Room of the Day: Beachy Garage Scores a Game Room

Arcade games, ample seating and beer on tap continue the fun inside after a day in the sun

Brenna Malmberg March 30, 2017

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Lift up the garage door of this New Jersey beach house, and you’ll find a game room packed with seating, color and entertainment. Obviously, that’s not what you usually find in a garage, but this family of six wanted a spot where people could relax, have fun and not worry about messes from sand and wet swimming suits.

Mimi & Hill interiors

Photos by Toni Deis

Garage at a Glance
Who lives here: A family with four active teenagers
Location: Lavallette, New Jersey
Size: 625 square feet (58 square meters)
Designer: Miriam Silver Verga and Hillary Kaplan of Mimi & Hill interiors

While Mom guided the design choices inside the rest of the home, Dad made the picks for the garage. He’s a consummate collector with a love of Americana style, so Miriam Silver Verga and Hillary Kaplan spread those two themes throughout the space.

The designers started by painting the walls with four different shades of blue and a bright burst of red along the ceiling. “They went with us and took a chance on painting with so many different colors,” Silver Verga says.

The blue continued underfoot, which is a blue terrazzo flooring. They added an outdoor seagrass rug on top of it to give the room a beachy feel and anchor the seating area. At the back of the garage, they continued the color theme with red, white and blue tiles.

One of the collector items stands out right away when you peek inside the garage: the Ms. Pac-Man arcade game. The husband bought this as a surprise for his wife. It definitely solidifies the space as a game room and place to have fun, Silver Verga says.

Paint: Athens Blue, Atlantis Blue, Blue Suede Shoes, Delano Waters and Strawberry Red, all by Benjamin Moore; rug: Cayman area rug, Home Decorators Collection; bathroom mirror: Serena & Lily

Mimi & Hill interiors

The collections continue along the wall of the garage. They have an eclectic U.S. map; a Tillie face from the now-painted-over amusement park murals in Asbury Park, New Jersey; pennants; and a carnival wheel.

Dad also was drawn to this property because of the opportunity to have beer on tap. This was already set up in the back corner of the garage, and he has expanded the number of options available.

To accommodate everyone, the designers chose a set of outdoor furniture, complete with a sectional, chair and glass-topped coffee table. These pieces offer the family ample seating, but seating that is easy to clean. “The quality of indoor-outdoor fabric is great these days,” Silver Verga says. “In a beach climate, it makes sense to use it just about anywhere in a house.” Plus, the furniture is light, so it can be easily moved outside or around the room.

The room also has two hidden functions. The ladder, which can be moved out of the way, leads up to a small loft where the kids go to read. And a Murphy bed folds down from behind the American flag. This allows them additional sleeping space if they have too many visitors for the main house or if people want to be a little closer to nature.

Sectional, chair and coffee table set: Modway; pillows: One Kings Lane; tray: Serena & Lily; mounted carnival wheel: JohnnyUNamath on Etsy

Mimi & Hill interiors

The homeowner also installed a shuffleboard table along the wall. It sits on top of cabinets and fridges.

Mimi & Hill interiors

The large garage door lets the family easily open the space up to the outdoors when they are hosting a large gathering or when they just want to enjoy the sea breeze.

See more of this beach house

Have you created a fun family playhouse at home? Please show it to us in the Comments below.

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