Designing the ultimate entertaining room

“That’s going straight to the pool room”, the famous phrase uttered by Darryl Kerrigan in ‘The Castle’, struck a chord with every man in the country who has ever wanted or owned their own ‘man-cave’.

But whilst man-caves are still popular, modern entertaining spaces tend to be far more sophisticated today and cater for the entire family.

In fact modern entertaining spaces often have a resort or even nightclub finish and feel about them.

So what goes into making the ultimate entertaining room? Well I’m glad you asked. Let’s take a look at some of the things involved …

Location

Perhaps the most important consideration of all is where within your home you are going to build your entertainment room.

The relationship that this space has with other spaces within your home is crucial in how functional and inviting your entertaining space is. Get this wrong and you’re looking at years of frustration.

Your entertainment room can be part of your main house or it can be a separate space, using a garage or large shed. Those external to the home have advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the fact that they are away from the home which is handy if you’re having a noise party, the disadvantage is that your space is away from the home which means you now need to travel a greater distance to get to things like the kitchen, toilet etc.

When part of the main home you need to carefully consider the noise factor, particularly when it comes to the sleeping areas within your home and also your neighbours. Sound-proofing can be an option, but I would personally always choose positioning over sound dampening when planning where to situate the room.

Access to food and toilets/bathrooms also needs to be considered. You can of course have refrigerators and toilets in your entertaining room if you have the space, but simply locating this room close to your existing kitchen and bathroom spaces can save money and valuable entertaining space.

Isolation or connection

As part of location you also need to consider whether you want this space to be isolated from the rest of the home, or more open and permanently connected. Do you see this space being an extension of your kitchen/family area, or a space that is more separated? Sliding or concertina doors can of course give you the option of having it open or more secluded depending on who and how you’re entertaining.

Indoor outdoor

A lot of entertaining in Brisbane is done outside due to the favourable sub-tropical climate, so it makes sense that your internal entertaining space be in some way connected to your external entertaining areas. Connecting your games room to your outdoor eating area, or swimming pool area can give the entire space an exclusive resort style feel and allow you to cater for large groups and a variety of activities. The ability to close off and separate the two spaces is an added bonus.

Inclusions

The fun part of planning an entertaining space is working out what you’re going to put in it. And the list of possibilities is almost endless, limited only by available space and your budget. Some of the more common inclusions are – pool tables, pinball machines, arcade style video games, air hockey tables and foosball tables.

Some less common, but often highly desirable options include things like jukeboxes and even ten pin bowling lanes.Entertaining rooms typically have projectors and/or large screen televisions, particularly for those that enjoy watch sports or music videos.

Bars are also very common inclusions and often the motivation for the room itself. They have the benefit of giving the room a ‘centre’ a focal point where people to gather. Once again the size and style of your bar will be dictated in some ways by the size of your budget and the space available.

Seating & dining

A great entertaining space obviously needs create comforts like seating and places to rest drinks or plates. In planning your entertaining space it’s important to consider the potential of areas away from the main entertainment where people can enjoy a conversation without being completely removed from the action.

Space for your inclusions is important, and therefore you might not want too many tables and chairs if any at all. Another option might be around the wall seating, with bars and ledges for resting drinks on. Bar stools can be a great option for entertaining rooms. Lounges are another consideration, particularly if you intend to watch television or movies in this same room.

Of course this is really just the beginning of what goes into planning an entertainment/games room. At dsarchitecture we understand how to create the ideal entertaining space that will achieve your goals, whilst blending in with the rest of your home.

So if you’re considering adding an entertaining room to your home, contact dsarchitecture today and let us help you create the perfect space for your needs.