Woohoo! My own game room!

[Jeff AMN]

We're approved for the loan and everything is set. On August 2nd the wife and I will be closing on our new home at 4:00pm and I'll officially have my own dedicated game room. Since we're completely replacing the carpet and repainting the entire house, I have some freedom of how I want to paint the game room. That's not important right now, however, it's that I can finally pick up those extra games now that I have the space from them (moving from a condo to a home will do that for you).

So, here's my game room lineup (for now...more to be added over time):

-MAME cab with 27" screen
-Donkey Kong (dedicated and fully restored)
-Ms. Pac-Man (dedicated and fully restored)
-Asteroids (dedicated and fully restored)
-TMNT Pin
-Simpsons Data East Pin*
-Missle Command (dedicated and fully restored)**
-Pinbot Pin**

*If I can wrestle it away from my dad who hardly ever plays it anymore (about an 80% chance)
**If my aunt and uncle didn't sell them when they moved them out of their room to make another bedroom. Hopefully they still have them in storage, because I'm willing to bet they'll just turn them over or sell them super cheap

So, I need to come up with a color scheme for painting the room. Here's my 1 minute MS Paint mockup of the paint design. The colors shown probably aren't too bad for a game room, but I'm open to any and all suggestions for a 3 color scheme. This one has a strong Pac vibe, but I was thinking that there are seriously hundreds of combinations that might look nice.

[Level42]

I'd personaly go for a darker look, but that's more my idea of an arcade. I'm also in the planning stage and I'm planning on having a simple, dark red wall paint. Remember, the games should be the "stars" in the room...

For the ceiling, I guess I will go (pretty) dark as well. My Galaxian is in my home now, and this has a white ceiling, and it's really reflecting in the bezel.

I'm planning on getting on of those fiber lamps and hope to distribute all the fiber ends in the ceiling, so it gives a star effect. Especialy nice for over my Star Wars Cockpit

[Jeff AMN]

I hate you and anybody else who has a Star Wars cockpit (until I get mine). My dad has a sprayer for painting, so maybe I could do the whole thing in black and then use some dark accent colors like purple or a deep red. I could recreate that dungeon-ish feeling quite easily enough since it's in the basement.

[RayB]

I'm gonna hurl. YELLOW?!
Go for a dark color as the main prominent color.

[SithMaster]

Black.  Everything painted black with a mural of optimus fighting megatron (gen 1 for both).

I have to agree on the dark color since the room will seem bigger when the lights are off.

[shardian]

Since you are getting a room to go from scratch, my only recommendation is to use strategically placed large mirrors. That way your game room seems to go on and on. That would be sweet!

[ChadTower]

With a new room, the best two pieces of advice you can get are:

Proper ventilation and LOTS OF OUTLETS.

[shardian]

With a new room, the best two pieces of advice you can get are:

Proper ventilation and LOTS OF OUTLETS.

Bahh. Fire isn't a big deal in your gameroom. Think of it this way: if your gameroom burns up, you can collect the insurance and buy all new games!

[Jeff AMN]

With a new room, the best two pieces of advice you can get are:

Proper ventilation and LOTS OF OUTLETS.

It has two vents for the central air to come in and a ceiling fan right in the middle. Even with that I'm sure it could still get plenty warm, but it's a large enough room that it shouldn't get too stuffy.

[ChadTower]

Does it have a return register?  That's where the central air will have an issue.  Monitors heat up a small room really fast.

[Jeff AMN]

Does it have a return register?  That's where the central air will have an issue.  Monitors heat up a small room really fast.

I'll have a look see on our walk through just before closing. If not, I could always find ways to cool it down in the times when it's uncomfortably warm. I could play with the door open (shame!) or throw an AC unit in the window (which I think will work in window wells).

[ChadTower]

Window wells are sort of hard because of the clearance issue and because ACs generate a LOT of heat on the outside.  If that heat gets trapped in the well the AC won't work well and will be using max energy.

It's not a huge issue, really, but one for consideration now rather than after the room is full.  Adding a small return register may not be that hard depending on the duct layout.

[leapinlew]

The color isn't that important with a lot of games since arcade games take up so much wall space. Consider a decent neutral color that you can easily touch up. I wouldn't get too crazy - it sounds like you have a whole house to do.

What I would do is finish the game room first and as you work on the rest of the house you can always take a quick break and play a game.

As for the heat - I wouldn't worry about it too much. I would assume your not leaving the game room on 24x7. See how it does. No point worrying about it now unless your Chad. He likes to 

[TOK]

Paint it a solid dark blue and get a blacklight carpet. There is something inherently wrong with a bright gameroom. 

[Guaranos]

I went with a mix of dark and light in my game room.  Dark purple and bright green.  The purple is much darker than the flash from the camera makes it appear...

[Crowquill]

I second going for a richer color than straight yellow (yuck!) or black.

If you do this, make sure to use a deep tint primer. Otherwise you'll be doing lots of coats.

I'd try not to make it too dark as you want both the black cabs and the bright blue ones to stand out from the wall.

Guaranos--what is that red cabinet in the foreground?

[Jeff AMN]

Ok, my wife and I dropped by and checked out some paint samples last night and we're doing the wall in a very deep blue. It's almost like a blue-tinted black (if that makes any sense). The strip will be gray, and the dots either be white, another shade of grey, or another complimentary type of color. The deep blue and gray look like that 70's idea of what space was. It's very Tomorrowland in style.

[ChadTower]

It's almost like a blue-tinted black (if that makes any sense).

I believe they call that Wesley Snipes.

[Jeff AMN]

It's almost like a blue-tinted black (if that makes any sense).

I believe they call that Wesley Snipes.

 

I think the actual name was like Galaxy Blue or something like that.

It's very close to the "bottomless blue" on this Behr Disney color thingy: http://disney.go.com/disneyhome/media/paints_colors3.gif

[ChadTower]

Are you set on using Behr?  I've used it a couple of times - once in a color very similar to that - and thought the product was garbage.  There are a few threads on that brand around someplace and I'm not the only one who has had really bad experiences with Behr.

[Jeff AMN]

I'm not set on any brand of paint, I just googled paint colors and found that the Behr sample there was close to what I was trying to describe.

[ChadTower]

Cool.  My advice is to use a more dedicated brand like Sherwin Williams... you really get what you pay for with paint.  Behr is the Home Depot house brand paint and it shows.

[Malenko]

Congrats on both the wife (who seems super cool) and the house.

The color scheme sounds good, and I cant wait to see pictures! Best of luck on scoring the games from the family members.

[chadandjody]

I've got to say check into the blacklight carpet as well.

http://valuecarpetonline.com/carpet-black-light.htm

[Guaranos]

Guaranos--what is that red cabinet in the foreground?

That's my MAME cabinet.  It was originally an Aqua Jack cabinet, but had been completely gutted before I got to it.

[Sir Auros]

Does it have a return register?  That's where the central air will have an issue.  Monitors heat up a small room really fast.

Do they ever! Back when I was a poor college student and we had individual thermostats in our rooms in an apartment, I heated my room exclusively with a 19" CRT monitor. The room was small enough that if you turned off the power save feature on the computer and closed the door, that thing would keep it comfortable enough for me.

On the paint issue, I don't know about Behr, but I had no problems whatsoever with the Lowe's brand paint I've used, so I don't think getting big brand paint is that crucial.

[skippy]

Does it have a return register?  That's where the central air will have an issue.  Monitors heat up a small room really fast.

Do they ever! Back when I was a poor college student and we had individual thermostats in our rooms in an apartment, I heated my room exclusively with a 19" CRT monitor. The room was small enough that if you turned off the power save feature on the computer and closed the door, that thing would keep it comfortable enough for me.

On the paint issue, I don't know about Behr, but I had no problems whatsoever with the Lowe's brand paint I've used, so I don't think getting big brand paint is that crucial.

Lowe's house brand is made by Valspar and is good stuff.  Behr(Home Depot) is a company that is owned by masco.  Behr paint seems to be reallly cheap and thin as doesn't cover as well as a premium brand.  Always buy good paint and always buy a good primer, it will make your life much easier.

[Guaranos]

My purple and green game room was painted with Behr paint.  I didn't have any problems with it.  The coverage seemed okay.  Not the best ever, but not bad either. 

Bright colors like the green are particularly troublesome though, so I used a tinted primer first.  I'd recommend the same for any color that could classify as intense.

[tophatne1]

When I get my game area set up I plan on having a 8x14 area done up with blacklight carpet and walls painted like the cabinet art on the Last Starfighter cabinet. Complete with the Starfighter logo. I'll probably change the black from the cabinet to a dark or navy blue and leave the rest the same.

Here's what I'm talking about for those who don't know. ( I can't imagine anyone here not knowing this movie...)
<img src="http://arcadecontrols.com/images/News/02-14-06-starfighter.jpg</img>