Painting and Decorating a Games Room or Billiard Room in a London Property

Games Rooms and Billiard Rooms: A Distinct Decorating Category

A dedicated games room — whether a full billiard room, a pool room, a darts and bar setup, or a more general entertaining and games space — is one of the more character-driven rooms in a London house. It tends to sit in a basement, a converted garage, a large ground-floor back extension, or an outbuilding. It is simultaneously a working room that takes genuine mechanical and chemical abuse, and a room where atmosphere and period character matter to the owner. Getting the decoration right requires understanding both the practical and the aesthetic demands.

This guide is written for London homeowners planning or commissioning the decoration of a dedicated games room or billiard room.

Period Character: Reading the Architecture Correctly

The billiard room is one of the oldest dedicated domestic room types in British residential architecture. In Victorian and Edwardian houses of sufficient size — the large detached and semi-detached villas of Kensington, Chelsea, and the prosperous suburbs — a dedicated billiard room was a standard provision, typically located on the ground floor with its own access from the main hallway, high ceilings to accommodate the full elevation of a billiard cue, and a specific decorating character: dark, masculine, richly coloured, with heavy joinery and full-height dado or panelling.

This historical precedent is worth understanding even if you are converting a modern basement or extension. The design logic of the Victorian billiard room — dark walls, heavy joinery, contained and slightly theatrical atmosphere — remains correct for a contemporary games room, because the function of the room has not changed. The elements that made the original rooms work are the same elements that make a contemporary version work.

In a genuine period property with original billiard room fabric — panelling, deep skirtings, parquet floor — preservation of the existing character is the primary brief. Strip the woodwork back where paint build-up has obscured the profile, consolidate any loose or cracked plaster, and repaint in period-appropriate colours and finishes. A full chemical strip of original panelling, followed by an oil-based primer and hard-wearing eggshell finish, restores the room without destroying its character.

Colour: Deep, Rich, and Intentional

The colour palette of a well-decorated games room is unapologetically deep. This is not a room for pale neutrals or hesitant mid-tones. The function and atmosphere of the space — entertaining, competition, evening use under warm artificial light — suits colours that absorb light and create a sense of contained energy.

Racing green remains the most historically correct choice for a billiard or games room, and it continues to work in contemporary conversions. Farrow and Ball's Bancha and Studio Green, Little Greene's Obsidian Green and Sage, and Mylands' Snooker Ball all deliver the depth required without tipping into black. These greens work particularly well with warm mahogany-toned timber — the wood of snooker and pool table surrounds, bar tops, and fitted cabinetry — and with the warm white of plaster cornice in a period room.

Deep burgundy and claret — Farrow and Ball's Preference Red, Edward Bulmer's Carnelian, Little Greene's Carmine — are an alternative that suits a more intimate, club-like atmosphere. These are particularly effective in rooms with low ambient light where the intention is evening entertaining rather than daytime play.

For a more contemporary approach in a modern basement conversion, a very deep charcoal or near-black — Little Greene's Intelligent Matt Black, Mylands' Iron Ore — in a dead-flat finish creates a highly dramatic space that reads as considered and intentional rather than merely dark.

Durability Specification: A Room Built for Use

A games room takes specific forms of abuse that must be anticipated in the decorating specification.

Walls adjacent to a billiard or snooker table receive regular contact from cue butts and the ends of rests. This is not a light touch — a full-length rest catching a wall corner under pressure can chip paint from a plaster arrris in a single impact. Apply a minimum of an oil-based eggshell on walls in the playing area rather than matt emulsion, and consider a ceramic-reinforced paint or a flexible high-build product at the cue-impact zones. Run the harder product to at least 1500mm from the floor on walls directly adjacent to the table.

Floors in a games room require thought. Parquet in a period property should be restored and refinished with a hard-wearing polyurethane or oil finish — not varnished to a high gloss, which looks wrong and is slippery. Concrete floors in a converted basement should be treated with a two-pack epoxy system, which is chemical-resistant, easy to clean, and significantly more durable than floor paint.

Bar areas, if present, require the same attention as a commercial bar: alcohol-resistant sealer on any timber bar tops and splash-resistant, washable finishes on the walls behind. A ceramic or two-pack epoxy paint in the splash zone behind the bar is the correct specification.

Lighting, Joinery, and the Whole Scheme

Joinery in a games room — dado rail, skirtings, bar framework, door surround — should be in a hard-wearing eggshell rather than gloss. Gloss is too reflective for a room where controlled, warm light is an important part of the atmosphere. A deep-coloured eggshell on the joinery — a richer or darker version of the wall colour, or a contrasting dark tone — gives depth to the room without the visual noise of a high-gloss surface.

Ceiling colour is frequently overlooked. A pale ceiling in a very dark-walled games room creates an awkward contrast. Either take the ceiling to a mid-tone in the same colour family as the walls, or — in a basement or low-ceiling room — consider the full deep colour on the ceiling as well, which creates the fully enclosed, atmospheric quality the room should have.

To discuss a games room or billiard room decorating project in your London property, contact us here. For a detailed price and product specification, request a free quote.