If you are lucky enough to have a spare, unused room, leaving it to gather dust is not good enough. Instead, turn your spare room into a technology haven, a place where the entire family can enjoy the latest in home entertainment and education.
Whether you opt for a home cinema or a games room, your spare room can become a useful part of your house and a brand new place for the family to get together and enjoy themselves – or for you to set aside some me-time to relax and recuperate from daily life. Try these tips to create a technology haven out of your spare room.
1. Start With A Plan
Take your time to think about what you would like to get out of the spare room. Is it going to be a room where only one family member will retreat to for rest and relaxation, or a room where everyone will get together as a family? Do you have an interest in computer gaming or console gaming? Or is home cinema more your cup of tea? A bit of planning will go a long way in getting the most out of the room, influencing your decisions around furniture and decorative elements.
2. Stick To Comfort
You want to use your spare room as a place to relax, so focus on creating a comfortable space. For console gaming, this might entail scattering the floor with large, comfortable cushions. Alternatively, consider cinema-style seating if you are intending on relaxing through long nights, watching film after film. Make sure the room is well insulated against the cold if it is in the basement or in the loft and install air conditioning or fans if there are no external windows.
3. Install Good Internet Access
Whether you are watching TV and films or playing games, it is essential that the room has excellent internet access. If it is in a remote corner of the house, you could struggle to pick up a good Wi-Fi signal, so install a Wi-Fi booster or physical cables to bring Internet access to your tech room. Even small reductions in internet speeds can trip up smooth gameplay, so getting the internet access right is essential.
4. Fix Shutters To Your Windows
Window shutters are excellent for blocking out light in a room. You can’t have light streaming into your tech haven in the middle of a relaxing Sunday watching TV, so invest in a set of solid panel shutters to completely block out the light when you need the room to be dark. Shutters are stylish, easy to maintain and easy to open and close so that you can have a bright room when you need it – and a dark room while enjoying the latest technology. If you are in a noisy area or if the spare room is next to a road, shutters will also do an excellent job of keeping noise out.
5. Take Care To Conceal Cables And Clutter
Inherent in any tech room is a cluttering of cables and accessories. This may appeal to the geeky aspect of many people, but in essence, loose cables and accessories appear untidy and can be distracting while you consume content. It is easy to clear these loose items up by simply tidying groups of cables with cable ties or by fitting a cleverly designed television stand, which hides the various devices in use behind stylish doors.
6. Invest In A Projector
Your tech haven is best served by a very large screen, and projectors can create acres of screen space. Playing games or watching films is best experienced on a big visual space, so opt for a wall-mounted screen, along with a projector fixed to the ceiling or carefully positioned at the rear of the room, on a shelf. Projectors are also excellent for creating a cinematic feeling while enjoying films, creating an authentic venue out of a spare room that has been unused in the past.
7. Get The Sound Right
Media and games are not only about the visuals – the sound effects in many films and games are fantastic, and you ought to experience these in their full glory. Solid audio equipment will enhance your tech experience so invest in surround sound equipment if you can or at the very least opt for quality headphones – especially useful if your spare room is next to a bedroom.
An empty spare room can be a bit of a dilemma: with high property prices, homeowners feel they need to do the most with the space they have. Turning a spare room into a technology haven is an excellent way of enjoying today’s technological advances while also making good use of free space in your home.
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