10 Tips to Create the Ultimate Gaming Room

Video game rooms are a great way to help get more immersed into a game, regardless of the platform. Depending on budget and space, a gaming room can allow you to bring in more computing power, louder and fuller sound, storage for all of your accessories and decals, and can give you an excuse to use that unused room in your home. Whether you’re playing Candy Crush in your bonus room or Fortnite in your small office space, here are 10 gaming room ideas for how to create the ultimate room on any budget.

1) Bring your gaming room idea to life: pick a theme and decide on decor

Before you start purchasing products or ripping down walls, it’s important to decide on an aesthetic or theme for the gaming room. It’s your chance to embrace your favorite game, character, or genre, and manifest your room around that. If you’re using art try to choose art that compliments the game such as a boutique poster and print resource. If you’re framing, make sure the frame contrasts the art – the contrast will make it pop.

Do you like Mario? Try using a lot of reds and yellows, incorporate mushroom décor, and set up lights highlighting cool wall art and posters. Is Zelda your favorite? Focus more on greens and browns, memorabilia, and custom artwork. Fancy Call of Duty? Try embodying realistic art and camouflage colors throughout your room, and make sure your gaming setup is top tier. 

This first step is about brainstorming and being creative with your space. Choose something that you like and run with it. You want to be able to walk into your gaming room and feel inspired by simply being in your space.

2) Ensure you have a reliable internet connection

While this may sound obvious, it’s so important. Most games nowadays require an internet connection to play or at least have certain features that are unusable without one. Having a consistent connection will raise your gaming experience to the next level. 

While one gigabit (Gbps) and even 2 Gbps internet is all the rage nowadays, you don’t actually need very much internet speed to play an online video game. Most people agree that you only need a download speed of 5 Mbps or faster to enjoy the most a game has to offer. Removing the nagging worry of losing connection in the middle of a match or online chat is a huge boost to the effectiveness of your gaming room.

3) Incorporate tabletops, storage, renovation, and customization

Now that you’ve chosen a theme and have your internet all sorted, it’s time to make some larger changes and additions to your gaming room. This is the stage when you can tear down a wall, commission a custom-built desk or storage space, or purchase that desk you’ve had your eye on for months. The entire room is now yours to mold.

Desks: Your desk will likely be a centerpiece of your gaming room, so investing some extra time and money will make your room feel more like your own. There are many routes you can take depending on your space, but some common custom desk styles include:

• Floating/wall-mounted
• Standing/adjustable height 
• Corner
• Tall
• Curved

If you have limited space, use a floating desk to allow for more storage. If you have more space, try a longer, curved desk for extra desktops and decals. If you are going the more expensive custom route, you can even incorporate many of the above styles into one unique desk. 

3. Other furniture options and gaming room customization ideas:

Shelving units, side tables, couches, custom display cases for your memorabilia, TV stands, and mirrors are just some of the other furniture options to consider. There are also countless room customization or renovation possibilities. Add or remove a window or wall, paint the walls, add new carpet, or do anything else your heart desires. 

It’s important that you conquer the big projects before moving on to the nitty-gritty. This process will vary widely depending on your budget, but even DIYing a floating shelf can add that extra touch of personality. 

Creating the ultimate gaming room should center around two vital components: comfort and organization. You want to select a comfortable chair with lumbar support for endless fun, and you want to ensure it’s easy to find your games and accessories. A sleek lateral open shelf cabinet allows you to store all your games and extra equipment while sticking with the aesthetic of the room.

4) Choose a perfect gaming seat

You’ll likely spend most of your time here between consoles and your desktop, so it should be the pinnacle of comfort and style. Spending time fidgeting or squirming trying to get comfortable only takes away from your high-level gameplay. 

There are loads of different gaming chair styles to choose from here, ranging from a standard desk chair, to a custom-fitted leather racer chair with magnetic armrests and an adjustable headrest, to a gaming armchair lounger. The main priority should be to get a good chair that will provide support throughout your gaming session. Purchase a chair that keeps you comfortable and allows you to focus for hours on end. Don’t feel the need to overstretch your budget; there are plenty of affordable options that provide comfort and longevity.

5) Invest in quality displays

You’ll be looking at your displays for hours on end while you game, so choose carefully. There are three general choices to choose from: monitors, televisions, and projectors. Monitors benefit from their smaller size and versatility, while projection screens can enhance your experience by increasing immersion. Not only do projector screens give you a cinematic feel, but they are better for your eyes as well.

Projectors are generally best for much larger rooms and are hard to move from one room to another. TVs are the perfect option for those who like consoles and will be sitting farther away from the screen.

6) Craft your ultimate hardware setup

Are you a console fan? A desktop dueler? A VR wiz? Regardless, your gaming room needs gaming hardware. Consider a couple of options before splurging on a powerhouse setup. Style and price are also important.

Before you purchase your dream console, or before hiding them behind a cupboard, take your entire room into account. Don’t ignore the console’s or computer’s aesthetic value, and instead work them into the room. A console can be a statement piece that sits on top of a desk or TV unit. A computer can sit prominently, blending into your room’s theme. To level up your gaming room, let your hardware breathe freely.

Numbers are king when it comes to computer performance vs price. Consoles are generally fixed in their performance capabilities, but desktops and laptops can be built with specific specifications in mind. Keep an eye out for these metrics when buying a computer:

7) Decide on a quality sound system

The audio quality that comes directly from a TV or laptop is generally poor. Adding external speakers will improve your audio exponentially. It adds dimensions to your sound that would otherwise be lost. Let’s look into some popular speaker styles.

8) Add soundproofing to your gaming room

Gaming is loud – it’s preferable that way – but you don’t want to get distracted or distract others in your home. Because of this, it’s a good idea to add soundproofing to your gaming room.

If you have the budget for it, include a mix of soundproof paint, thick doors, and custom panels to seamlessly blend strong soundproofing and interesting visuals into your gaming room. Panels and full-wall systems not only help with acoustics but also protect your walls from hits and impacts, and can be customized to your specifications. If you’re on a tighter budget, apply dampening seals on the cracks around your door/s and window/s and use a thick rug. After applying the soundproofing, this space can also double as a podcast space or music studio for you or anyone else in your home.

Whether it’s a basement or a bedroom, the right soundproofing is critically important for a gaming room. Soundproofing needs to serve two purposes: giving you the best possible audio quality inside the room while limiting noise emitting outside. 

9) Stock up on gaming room accessories

Who doesn’t like accessories? Customize your room to your heart’s content with a headset, gaming mouse, mechanical keyboard, figurines, microphones, charging ports, a gaming mouse pad, or whatever else you can think of. If you’re a streamer, make sure to grab a webcam as well. A pair of headphones can elevate any gaming room. To keep things organized, add a sleek and functional headphone stand to display your gaming headset when not in use. If you’re on a budget, just get what accessories are necessary. Anything that costs more than $150 is marginally better than a cheaper option. 

It’s all about the experience, and equipment is key. To help make you the best gamer you can be, you’ll want to find a lightweight mouse that fits your hand perfectly, a fast keyboard so you can make the right plays, and a quality headset to hear subtle sounds.

10) Incorporate lighting 

It’s time to spruce up your room and transform your space with home lighting. We aren’t talking about simple lamps and fluorescents. We’re talking about strip lighting, Bluetooth lightbulbs, backlights, custom-shaped panels, and hanging decals. Lighting can be the perfect addition to help create a gaming atmosphere. Correctly placed lighting not only creates a more aesthetically pleasing experience, it can help with eye strain too. Lighting may seem unnecessary, but it definitely adds to the aesthetic and quality of your room. These lights can also be synced up with your gaming computers, mouse, keyboard, and even headset to weave your entire room together into an RGB LED explosion.

Since all the suggested lighting uses LEDs, which consume less electricity, you’ll be able to save energy at home and avoid racking up your monthly bill. 

Although many people tend to game at night, sitting in the dark can cause headaches and eye strain. Using LED lights with a daylight color temperature can help prevent this. If you don’t want bright lights at all times, dimmable LED lights will allow you to adjust your game room aesthetic.

Your gaming room is your space – your home within your home. By following these 10 gaming room ideas, your room, big or small, will shine. Above all, be sure to have fun with it.