be sure to create the right atmosphere while providing enough light for all your games.
Why You Need a Bar and Bar Cabinets in Your Game Room
First of all, let’s talk about bars and bar cabinets. This is one aspect of your game room that you absolutely should not overlook, being crucial both for storage space and aesthetic value. A well-furnished bar area helps you to make the most efficient use of your space by providing plenty of neat storage space. Your bar can be a focal point for entertaining while you keep your game room tidy and welcoming by using your storage cabinets as a place to keep your bottles (especially with dedicated bottle shelves and wine racks), glasses (optimize your space even further with dedicated slots for stemware), and accessories such as cocktail shakers, utensils and even playing cards and pool room accessories. Our Prohibition Line offers a full-size cocktail bar that your guests can belly up to between billiards matches, or a mini bar to mix drinks in smaller spaces.
Aside from catering to the exact amount of storage space you need for your game room, you should also choose your bar cabinets based on the look and feel you have settled on. Our most popular bar cabinets include our English Phone Booth and English Police Booth Cabinets. These distinctive cabinets are replicas of two British icons. The Phone Booth Bar Cabinet is available in many classic colors, and comes with plenty of room for your glassware and bottles. The Police Booth is available in classic Blue, and even has enough space for a mini fridge. Both combine vintage charm with modern functionality.
Standard Poker Table Dimensions for the Perfect Fit
If your game room is going to include a poker table, your first step is to assess the available space and ensure that your table fits. If you are lucky enough to have a substantial amount of space, then you can opt for a genuine Texas Hold’Em table. If your space is more limited, you can always use a smaller, round table. These have the same features as a Texas Hold’Em table, but they are designed to fit into smaller spaces. Decide which area of your room you want to dedicate to poker and then measure its length and width to find the right dimensions. You should also consider the walls and other fixed structures to ensure you can create an area where you can provide plenty of room for you and your guests to sit comfortably. Consider doors, windows, pillars and other features that may affect the placement of your table.
The standard for standard poker table dimensions in casinos or for professional competitors is typically 84 by 42 inches. Ultimately, however, you can choose the size that best suits your game room and the area you have set aside for your poker nights.
The Best Billiard Pool Table Light to Increase Accuracy
Pool, snooker or billiards will probably be a central attraction in your game room. Once you have chosen the table with the right dimensions, and with your preferred design, the next step is to decide what furniture and accessories will surround it. Perhaps most importantly, which lights will you choose?
Billiard lights are an essential fixture in a pool room. They are not there merely to light the room. Rather, they provide focused light to the actual playing surface, eliminating shadow and casting a uniform light all across the table in order to heighten the accuracy of play. However, they are also a part of your interior design, which means you must choose your pool light and its shades carefully to ensure that it is in line with your chosen aesthetic. Your light will act as a centerpiece and set the ambiance and mood while also enhancing the experience and enjoyment of the game. Pool table lights come in all kinds of designs and sizes, from sleek minimalist sets to traditional knockdown billiard fixtures. Whatever you choose, just remember the WPA rules regarding pool table lighting. Your table must receive at least 520 lux (48 footcandles) of light at every point across its surface. If you want to ensure that your home pool table meets this standard, take the size of the table into account, as well as the size of the light fitting, the brightness of the bulbs, and the height at which it is suspended relative to the tabletop.
You don’t necessarily have to be too much of a stickler with your measurements. The point is just to ensure that the table is brightly and uniformly lit without any shadows on the surface.
Stylish Ways to Decorate Your Home Bar for a Better Look
Have you chosen a theme for your game room? If not, this should be your first step. You could choose pieces of furniture in different styles if you want to - that in itself could constitute a particular game room aesthetic. However, designing and decorating your game room, as with any other space in your house, is best served by a unified and consistent look and feel. Some of the most popular styles include English Pub and Prohibition. RAM Game Room has created dedicated collections of bars, bar cabinets and other accessories in these specific styles.
Are you going for a vintage game room or a more contemporary look? Tropical or industrial? Do you want a Tiki bar beside your pool or an elaborate man cave complete with your favorite music and movie memorabilia? You could also potentially combine two or more of these elements, as long as it is tasteful and suits your personality.
If you want a vintage theme, for example, you may want to include plenty of natural, dark woods, and vintage glassware. If you are more interested in a tropical theme, you will want a bamboo tiki bar, wicker furniture and a few tropical plants.
A modern minimalist bar would include sleek lines, contemporary furniture and neutral colors, while an industrial look will replace the wood with metal, concrete and exposed brick. Once you know your ideal bar and game room theme, your design and decorating job becomes much easier.
Different Types of Bar Stools for Personalized Comfort
Once you have your bar set up, you will need to add places for your guests to sit. Selecting bar stools is an easier task once you have settled on a theme for your bar. Even so, there are still several options to consider: counter height or bar height, backed or backless, fixed or adjustable, with or without footrests. All of these options have their merits. The final decision is generally a matter of taste, comfort, style and budget.
Most modern designs, especially for game rooms and bar areas, range from about 30 to 42 inches in height. While planning your bar or game room, be very conscious of the height of your bar and tables, and be sure to select seats that will match them. Adjustable stools are always a great option. They are generally more comfortable, as they can be adjusted to suit each user, and this also makes them a healthier choice. They improve posture and reduce back pain, and are also known to promote better circulation. This is because they can be adjusted to an optimal position where the user can maintain the optimal “S” spine position. They are also just more comfortable and can help relieve stress and tension. However, simpler, fixed bar stools can work just as well. It really depends on your tastes and preferences. Examine each option carefully, look at them in light of your overall design, and make a careful, considered choice.
Game Room Furniture Ideas and Must-Haves
Let’s take a look at some of the key features of a game room, some of the must-have items that will bring your game room to life.
Firstly, you will need high-quality game tables. That includes your pool or billiards table RAM Game Room does not supply billiards tables, but once you have installed yours, we can help you add a few key accessories to finish the look, including lights and cue holders. However, we can provide quality poker tables, from round ones to traditional Texas Hold ‘Em tables. If you have additional space, a shuffleboard or dartboard would be a nice addition, adding more activities for you, your family and your guests. Chairs and stools are the next important addition. Ensure that there is enough seating for guests at the bar, at the poker table, and that there is spectator seating around the pool table.
Finally, why not add a few accessories as finishing touches? Choose a couple of whimsical bar signs and statues, hang a few paintings, lay a couple of beautiful rugs - whatever suits your taste and pulls the room together.
RAM Game Room is dedicated to providing quality game room furniture and accessories. If you are currently designing a game room, feel free to shop our complete range of furniture, or contact us for more information on our products.
