Gaming room

Setting up a gaming room

is essential for the right game feel and can even affect your performance. Whether it's a whole room or a corner, retro or modern, we'll give you tips on design, decoration, wall and light design, furniture selection, sound insulation and much more.

Gaming Room Ideas

Before we dive into some planning, let's first take a look at some gaming rooms for inspiration from around the web...

Maybe you’ve already got some gaming room ideas. Together with our instructions, you will soon be able to turn them into reality.

Time and budget for your game room

Setting up a beautiful gaming room is no easy task. The optimal gaming room includes many different components and the furnishing should always be seen as a process. How quickly you want to set up your gaming room, or how far you want to go into detail, depends of course on the size of your wallet on the one hand and on your available time on the other. If you don’t want to spend too much money, be sure to check out ebay, flea markets and other second-hand shops – every now and then you can find cool things to decorate. Depending on how creative and crafty you are, you can also build many things yourself out of wood or other materials. If furnishing an entire room for gaming is too much effort for you or you lack space, you can always limit yourself to furnishing a gaming corner.

Determine room size - gaming palace or gaming corner?

First of all, you should think about how much space you can and want to allocate to your gaming room. How do you want to set it up? Should it be a whole room or more of a gaming corner? We have listed the advantages and disadvantages of each option:

Choosing a suitable room

Now that you may have an idea of how big your room should be, you need to choose a suitable room for it. When choosing a suitable room, of course, it depends on the conditions at home. If you still live with your parents, it might be difficult to convince your dad to convert his study into a gamer den. Unless you have other empty rooms, you have no choice but to decorate your own room accordingly. So for you, a gaming corner probably makes more sense. But a gamer corner also makes sense for anyone who doesn't necessarily want to convert an entire room. For example, a guest room or training room can also be a gaming room at the same time.

Building a gaming corner into a sloping roof?

What sounds cozy at first glance could turn out to be impractical, depending on the orientation of your gaming setup. If you place your table against the wall under a slanted roof, you can only use small monitors, depending on the slant, because they will otherwise hit the slant. It becomes even more problematic if you have or want to purchase a height-adjustable gaming table. This can then no longer be moved into a standing position.

Furniture & Accessories

What furniture, hardware and decorative elements are part of the furnishings of a modern gaming room?

There are no limits when it comes to furnishing your gaming room. Of course, there are a few core components (e.g. table and chair) that belong in every room. If you spend a lot of time at the computer, you should also pay attention to the ergonomic qualities of your equipment. The more ergonomic your gaming furniture is, the better and longer you'll be able to play.

Gaming Setup

Your gaming setup is the heart of your room. However, your PC or console as well as the associated hardware like monitors, keyboard and co can influence the design of the rest of your room. If you have a minimalistic setup, a minimalistic design would also fit well. If you have a setup with a lot of colorful RGB lights, it's a good idea to make the whole room glow.

Gaming desk

The desk is the foundation of your gaming room, as everything happens on it. Generally, it should have enough space for a large mouse pad and keyboard, dual or triple monitor setup. Especially for larger setups, it is also important to make sure that the tabletop is made of one piece and does not bend or collapse under heavy towers or streaming setups. If you attach importance to ergonomics and health, a height-adjustable desk also makes sense in order to always sit at the right height or even to play and work standing up.

👉 You can find our complete gaming desk guide here.

Gaming chair

The gaming chair is another core component that should not be skimped on. It should usually have elements such as backrest, armrests and height adjustability.

👉 Check out our comprehensive guide to buying a gaming chair.

Gaming arm chair or couch

Unless you're a competitive gamer, you're more likely to need a comfortable couch or gaming chair if you're a relaxed console gamer. This way you can comfortably sit in front of your big flat screen or canvas. If you want to install a projector, you should make sure that your gaming room is large enough to provide enough distance between the projector and the screen. However, short-distance projectors are now available, but they are a bit more expensive.

👉 Read up on our gaming furniture and decor article on what else to put in your lair.

You don't need a big budget!

Contrary to what many might expect, electric height-adjustable desks that provide ergonomic support for your back and also look cool are available at affordable prices. Take the LeetDesk Entry, for example. Starting at just €229.95, it offers all the ergonomic benefits of a pro model!

Gaming room accessories

Almost everyone has a PC at home and everyone knows that you need a mouse, a calculator and a keyboard. But in order to enter the virtual battle as successfully as possible and with style, the room can be enriched with various gadgets. As I said, accessories are mainly about two things: Enhancing the aesthetics of your room and increasing your gaming performance. The following things are suitable for your setup:

Gaming keyboard

The market offers a huge selection of gaming keyboards these days and everyone has different needs - so we won't go into too much detail here. Depending on the style you choose for your gaming room, a backlit keyboard (keyword "RGB") might make sense. If you suffer from wrist pain or want to prevent it, an additional wrist rest might make sense.

Tip for minimalists: Keyboards with a 75% layout look especially good in minimalistic rooms.

Gaming mouse & bungee

Gaming mice are a dime a dozen and for good buying advice, we refer you to the relevant specialist sites. For a clean look, however, a wireless mouse is attractive as it often looks better. Do your research well, though, because there aren't many good wireless mice for fast shooters.

For those with a wired mouse, a Mouse Bungee is recommended. With this gaming accessory, cable twists and tension on the mouse cable are a thing of the past. Again, there are plain designs or LED versions - choose the one that best suits your gaming room look.

Gaming headset & holder

A headset is a must-have for every gamer. Not only does it protect you from storm-ringing neighbors because you turned it up too loud again, but it can also greatly enhance your gaming performance by sharpening your sense of hearing, improving your reaction time, and promoting online communication.

The headset mount serves as a storage space. With this accessory, your headset is easy to hang, always at your fingertips, and keeps an organized look in your gaming room and on your desk.

LED Gaming Room Lighting - Discreet or RGB Life?

The right lighting in a gaming room not only ensures a cool design, but also serves your health, safety and performance. It prevents premature fatigue, prevents bad posture and accidents, and also enhances performance. However, incorrect or excessive lighting can distract you, cause headaches, or irradiate the neighbors.

LED vs. sunlight

Daylight and artificial light therefore play an important role in setting up your gaming room. It is also important to pay attention to the angle of your screens to the window in order to avoid possible reflections. Remember, reflections can cost you the victory! You must always keep in mind how you can improve your own game from the outside and which factors play a role in this. Your screen should ideally be oriented across the window so that the sunlight hits the gaming surface from the side of your writing hand. Of course, it is always possible to work with curtains, but sometimes it is also quite pleasant not to have the game room completely artificially lit. Of course, LED light strips look pretty cool, but you should also make sure to let natural sunlight into the room.

If you want to achieve top performance while gaming, you should also use more sunlight than LED lights in the room. The natural light of the sun is very important for the biological energy production of humans. The light flicker of LED lamps puts the human body under stress and can cause headaches, fatigue, migraines, exhaustion and concentration problems. Most of the time, people do not actively perceive the flickering light, but if you notice that you already perceive the flickering of the LED lamp, switch it off immediately!

If you want to set accents with light sources in general, it is best to place them behind the screens. Shining direct light on the screen should also be avoided. This tires the eyes and weakens your ability to concentrate. If “health” is an issue for you anyway, take a look at our article “Sitting correctly at the PC – for a healthy and better gaming lifestyle”.

Direct vs. indirect lighting

The optimal lighting concept is a mix of direct and indirect lighting as well as a table lamp and daylight. This way you can always decide for yourself whether the daylight is sufficient and which light source is best to switch on. Pendant, floor or wall lamps are also an optimal solution for perfect room lighting, as they not only emit their light downwards, but also distribute it indirectly in the gaming room. This way, the light is well distributed in the room and your spatial perception is also supported, since all surfaces get a structure and the room does not look monotonous.

If you are aiming for the RGB Life, then make sure that you do not have any direct light in your eyes and that you take some time off from the LED light - preferably with natural sunlight.

Cable management

It starts with the LAN cable and doesn’t seem to end. Unfortunately, almost everything needs a cable (loudspeakers, consoles, screens, PCs, lamps, etc.) and so there is often a cable chaos in the room. Not only does it look lame, in the worst case you might even trip over it.

Internet connection - WiFi vs. LAN?

Before we turn to cable management in general, we need to clarify an important question first: WiFi vs. LAN? By now, everyone has a WLAN-capable router at home, which is of course super practical and helps to save a lot of cable clutter. In addition, an unlimited number of devices can be used simultaneously. However, when it comes to FPS games like Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, Battlefield or Fortnite, a fast and interference-free internet connection is necessary. It often helps to connect the PC or console to the router with a conventional LAN cable, because the LAN connection has a higher transmission rate and is less susceptible to interference. Ideally, the router should be as close as possible to the PC or console to avoid unnecessary cable traffic. One thing is certain: it all depends on the ping! A WLAN connection is somewhat more susceptible to interference in this area and there can therefore be dropouts in the connection. This does not happen with a LAN connection. Even though you can connect more devices with WLAN, the connected devices have to share the power. With a LAN cable, on the other hand, each connected device receives the full speed.

Taming the cable chaos

As a solution, you can try to hide as much of it as possible under carpets and behind cupboards. In addition, you can also fold several cables together and turn them into one big cable with a cable tie. For the gaming desk, it makes sense to store as many cables as possible directly under the tabletop – either with a bunch of cable ties and tape or with a cable rail that is screwed under the desk.

Sound isolation - For streamers, sound enthusiasts and clairaudient neighbours

Who hasn’t experienced it? You’ve just had a super killing spree and already you can hear your mother scolding you to be quiet? Admittedly, a gaming room is typically quite noisy, the cries of despair or joy are often louder than you realise. However, good sound insulation not only protects your fellow occupants from noise, but also helps boost the sound quality in the gaming room itself and ensures clear sound during microphone recordings.

From carpet to sound absorber

Carpets, thick curtains or even several pieces of furniture provide reasonably good sound isolation. But if you want to take it to the next level, you can buy a suitable sound insulation. Acoustic foam insulation ensures that the sound from your gaming room is greatly reduced. It’s best to use thick composite foams because the thicker the foam, the better the isolation. You must be aware that you are not allowed to attach anything to a foam wall (no pictures, posters, etc.) and you are not allowed to paint the foam wall. However, if you really want to spice up the wall, you can use wallpaper. Be careful, though, because the foam is soft and holes can easily appear if you touch the wall. On the other hand, you can also use sound absorbers or wall tiles in different shapes to make your wall a little more beautiful and still isolate the sound.

Sound Absorber Panels as a Gaming Room Wall

In addition to the actual function of sound insulation, these panels can also be used specifically for wall decoration.

Gaming Room Deco - Minimalist or Themed?

You now have your room so far that all components are in place, your gaming room accessories are ready for use and the right lighting is tuned? Perfect, then all that's missing now is the gaming room decor! Overall, you can say that there are three ways you can design your gaming room: Minimalist, RGB, Themed or a combination of all.

Minimalist and modern gaming room

A minimalist gaming room is, as the name suggests, very minimalist in design. This design is suitable for all those who like things to be tidy and who see themselves and their gaming in the foreground. You only need the most important things: your desk, your chair and your PC. Playful PC accessories are not desired here. Since it’s all about gaming here, ergonomics also play a relevant role, so look for appropriately ergonomic gaming furniture. The colour scheme is characterised by few colours, usually only two (e.g. black and white or black and orange). Many people opt for cold light here, but as we have seen, warmer light is better for one’s well-being in the long run

RGB & LED Gaming Room

Neon, colorful and bright, anyone who still remembers NFS Underground knows what we are talking about. Meanwhile, many are designing their rooms according to the #rgblife. The use of many colored LED lights often creates a futuristic look that reminds you of the cyberpunk genre. The advantage of such a decoration is the flexible mounting and the different color modes. You can be as creative as you want! Your gaming components can of course also include RGB lighting. Here are a few gaming room ideas regarding RGB lighting in a gaming room:

• RGB enabled keyboard, mouse & mouse pad
• RGB enabled headset & headset holder
• LED light strips for desk and walls
• LED panels and illuminated signs

Themed

If you think that a themed gaming room is only for otakus, you’re wrong! You can express your passion for a game quite well through themed decoration. In the list below, we have listed a few gadgets and furnishings that are often available in different themes (games, movies, pop-culture etc). Just Google your favourite game, film or similar in connection with these furnishings:

• Mouse, Keyboard & Controller Skins
• Printed mouse pads
• Pictures, posters and displates
• Speakers
• Clocks
• (Deco) Lamps
• Wall tattoos and wall foils
• Printable floor mats
• Carpet
• Figurines and stuffed animals
• Mugs & coasters
  

Retro room

Everything was better in the past - that's why there's nothing better than living in the past and wallowing in nostalgic melancholy in your retro gaming room with synthwave music.

The next flea market or ebay is a treasure chest for cheap relics from the past. Look around for the following stuff:

• Old consoles, games & controllers
• Old Action Figures
• Old games magazines
• Old stereo equipment
• Display cases 4:3 TV sets