Game Room Before & After
While the boys are away at summer camp this week I thought it would be a good time to show you their upstairs game room.
We absolutely love having an upstairs game room for the boys and believe me, it gets a lot of use. If they're not in the pool or playing outside, this is where you'll find them along with a few of their buddies. This is where we watch movies as a family, practice music, read and play XBox. And every Friday night that coffee table is covered with Chinese food.
The walls went from tan to Sherwin Williams Repose Gray (7015). The furniture is from Ikea. I'm a fan of their stylish pieces AND it's easy on the budget. My boys aren't too hard on furniture so while I know their things aren't heirlooms, everything I've bought from Ikea has always held up great for us and I never hesitate to recommend them to clients on a budget.
You might be wondering why we left the carpet. We had a very short turnaround to move in this house and there just wasn't time to have it replaced. It's very good quality carpet, it's just an unfortunate shade of blue. For now, we're living with it and embracing the retro vibe :) The fun stripe rug was a bargain from HomeGoods.
Our previous home had built in bookcases in the game room and we were missing the storage. For this room, we purchased four Billy bookcases in black/brown with height extension shelves added on the top to make them taller and floated the Ektorp loveseat with chaise in front (Svenby gray slipcover). Clip on lights ($9.99 each) add great atmosphere in the evening.
Opposite the bookcase wall is the television on a smaller wall. We decided to put the big flat screen upstairs because we didn't want a huge television in our living room and I didn't want to have to decorate around it. They are just so big!!!! Even with the monster tv upstairs I was wishing it would disappear a little. Chalkboard paint on the wall behind it did the trick!
The rhino is fromWest Elm. I picked up the smaller mounts on sale from Hobby Lobby's safari section and and spray painted them with glossy white paint to match the rhino.
The room is filled with all the things that my boys love. There are even a few small storage pieces from their nursery that have been able to move up with them and now hold big boy things. The union jack banner is from Holly Mathis Interiors (thanks friend!). It's really long and brings a fun graphic into the room.
I love the atmosphere in this room. With the gray walls and slipcover along with the black furniture, it's darker than the rest of the house. Perfect for a lounge/media/game room and perfect for my guys.