Paint, What a Paint! Help me color my 80's Gameroom!

[ArcaMan]

Ok folks, I am finally starting my gameroom ... It is going to be an 80's themed room in my basement ... well actually most of the basement and I started a blog to chronicle my adventures

Currently the room is white with florescent lighting ... that has got to go!

I am trying to come up with some good suggestions for paint and thought I might throw this out there for you all to help out

This room is going to contain a home theater area, 4-5 video games and hopefully at least 1 pinball, a foosball table, darts and a wall mounted bar. (wish I had space for a real bar).

Considerations:

1. must be something "Fun" ... bright colors
2. must be something not too crazy that objects mounted on the wall are lost (planning to mount various pieces of memorabilia from 80's fashion to Alf posters etc.)

Right now I have a couple paint splotches on the wall to test out how I like various colors, take a look ...

http://80sgameroom.blogspot.com

Thanks!

James

[gamecreature]

I would avoid primary colors, those are too "young." I would suggest some tint of the yellow or red instead.

[TheCaptain]

Orange, with a big white stripe running through it.

Hells yeah.

[MikeDeuce]

Have a similar thing in mind myself and I was at a bookstore flipping through this book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811853195/104-0211079-5440702?v=glance&n=283155

Which proved to be great inspiration and made the wheels churn.

They have a website (terrible UI warning): http://www.iam8bit.net/

[Howard_Casto]

I would avoid primary colors, those are too "young." I would suggest some tint of the yellow or red instead.

Primary colors may be too young, but at least they aren't too feminine like pastel anything.

[Howard_Casto]

My suggestion... paint the whole room black and put in black carpet/tile.  Then you make it "fun" by putting brightly colored stuff on the walls. 

Walls should always be a backdrop for something else.  When you try to make a wall stand out when unmatchable stuff is against it (like cabs), what you end up doing is making the room look very busy. 

Since all games from the 80's usually had a black background it seems sensible that your room should too.  Then take blank areas of the wall (this is key  you don't want to do it where a cab is going to be put in front of it, ect) and paint/cut/whatever sprites or your favorite games in bold primary colors, just like they were in the games.  Nothing is more 80's then pixelized art. 

Mind you you can put a stripe on the wall or something but you want to be careful.  The eye tends to follow lines so you have to make sure that it doesn't make people look towrads an area you'd rather them not look at. 

I would avoid anything lightly colored like the plague.  Not only is it girly, but home theaters need to have darker colors so that you pay attention to the screen and not the crazy walls behind it. 

[TheCaptain]

I stand by my decision.

[ArcaMan]

The room isn't going to be an "80's arcade" but more of a general "80's culture" theme, so I am not sure painting the walls all black is really an option + that would make the room look smaller I would think.

Regarding the home theater area / darker colors ... I totally agree, not sure if there was a picture of the swatch we had for the walls in there, but it is a dark redish brown color.

That being said, you may be right about avoiding primary colors. my office right now is a sort of crayola yellow that is a little less "bright" that may be the better option.  I do want something colorful though.

[Virgil Tracy]

Red with some white

My room has an 80s themes and the walls are mixture of red and white

[missioncontrol]

I'd paint it black and then splatter it with bright colors of paint... like that mid 80's look.....

[GameOver]

I'd paint it black and then splatter it with bright colors of paint... like that mid 80's look.....

That's not a bad idea - I did exactly that in the last room I lived in at home.  Mom freaked but got over it!  It was really cool - all black walls, with fluorescent colors 'flecked' (?) on to the walls via dipping my fingers in the paint and just shaking it at the wall.  Was really cool!

Also check the 'Voodoo Science Lounge' walkthru here

http://3darcade.mameworld.net/

from this link, select 'Arcades' from left side, then scroll down to the 'Voodoo Science Lounge' walkthru - it's really sweet.  Check the paint scheme in the rooms which have the bluish walls with the orange/red striping.  That could work!

[leapinlew]

I'd paint it black and then splatter it with bright colors of paint... like that mid 80's look.....

This is awesome, but when you want to repaint the room you'll have some issues with the splatters creating some texture. You might be able to capture the same thing with a painting. In fact...

I'm thinking go with a neutral and put some framed works up to reflect the era. I don't remember the 80's having a color scheme as much as say... the 60's with it's burnt oranges or the 70's with avocado green. I remember more poster filled walls, the splatters + hand prints like missioncontrol already said.

Things like this:

Giant Wrist Watch Clock


Check out these hot chicks?


Movie Posters


Point is... I don't know if the color mattered much as much as the clutter filled content. I would probably go neutral and have fun collecting stuff to hang on the walls.

[NightGod]

Yeah, I totally need to make an 80s themed room some day, unless I'm totally mistaken, I have about 50 old movie posters that the local video store where I grew up used to give away after the took them down off the walls-just had a big bin of them and you could go through and pick out what you wanted for free $$

[missioncontrol]

neon..... the 80's was all about neon..........

[Howard_Casto]

Just for the record neon and splatter paint is early 90's not 80's.  Actually brown and white are the colors of the 80's ... which is why I just said paint the whole thing white and concentrate on the artwork and perhaps some painted on decorations.  The 80's, much like the 70's is horribly tacky. 

[Havok]

Yeah, I would say orange, brown and white are the colors to go with.

[missioncontrol]

Just for the record neon and splatter paint is early 90's not 80's.   

not in my world.... guess you lived behind the times

[RayB]

Havok, you must live in Vermont or New Hampshire. I swear every trip I've ever taken through those states, people are a decade behind.

;-)

[Havok]

Havok, you must live in Vermont or New Hampshire. I swear every trip I've ever taken through those states, people are a decade behind.

;-)

New York actually, but close...

 

I'm just saying for hard core 80's - that's what I remember. I personally prefer the black\blacklight\neon look myself...

[NightGod]

Black/splatter thing is definately 80s. I remember a girl friend of mine doing that to her room when I was in 7th grade, which would have been 1985-1986. Blacklight really took off about two-three years later.

The orange/brown/white thing would be more early 80s-say 1980 to 1984. Suppose it depends on if you want early 80s or late 80s.

[Howard_Casto]

Black/splatter thing is definately 80s. I remember a girl friend of mine doing that to her room when I was in 7th grade, which would have been 1985-1986. Blacklight really took off about two-three years later.

So what you are saying is that particular look didn't become mainstream until around 1988-1989.  Like I said that stuff is early 90's not 80's.  Just because poison was using it in thier videos didn't mean people were doing it to their walls. 

[geomartin]

I graduated High School in '85' so I guess I was smack in the middle of the 80's.  When I was 13 my parents gave me a free hand in decorating my bedroom.  I went with a fold out sofa, so I had my own private living room by day, burnt sienna paint on 3 walls and dark oak panelling on the 4th wall.  All painted walls were covered in posters from various rock bands and a coveted signed Mrs Universe poster from 1980.  So I'd say the one thing that screams 80's that is passe today is wood panelling.

[Havok]

Wood paneling was really popular in the 70's - houses in the 80's had it because they were most likely not brand new...

[geomartin]

Wood paneling was really popular in the 70's - houses in the 80's had it because they were most likely not brand new...

  Actually it was 1981 when we went to Southern Lumber to pick out the paneling.  It took hours because they had SO MANY varieties in stock, plus catalogs and samples for special order.  Wood paneling was very much in style at the time.

[NightGod]

Black/splatter thing is definately 80s. I remember a girl friend of mine doing that to her room when I was in 7th grade, which would have been 1985-1986. Blacklight really took off about two-three years later.

So what you are saying is that particular look didn't become mainstream until around 1988-1989.  Like I said that stuff is early 90's not 80's.  Just because poison was using it in thier videos didn't mean people were doing it to their walls. 

Blacklight was not mainstream until then, but the black splattered walls thing was big in the mid 80s. Keep in mind-the town I lived in was 650 people...if there were people doing it there in 85/86, it was already a year or two old. I got a blacklight bulb at Spencer's in 1988/1989 and by then they had already been around for at least a year.

Like I said, it really depends on if he wants early 80s, mid 80s or late 80s. Early 90s was when the grunge movement started and everything went to earth tones. The mid/late 80s were all about excess-bright lights, flashing neon, obnoxious colors. Guys wore pink shirts and suspenders with wild patterns on them (down off the shoulders, just hanging off your belt). Women wore plastic jewelry and neon clothes. Glam/hair bands dominated the charts.

And yeah, Poison putting it in their videos DID mean people (at least teens and places where teens hung out, like arcades) did it to their walls.

[missioncontrol]

mid 80's was neon colors, splatter paint and miami VIce themed stuff....

Late 80's was black lights, hair spray and rocker ballad stuff....

early 90's.... ummmm too damn drunk all the time to notice


In the mid 80's neon colors were everywhere, but we didn't use blacklight until the late 80's.....

[nostrebor]

mid 80's was neon colors, splatter paint and miami VIce themed stuff....

Late 80's was black lights, hair spray and rocker ballad stuff....


In the mid 80's neon colors were everywhere, but we didn't use blacklight until the late 80's.....

I concur.

My knowledge is based on being a teenager in the mid 80s... Howard, wouldn't you have been roughly pre-school age then? In my formative years I really wasn't paying too much attention to wall colors. Maybe your memory is a bit time-skewed?

[leapinlew]

Get an air freshner that shoots some BRUT in the air.


by Faberge!

[NightGod]

OMG Brut, I had almost managed to block that memory *shudder*

Could also go with Polo...maybe a mixture of the two. Add in a hint of Loves Baby Soft for that rare female presence.

Bonus points if you figure out a way to add in the smell of White Rain hairspray (Extra Hold).

[shardian]

OMG Brut, I had almost managed to block that memory *shudder*

Bonus points if you figure out a way to add in the smell of White Rain hairspray (Extra Hold).

Aqua-Net all the way baby!

[RayB]

Neon was 80's.
Brown and orange was 70's.
Jeans ripped at the knees straddled the end of the 80's, into the early 90's.

If you lived in more rural or small town areas, chances are these trends arrived later and lingered on later too. (ie: by the time Walmart carries it, you shouldn't be wearing it  )

[missioncontrol]

I had some awesome ripped jeans in the late 80's.... they went great with my concert shirts.....

[Hoopz]

I had some awesome ripped jeans in the late 80's.... they went great with my concert shirts.....

Paint the walls aqua and peach, throw some parachute pants in the corner and an OP shirt and you will be set.  Maybe have a few ninja stars laying around?

[Vigo]

I think what Howard is refering to is like the neon pink spandex style that was popular in the early 90's and happy neon colors like in the "Saved By The Bell" intro


This sort of neon crap

[missioncontrol]

I think what Howard is refering to is like the neon pink spandex style that was popular in the early 90's and happy neon colors like in the "Saved By The Bell" intro


This sort of neon crap

ah... I see....yeah that's not the neon I'm refering to..


anybody from the 80's knows the 80's neon was totally different and it's the mid 80's neon theme I was refering to.......

[missioncontrol]

oh and be sure to get a group rate on family haircuts.....

[NightGod]

Check out this Google image search to see the kind of neon we're talking about

[Howard_Casto]

That google image search pretty much proves my point.  There was a lot of neon in the 80's but not walls with neon splatter paint on em.  At least not unless you were a degenerate rockin a mullet and painted your room while on an... um er "substance". 

Now neon signs are a different story, that is totally 80's... neon paint, as I've said for the 3rd or 4th time, not so much. 

I think you guys are confusing what existed in the 80's with designs that represent the 80's.  Regular old rooms existed in the 80's too, but I wouldn't consider them representative of the time. 

Aside from all of that, splatter paint is cheap and tacky looking, so even if it does remind you of the 80's personally, I still couldn't reccomend it.  It's funny with all the walmart jokes abound that only someone that shops at walmart would have ever found that to be cool.  Now a solid black wall with some nice, neat, brightly colored sprites/murals/ect painted on it (yes even in neon if you want) would look really nice, of course that's what I suggested originally. 

[NightGod]

Yes, a search from 1985 for neon lighting proves your point about 80s wall splatter painting....

Whatever, I know what I saw in the 80s, what people around me did and didn't do. I agree it looks like tacky and cheap, but then again, the 80s were pretty much all about tacky and cheap looking crap. Would I personally splatter paint my walls to get an 80s feel? Probably not, but if I walked into a room that was painted in that fashion, I would know exactly what they were trying for.

And I sure as hell never saw neat, brightly colored sprites on walls in the 80s, unless it was a poster from a Nintendo Power magazine or the packaging from a game that some kid had thumbtacked up there.

Personally, I find the Wal-Mart jokes to be funny, because where I live, they're actually really nice, clean, well-stocked stores. I've been in some really skanky ones, mind you, but, at least in this area, they're actually a decent place to shop.

[missioncontrol]

Howard... you were like 5 in 1985 can you seriously tell me you remember what it was like back then........

[NightGod]

Howard... you were like 5 in 1985 can you seriously tell me you remember what it was like back then........

Whoa, wait, seriously? I thought I was arguing with someone who might actually have a clue who just had different experiences or something. That really makes this whole tangent even more pointless.

[missioncontrol]

Howard... you were like 5 in 1985 can you seriously tell me you remember what it was like back then........

Whoa, wait, seriously? I thought I was arguing with someone who might actually have a clue who just had different experiences or something. That really makes this whole tangent even more pointless.

yeah and pointless tangents belong in EE

[RayB]

Keep in mind people, that the design schemes that were used in COMMERCIAL locations were not necessarily the same thing that people used to decorate their homes...

[ChadTower]

It's not the 80s without a poster of Miss Elizabeth.

[RayB]

Here's a very 80's look that's still "classy". (Splatter paint on the other hand is ... mmm ... more juvenile).

[geomartin]

I also recall the industrial look coming into fashion in late 80's, maybe it was the early nineties.  I remember all the clubs having exposed pipe and ducting and so on.

[Stingray]

Howard... you were like 5 in 1985 can you seriously tell me you remember what it was like back then........

Whoa, wait, seriously? I thought I was arguing with someone who might actually have a clue who just had different experiences or something. That really makes this whole tangent even more pointless.

Pointless tangents are what arguing with Howard is all about.

In the 80's neon was EVERYWHERE. My bedroom when I was a teenager had splatterpainted walls, I painted them in 1984. Some of us actually remember the '80s.

-S

[ChadTower]

In the 80's neon was EVERYWHERE. My bedroom when I was a teenager had splatterpainted walls, I painted them in 1984.

That wasn't paint.  1984 was the year you got that Cheryl Tiegs poster.

[Stingray]

It sure did glow nice under the blacklight though. 

-S