More on Game Room Remodeling

Continuing in the spirit of the holidays, I'm going to take a brief respite from the "Home Improvement Showdown" and take a slightly less combative look at a subject I touched on a couple weeks ago: Game Rooms.

Creating or remodeling a game room can be almost as fun as enjoying the game room when it's done. That's because there's more room for creative freedom in game room remodeling than in almost any other sort of specialized remodeling job.

It's all about personalization, style, and bringing out your inner child.

Of course, you'll want to be thinking like an adult when it comes to key decisions about spacing, location, cost, and electrical wiring. The best rule of thumb is to make a comprehensive list of everything you might want in your game room, and to then assess each component in a practical manner. It's a nice way to encourage your fun-loving side without surrendering to it. Most game room projects start as basement remodeling jobs, but there is no steadfast rule that a game room has to be in the basement. Some people adapt part of living room area, bedroom, mezzanine, or even indoor patio spaces into game rooms.

Usually, you'll want to pick a room that's not a major traffic area in your house, both for safety reasons and plain old convenience.

Once you've chosen a room, carefully measure its dimensions, and consider not only the size of the games you which to include, but the amount of space required to play them! This is especially true of games like ping pong (table tennis), which can require considerable space outside the table itself (and a reasonably high ceiling) for ideal playing conditions. Games that require electricity, like air hockey or pinball, will need to be in close proximity to a wall, so investigate your outlets and take into account any new ones that may need to be installed. The rest of the game room design all depends on the interrelationships of the games themselves, and how many people you expect to be participating at any given time. For example, don't put a dart board right next to a billiard table if you plan on having a lot of friends over in your game room. We don't want an unsuspecting pool shark getting a stray dart in the elbow as he lines up a shot!

Work with what you have. A smaller game room can be just as much fun as a large game room. You just need to accentuate the positive, and create an environment perfectly suited to enjoying the activities you, your friends, and your family enjoy best!