When we moved into this house, there was a small sun porch upstairs in the back. The room had long ago been walled-and-windowed-in, and was considered a bedroom, but really
it is too small to be a bedroom. The closet is right outside the door to the room in the hallway, so in reality it could serve as a bedroom. We had other plans for it.
We call it the "Game Room". It's not that we play a lot of games there, but we watch a lot of games there.
That and the room represents a lot of games.
I took pictures of it on Gameday Saturday. It was probably not the best time to photograph the room. I had all three sons home on Saturday and the room was not in picture-perfect shape. I thought that was okay though, since very seldom is that room (or any in my house for that matter) in picture-perfect shape. I did at least boot the boys out for the pictures. Don't worry...they just went to refill their plates.
The room might be small, but it is packed full of vintage sports memorabilia. I might add that the only things purchased for this room since we've moved in are the shades and the valances. Everything else we already had.
This was the room the day we moved in. A cute little room with LOTS of sunshine. We did not even change the paint color. We just started putting all our fun stuff in. When I say "we" by the way, the whole room was done in a day by me and my son Luke.
This is the same door and window as the "before" picture. You can see that the addition of the wooden shades made a world of difference. My oldest two children were "Hiawatha Redskins" in high school. My youngest three (there is only 7 years difference between the oldest graduating and the youngest) were Hiawatha Red Hawks. Their school changed mascots in order to be more politically correct. The banner is a left-over reminder of the original mascot.
Right outside the door is a small balcony. We have a little furniture out there. The balcony is mainly used for sun-bathing (hmmm...who would that be?) The balcony is blocked (but not shaded) by a huge magnolia, so it is perfect for sun-bathing!
This is why the boys enjoy this room for watching ballgames so much. They have a projection TV in the room. The room is small to begin with, and the screen is huge. It makes it look like the game is coming right at you. And yes, there is yelling at the (huge projection) TV. The baby gate by-the-way is not to keep a baby in (or out). We put it in front of the door to keep the dogs out during the day, when no body is home. They (the dogs) tend to find too many "interesting" things in there to "play" with.
Every single nook and corner was used in this room for display. The pictures range from my own grandfather's college football days, to my children as they participated in sports while growing up. It is great fun to just simply look at all the pictures. (Notice the old ice-skate hanging up on the window above? That was Hubby's grandfather's when he was a boy.)
We have central air in the house, but because this little room has so many windows, it still gets hot during the Oklahoma summers. We put this little window air-conditioner in this summer and it made a huge difference in the room. We only turn it on, if someone is going in there to watch a movie or TV, but it was definitely worth it.
This was the other end (opposite the TV screen) of the sunroom the day we moved in. As you can see, there are more big windows (same door!).
You can get a glimpse of the couch everyone loves to lay on to watch TV. Remember, I did not do any arranging for the photo's. This is how I found it. You can also see more nooks and corners filled with pictures.
On the only other solid wall (besides the TV screen wall) I put a collection of old team photos I have. I really don't even know how I acquired them all, but slowly over the years, I ended up with a huge collection of black and white team photographs from three different sports. The best part is, that every single photo has a picture of one of my children's grandfathers in it, or a picture of the Hubs himself when he played as a boy. In fact, I recently acquired three more photos that still need to be framed. You are only seeing part of the wall. One day I should do a post just on the pictures.
I have had these in the last two houses we have lived in as well. I frame them all in simple black frames for unity and it seems to work well. When Restoration Hardware had a big wall of old team photos for sale I was so glad to see that I was vogue. (I say that tongue-in-cheek you know....)
I have thought about blowing them all up to be the same size, but I tend to like having the originals more than uniformity.
Then there is this. I should have taken a better picture. (Actually towards the end of this post, you can see a full-length picture of the case.) My Husband's dad died tragically when we were first married. None of my children ever really knew him. We have a few things of his, and one of them was his gun cabinet. Only my Hubs never wanted to keep the his hunting guns in the cabinet (just because we have always had a zillion children going in and out of our home.) Even now that they are all grown, he still didn't put the guns in the cabinet. The gun cabinet sat in the garage and I was determined to get it into the house.
The day Luke and I were decorating and arranging the room, I got Luke to move the gun cabinet into the house. We cleaned it up (and yes, I did think about painting it!!) and I decided to make it a faux locker. We used the grooves where the guns would stand as 'hangers' for the football jerseys. We have the Hubs father's football jersey, the Hub's jersey, and all three of my sons. We also have an old baseball uniform and my Dad's basketball jersey. (Not all of that is in here tho!) On the little ledge where the guns would lean I put the pictures of the Hubs and his dad and an old magazine with Oklahoma boy Mickey Mantle. I even had an old locker number that we super-glued towards the top of the door, like a real locker. I love how it turned out!
Then we continued our theme of "more is more" and just kept packing the room full. More pictures were hung and we put up shelves above the windows and doors.
I got the valances on clearance at K-Mart and had never used them. Some how I had exactly enough ...and the perfect color...for the game room. That was meant to be, because there was no planning involved.
The trophies, like the photographs and jerseys span three generations as well.
Almost everything in the room is family sports memorabilia. There are a couple of exceptions and the golf balls on the shelf pictured above are one of the exceptions. They are either Hiawatha brand or Colt brand. We bought them at an auction (all together). We knew it was another thing that was "meant to be" as my children grew up in Hiawatha, and we frequently call our son Coulter, Coult (Colt).
This view is looking from the balcony door into the room. You can see the full view of the gun-cabinet-turned-locker as well as more team pictures. The curtain on the left of the "locker" is the door to the hallway. We hung a curtain (and hung it by a golf club) over the door in the summer to keep that cool air in and have just never taken it down now that it does not need to be up.
I have two of these old wooden ladders that I saved from the dumpster. (And yes, my Hubs still wonders every time he sees it why I would ever save it. And yes, it was him doing the dumping of the ladder!) I have it filled with lots of old catching gear from when the Hubs played ball (from 5 years old through college). There are a few other items on the ladder, but it is mainly filled with baseball gear.
The OU bear was one of my daughters. The 34 sign was a piece of "artwork" my Hubs made in high school. Believe me, he is no artist. That was his high school football number and I thought it would be cute to frame it and keep it for posterity. It, like the team photos has hung in every single house. I know, I know, it is SO weird the things I hang onto!
There is one more chair I never did photograph in the room. I'm telling you, it is a small room, but filled with fun. I bought the "Heisman" lamp for my Hubs one year for our anniversary. The Hubs father was best friends with a gentleman from our hometown that won the Heisman (Billy Vessels/1952/Cleveland, OK). That is such a special connection, I knew the Hubs would love the lamp. And he did. There are pictures on the table of my sons and even one of me holding a football at the age of 2. The marbles in the little wicker basket were the Hubs father as well. The giant baseball on the floor in the corner was off of one of the younger boys beds from their youth.
The baseballs are a three-generation deal, the croquet set was my family set growing up, the bucket of chenilles are part of my collection. Honestly, the dollar value of our packed little room is probably squat, but the fun and the memories the room provides is....to use a good cliche....priceless. We've got game!
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