Design a Recreation Room

Commonly known as a rec room, play or entertainment room, a recreation room is just what the name implies. Like all spaces in a home, you must plan a layout and designated room placement for this area in order to get the most out of the design. The goal is to design a recreation room that can be enjoyed by the entire family.

Design a recreation room based on the following guidelines

Recreation Room Function

design a recreation room

The recreation room serves as a place of entertainment for friends and guest. Its purpose is to provide a space in the home for family to relax and play. When you design a family room layout, the Recreation room can sometimes overlap that space when the two areas are design as a multipurpose room. Activities that are often associated with the rec room include ping pong (table tennis), playing pool (billiards), video gaming, board games, and card games. There may be other non gaming activities that go on in the recreation room such as arts and crafts, model building, or other hobbies.

Location

Most often we tend to design a recreation room in the basement of a home. Since this area has to most space to offer, it is the first place you should consider adding your game room. A basement will provide ample space for things like a billiards table, tennis table, seating, and other furniture pieces. Having the room adjacent to the terrace can expand the space to the outdoors; thereby, making the room feel and appear large and spacious.

When a basement is not an option, you can design a recreation room on the main level. The second level of your home design remains an option also. On the main floor, the ideal location for this room is near the living area. Keep it away from the sleeping area. In fact, you should position the design of the room to be near the family room with access to a patio or deck for outdoor expansion.

A second floor placement is a bit tricky. This floor usually consist of the bedrooms. If room above the garage is available, this is the best place to add your recreation room. This area is usually in a position to allow the least amount of noise transfer to the sleeping areas because of its location. Using the area above a family room (provided that bedrooms don’t occupy that space) is a second option. Due to the nature of a rec room, this design option is not highly recommended because the space is typically surround by bedrooms.

Size and Shape

The size and shape of a recreation room is dependent upon what floor level the room is located. That be said, there are some basic requirements that need to be met for different pieces of equipment.

Room requirements for table tennis (ping pong): A standard table is 9’x5′. A minimum suggested size for recreational play is a room that’s 18 feet by 14 feet. This will give you 4′-6″ of clear space around table.
Room requirements for a pool table: Pool tables are available is different sizes. The important thing to know is that the room must have at least five (5) feet of clear space between the walls and table on all sides. This allows enough space to use a standard 58″ long cue (pool stick).