Game day central

COURTESY PHOTO A regulationsize billiards table anchors the game room in Angela and Mike Clark's home in South Fort Myers. The Clemson University orange room also is equipped with poker and shuffleboard tables, televisions, bar, sink, ice maker and microwave. Game day from the comforts of home. Can't beat that.

More Southwest Florida homeowners are adding game rooms for the enjoyment of the whole family. The trend has become popular during the past two years, area interior designers said.

"Even when you're renting a log cabin in North Carolina or Tennessee, they have these lofts," said Fort Myers interior designer Marjean Sage, American Society of Interior Designers. "They always put in a pool table. It's gotten really common."

"When you are doing a game room, you're usually looking to convert a room. People are doing a lot of remodeling," said Sage, who made her late husband's office above the garage into a game room.

Couples whose grown children have moved out are converting bonus rooms, said Cherie Clark, owner of Cherie Clark Interiors, LLC, in Cape Coral. Some transform garages once used as storage space. Others don't have a room per se, rather gaming tables in open tiled areas off living space or the kitchen.

Marjean Sage's game room features a billiards table and dartboard. A nautical theme consistent with the rest of the home's interior is evident in the decorative lighthouses and ships atop the bookshelves and art on the walls. COURTESY PHOTO "More families are getting together at home as opposed to going out," said Clark, who has more than 25 years of experience in home fashion and design and is certified by the Council for Qualification of Residential Interior Designers.

Still, some have homes built with a game room included. South Fort Myers residents Angela and Mike Clark, both 40, did. Sage designed their game room of nearly 20 feet by 22 feet. "It does get used more than I thought it would," Angela Clark said, noting that it is a popular gathering spot during the summer, when their 13- and 9-year-old daughters are not in school.

The room is bright orange for Clemson University, from which Mike Clark graduated. He is a diehard Tigers fan, and Angela Clark said the family tries to attend at least one football game every other year. "He lives and breathes them," she said, a day before leaving on a 10-day trip that included seeing the Tigers play two home games.

"The bright colors look great in these game rooms," Sage said. "They give some fun and excitement, which is what you're looking for."

Angela Clark said the walls feature prints of Clemson Memorial Stadium, commonly known as Death Valley, where the Tigers play, and an autographed jersey of former Boston Celtics star Larry Bird, one of her husband's favorites.

The room has a regulation-size billiards table with a custom rug underneath, poker table with four chairs and shuffleboard table. Poker night with their adult friends brings six to eight to the table, which at other times is where the girls and their friends play Monopoly, checkers and board games stored in a nearby closet.

Three televisions, one of 55 inches flanked by smaller ones, occupy the wall by the shuffleboard table, Angela Clark said, adding that her husband doesn't want to miss college, NFL or other sports events during get-togethers marking another occasion.

In addition, the room has a full bathroom, bar for adult and child beverages, sink, ice maker and microwave. The room is user friendly and "very convenient," she said.

Seating is appropriate as necessary in the game room, such as when there is a large cocktail table, which Cherie Clark called multi-functional. Stools or pull-out benches by the cocktail table allow people to play board games there. "The majority have four benches or four little ottomans," she said.

Some home owners even create game rooms on the exterior. Clark is designing a Cayo Costa room like that. She said the screened room is off the main living and overlooks the pool area. It will have billiards and foosball tables, probably a ping pong table too, because the couple has young children. The 30-by-40-foot room will have casual seating appropriate to handle partial exposure to the elements.

Game rooms typically feature a theme, such as an alma mater or hobby, oftentimes expressed rather creatively because as Clark said, "Sometimes that always doesn't work in the main area."

She remembers a client who was a train collector. He displayed trains on shelving in the game room and had a train that traveled around the billiards table and bar. A NASCAR fan had a race track scene depicted on one wall and showcased his memorabilia throughout. Another client collected masks from different regions and displayed them.

Game on

>>In planning the space required for a billiards table, consider the space needed to use the cues without bumping people in the room.

>>If the room is not big enough for a regulation-size billiards table, go with a smaller one.

>>Dartboards should not be placed in areas of traffic and seating because errant throws occur.

>>Bar stools are effective seating near the pool table because they allow people to watch above the play.

>>If seating will be exposed to the elements of the outdoors, choose acrylic fabric because it will last.

>>Be bright and bold with wall colors. "That can be a place that can be punched up," Cherie Clark said. "Color makes people feel good."

Sources: Cherie Clark, owner of Cherie Clark Interiors, LLC, in Cape Coral, and Marjean Sage, interior designer in Fort Myers