Do you wish your family had a space to watch TV, play games, and enjoy the fun things in life? Your family could use an entertainment room!
Often called a den or TV room, these rooms provide a central place for your family to watch TV and be a little more rambunctious. This leaves the rest of your home more peaceful and focused on other things your family loves or needs to do.
If you’re thinking of an entertainment room remodel, learn how to approach the project by reading this blog post!
Why an entertainment room?
What is life if not something to be enjoyed? Entertainment rooms give into this philosophy and provide your family with a space to enjoy yourselves, be together, and have fun!
Entertainment rooms are great for homes as they centralize a place to watch tv, play games, and generally have a ball. Not only does this lead to a room more focused on providing you with a good entertainment experience, but it leaves the rest of your home more peaceful.
While your children are loudly playing video games, you can be in your living room reading without interruption. Similarly, you can be watching the big game on Sunday (Go Pats!) while your teenager does homework in your kitchen.
We’ve been saying for years — TV rooms are the best way to keep a family at peace.
A living room is not an entertainment room
One of the primary reasons many families don’t invest the space in a tv room is because they just make do with their living room.
We understand this! Particularly in many of the smaller homes in Beverly and the North Shore, there is only so much space in a home! Why not combine your living room and tv room into 1 space?
In reality, these rooms are designed for different purposes:
- Living room: A quiet space for your family to relax. Often combined with a kitchen in an open concept design, these spaces are great for reading and conversing with company or family members.
- Entertainment room: A place for activity. Here, you can enjoy a movie, play games, and make more of a ruckus without worrying about disrupting others in your home.
Because of this, adding a tv room will actually provide you with 2 new rooms, as you’ll get your living room back to what it was designed to do.
Where will it go?
Another big reason many homeowners don’t opt for an entertainment room is that they just don’t have the space.
For those that have the resources, home additions are a great option for north shore homeowners. This will allow for a design that will fit perfectly with your needs. Another great option for those without space is a basement remodel.
Both of these options are great, as they can be built away from major traffic areas of your home, allowing for a more isolated experience.
Different elements of a TV room
Every homeowner has different needs. Some families love movies and watching TV, while others may be more focused on sports. Some may love playing pool, while others may love board games.
While designs will vary based on your priorities, most entertainment rooms are centered around some fundamental elements.
Entertainment fit for you
The first step to an unbelievable entertainment room is to make sure it’s centered around what you and your family love. The traditional view is that TV rooms need a massive screen tv and a pool table, but this may not align with your priorities.
Before diving into an entertainment room, speak with the whole family to see what they want out of the space. While it’s not always good to ask your children their opinion on such a massive investment, realistically they’ll be the ones who enjoy it the most. It should in large part be designed around what they like to do and what will keep them busy.
Space to enjoy
You’ll want to make sure there’s plenty of spaces for you to actually enjoy your investment.
One common issue we’ve seen before is a room centered around a pool table that doesn’t have enough room to actually play pool. We’ve also seen home theatres with beautiful screens and seating that don’t have enough space for an optimal viewing experience. If you have children, you’re also going to need enough space for them to be running around playing and enjoying themselves.
Empty space is just as valuable as furnished space, so planning for actual use of your entertainment, not just placement, is crucial.
BIG Screens
While not every entertainment room needs to be completely centered around the television, we haven’t found many entertainment rooms we love without a TV. We recommend having a sitting area where you and your family can have a movie night, watch sports, or view your favorite shows.
For cinephiles, this could mean a big projection screen where you can watch the latest Marvel movies or Oscar favorites. For a room less focused on viewing movies or sports, you can put a smaller, high-quality TV around a sofa.
Refreshments to please
One of the most requested features we get when building out TV rooms are bar areas where homeowners can store drinks, prepare snacks, and sit and chat.
These areas can be as large or small as you’d like, but generally involve:
- Bar seating
- Refrigerator with icemaker
- Dishwasher
- Sink
- Microwave
- Oven
Bars are also a great way to make your home entertainment ready! Your entertainment room will be a great place to watch the Pats in the Super Bowl or host your partner’s surprise birthday party.
For a next level bar, install a keg for tap beer during the Celtics game or a wine fridge for family movie night.
Create a space for your family to enjoy what you love
Godfrey Design Build designs and builds entertainment rooms custom to each and every family we work with. Our entertainment room designs are created with your needs right at the center. We want to build a space for your family to create cherished memories you’ll keep close forever.
Contact us today to learn how to get started.