Planning the Nerd Cave

The massive undertaking of painting the living room is complete! I’ll have pictures and a post for you once we get all the post-holiday cleanup done, but for now it’s time to move onto Project #2: The Nerd Cave. I was finally able to get my Xbox hooked up for the first time since listing the house, and spending some time in the loft has made me realize that my nerd cave needs some serious work.

My end goal is to have a room that is functional, has the modern/contemporary aesthetic (probably more contemporary for this room), is “grownup,” but still has a fun/whimsical vibe. I want the room to feel like a game room, but not like something a teenage boy would design. If that weren’t a challenge within itself, we have some more challenges to work around.

A panoramic view of my nerd cave.

Challenge #1: The Built In

The first challenge in the nerd cave is really Eric’s challenge. That is, he needs to remove/drywall over the existing built in. It’s designed for a small square TV. Not really a setup for modern game consoles. We’re going to put some smaller built in shelves below to hold the consoles.

This is a photo from when we were house searching. The built in is on the right.

Challenge #2: The Sumo Sacs

I love my Sumo Sacs. True, I now wish we had bought smaller ones (they fit perfectly in the basement of the last place), but they are comfortable and perfect for gaming. Plus, the dogs love them.

Why yes, I do think this is an appropriately sized dog bed.

Challenge #3: Wall Space

The loft is a smaller, longer room with lower ceilings than the rest of the house. This makes decorating hard because I only have so much room to work with. So big movie/game posters are out. And I love so many of them that are done in the retro style on Etsy. We also installed an amazing, but giant, cabinet from Ikea. Plenty of storage, but it takes up room for decor. I’ve thought about using removeable wall decals on it.

Challenge #4: Open to the Great Room

The nerd cave is open to the great room, and there is no door. This makes a sound solution tricky. If I go with the ideal solution of a surround sound setup, I’m likely going to disturb Eric as he watches TV below. I’m considering upgrading my current Turtle Beach headset and getting a sound bar for if I want to watch TV upstairs. Being open to the great room also introduces color restrictions, because it needs to be a color that doesn’t look totally out of place if you’re sitting in the family room and happen to look up. I’d really like to use something like Radiant Lilac from Sherwin-Williams Suburban Modern collection, but I’m afraid it’d be too bright.

If you are sitting on the couch and look up, you can see the nerd cave.

Beginning Nerd Cave Brainstorm

Right now, we’re still very much in the brainstorming phase. We’re not sure what direction to head in, or what will work best in the room. We need to set a budget and all that fun stuff as well. In the meantime, you can follow my nerd cave pinterest board, which is basically a stream of consciousness as I try to decide what to do up there.

What do you think would work well in this space?