Make your nerdy friends jealous with a sweet game room

For most people, having an organized room is essential for being comfortable. Your room is your safe haven; it’s the place you go to relax and enjoy what little free time you have. As such, it should be a place you’re proud of. When you’re a gamer, it’s extra important to have a cool place to play your games.

Below are some tips for making your game room one that your nerdy friends will envy.

CHOOSING A ROOM

If your house has a basement, take advantage of it! Basements are perfect for gaming. I refer to mine as “The Cave.” It’s dark, quiet, and the perfect setting for hardcore gaming sessions.

If you don’t have a basement, don’t fret! A spare bedroom can be made into an awesome game room.

Sometimes, a spare room is not an option. Don’t worry; your bedroom doesn’t just have to be where you sleep; it can easily be made into a place to game in as well (Gaming in bed: one of the best feelings ever).

ORGANIZATION

No matter what room you’re setting up as a game room, organization is essential.

If you’re a hardcore gamer, chances are you have lots of games. Sometimes it’s hard to find a bookshelf that will hold them all, but look nice as well.

Target sells something that is absolutely perfect for holding all of your games, movies, controllers, and extra wires.

I have all of my games on the shelves (with plenty of room for more), and I have all of my controllers, extra wires, and NES/SNES/N64 games in the drawers.

We love our many game systems, but sometimes it’s hard to know what to do with all of the wires that bring them to life. Some TV stands have holes in the back cut out to fish your wires through. If your TV is mounted on a wall, there is a solution for you! Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, and pretty much any retail store that sells electronics should carry a “wire cover kit.” It’s a strip that mounts to the wall to cover all of your cords that hang from the wall-mounted television.

DECORATION

Here comes the fun part. When decorating a game room, you can really express yourself and make the room “yours.”

Get posters. Lots and lots of posters. You will be surprised how many gaming posters you will find at places like Wal-Mart, Michael’s, and FYE. If you choose the online shopping route, there are thousands of gaming posters on Ebay. Your posters don’t have to be just related to gaming, either; I’m sure you have other loves, like music, movies, and art. Hang up whatever kind of posters you like.

FURNITURE

To have a great game room, it’s important to be as comfortable as possible. Target sells sphere and butterfly chairs that are great for gaming and relatively inexpensive.

Bean bag chairs are also a great option for a game room.

Storage ottomans are great because they serve as a footrest and also as a place to hide some of your extra junk.

If you’re like me and have a bunch of awesome collector’s edition items, get a nice bookcase with adjustable shelves or some nice wall shelves to proudly display it all.

Most importantly, improvise! Everyone has an old nightstand or table lying around in the storage room. Take one of those pieces and use it to display all of your favorite collector's edition pieces.

If you choose to get a coffee table for your game room, here’s a fun idea: Gather all of your favorite clippings from gaming magazines, and arrange them on the coffee table. Then, get a piece of glass cut to the exact size of your coffee table. Put the glass on top, and voila—your boring coffee table is now awesome.

To keep up with all of the cool game room decorating items I find while perusing the internet, check out my Pinterest from time to time here.