A media room is a welcome and desirable addition to many homes, but once you decide that you do want a media room, how to go about achieving your goal may seem elusive or complex. There are endless ways to design an effective media room, so the most important factor to consider in your design is exactly what you need and expect from your media room, since your needs will be slightly different from anyone else’s.
Equipment
Before making any decisions, it’s best to decide what exactly you want to do in your media room. Watching movies or television is a typical activity for a media room, so you’ll most likely want to invest in a good quality television and players for your movies. However, you may also want to play videogames, which will require more equipment. You may also want to use your media room for listening to music. Make a list of everything that you want to have readily available for use in your media room, then decide how important extra features will be considering what you want to use and how often you want to use it. For instance, it may or may not be important to have high quality speakers or a surround sound system.
Storage
For any media room, storage is an important factor. You’ll need a space to put DVD players or similar, extra speakers, gaming equipment and other items. You may also want space to put your movie, CD or game collection so that it is readily available when you want it. Shelves are a quick and simple storage solution, and you can purchase furniture, such as CD racks, to hold your collections. Cabinets, especially custom cabinets, are another appealing solution, as you can hide your equipment when it is not in use. As another consideration, you may want special storage within easy reach of the seating in the room to put remote controls.
Furniture
You may want special furniture for your media room. Again, the intended use of the media room and how often you think that you will use it are the important considerations. As an example, if you’re a fan of movies, you may be interested in chairs or recliners that can be set up to resemble a small theater. However, in many homes there isn’t enough space for a room dedicated solely to watching movies, and so the media room may need to be adaptable so that it can be used for other purposes. In this case, a more traditional couch may be more suitable. Because you will likely be sitting for a long time in the media room, comfort should be the first consideration of any furniture you purchase, and furniture that is easy to clean in the likely event of a spilled snack is a good secondary consideration.
Arrangement
While there are many options for your media room’s design, there are a few aspects that every room should have. The television should be easy to view from any couch or chair in the room. You’ll need to make sure that there is a surface in easy reach from every seat so that anyone can set down snacks or a drink if necessary. While any kind of decor is possible in a media room, you may want to use decorations to hide wires. As an example, you may be able to hide wires behind posters or strategically-placed plants. You may also be interested in using curtains on the walls to hide wires. Curtains have several advantages in that they make a media room resemble a real theater and can control sound in the room, particularly if you purchase soundproofing curtains.