Geek Chic: Decorating the Living Room

Are you currently living with a boyfriend or husband who refuses to leave his childhood packed in boxes? Does he arrange and rearrange his action figures – or even have full blown wrestling matches with them? Are there light sabers in every corner? Do you wish you could just take the reigns and do all the decorating your way?

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Are you the geek that collects light sabers, nerf cannons, video games and Magic: The Gathering decks? Do you want to be able to proudly display your action figures, weapons, and garb but you don’t want people to walk into your house and see nothing but Vader and Yoda posters?

For the first time in history non-geek girlfriends/boyfriends and team up with the geeks and find a compromise. This is like bringing Trekkies and Star Wars Fanatics together and having them not argue over which series is more realistic. Notice I am not adding my theories here.

Let’s get to work! If your living room is dark and kind of dingy looking no matter what you try, it’s time for a coat of paint. Some options that will get any geek thinking it is a good idea are to give the paint colors new names. For example: Enterprise grey, Millennium Falcon grey (yes, there is a difference), x-wing white, imperial black, Jedi brown, Star Command Red – my living room is Yoda green (old Yoda from the original trilogy).

Temporarily pack up all of the small action figures, nick knacks, books and all the small items in the living room. This is only to keep things from getting broken or painted on.

Figure out what you or your significant other like the most then use references to the colors in the comic, movie, anime or whatever the case may be. Once you come to a conclusion on the paint color or colors, go ahead and paint the living room before making any other decisions. There are a few different reasons for this 1) the color may not be how you envisioned it in your head 2) it gives you a chance for the color to soak in before you figure out what furniture should go where.

Rearrange the furniture until you like where it all sets. Ideally, this process should take a couple of weeks. During this time any items that were missed or needed have already made their way out of the boxes and back out into the open. Find a place for these items to belong. Even if it’s just a foam sword, it needs a home.

Find the items that are not accessed quite as often and find homes for each of these. If it is a collector’s item, find a place to display it. If it is a gaming console, make sure that it is very easily accessible along with all of the games that go with it. Set up a basket or a drawer in the entertainment center for all of the controllers. Most people never make a home for their controllers then get upset when there are wires strewn everywhere or the wireless controllers are left setting on the arm of the couch. Once an object has a home it is easier to get in the habit of putting the item away.

Now for the large items, aka light sabers, nerf cannons, swords, Rock Band guitars and drums and board games. Whether you like it or not these items require a place of honor. Light sabers are to be mounted to the wall. Double-bladed light sabers mount horizontally over a window or couch, quite nicely. Single blade light sabers can be mounted at a slight angle along-side posters or even family portraits. They also look nice next to flowers. I used to have each of my light sabers disguised in swathes of ivy and flowers. The important things to remember here, is NEVER ever wrap the flowers around the light saber – it still needs to remain accessible.

Nerf guns and cannons, posed a huge problem for the first month after Christmas. They were awesome, fun and we had to show them to everyone. Two Nerf cannons, a sniper rifle, shotgun and a pistol take up a lot of floor space. When I had finally had enough of them being in my way I mounted the cannons to the ceiling and the rifles to the wall. We are very proud of our ceiling turrets, now if only I could find a way to program them to move and shoot. The greatest thing about mounting these cannons to the ceiling is people do not even notice they are there. I mounted them using thin rope and elastic so that they can easily be pulled down for trench warfare in the living room.

Rock Band…one of the coolest games and yet there are so many peripherals, some wonder if it is worth owning the game. As with everything else make a home for each instrument. I found some cast iron plate hangers at the dollar store that I used to mount the guitars to the wall. I built a microphone stand out of a broomstick, tee ball stand, duct tape and rubber bands (and it actually looks good). Next to the mic stand is the drum set. The entire set of 4 guitars, mic stand and drum set takes up a six foot wide section of wall space. Not to mention it looks good.

Keep in mind that just because everything now has a home, it does not mean that you or significant other will always remember to put things away. By compromising and bringing the two worlds together everyone will be happier. Now both of you can shift the blame to the other when friends ask “Why is there a light saber in your flower arrangement?” Creating a nice balance that this world needs to keep spinning.

I hope all of this advice helps with your decorating concerns and may you “Live long and Prosper”.