Why a games room is the new middle-class must-have

telegraph.co.uk:

echlinlondon.com) agrees: “Where once these rooms were generally ‘not seen and not heard’, parents are now bringing them out into the light in order to improve the quality of these areas and spend more time with their children.”The self-contained games room has long been a feature of the high-end home, where it will often occupy a basement space: interior designer Katharine Pooley (katharinepooley.com), who has seen “many more” requests for games rooms in the past year, recently worked on one for a young client in Notting Hill with bespoke poker, billiards and ping-pong tables (complete with monogrammed bats). “I find clients are prioritising security, privacy and entertaining within the home due to the restrictions we have all lived with these past two years,” she says.But the current trend isn’t limited to those who have a vast subterranean space to meet home entertainment needs.

As Sarah Peake points out, “It’s all about doing what you can do with the space that you have,” and there are plenty of ways to fit in a games area, whether that’s setting up a card table and chairs in the corner of the living room, or adapting an existing, underused room.Rickesh Patel, design director at interior-design studio Morpheus & Co (morpheusandco.com), says that his firm has seen a cooling of interest from clients in “formal and traditional rooms” such as dedicated dining rooms, and increased demand for “alternative rooms” such as snugs. “We have received a lot of requests for the creation of games rooms, especially those that cater for intellectually stimulating activities such as chess and backgammon,” he says.In a recent project, interior designer Sophie Ashby (studioashby.com) created a multitasking room that could work for both.