FASHION CUES AS A DECORATING TREND, USING POOL TABLES IN THE LIVING ROOM IS DEEPLY FELT.Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer Chow time, everybody! Pull up a chair at the side pocket. Once the game-room staple, the somewhat shady mark of a male hobby tucked away in a spare room where the wife wouldn't have to see it, pool tables are now emerging front and center in homes. A practical alternative to expensive living room furniture or a makeshift dining room table, the pool table is becoming proof that formal living space is getting less formal. Gone are the plastic-wrapped, ``don't touch'' sofas. Plant yourself on a barstool bar·stool n. A usually high stool with a cushioned seat, used chiefly as seating for patrons at a bar. barstool n → taburete m (de bar) barstool and grab a cue. Simply put, families would rather play than entertain, say the owners of billiard bil·liard adj. Of, relating to, or used in billiards. n. See carom. Adj. 1. billiard - of or relating to billiards; "a billiard ball"; "a billiard cue"; "a billiard table" supply stores, especially if it means keeping the kids entertained and busy at home. Game rooms are making way for office and computer space while garages are once again free for cars or storage. ``We're doing a commercial now that's scheduled to run that asks, 'What are you doing with your formal living room and dining room?' '' says Sal Butera Salvatore Philip Butera (born September 25, 1952, in Richmond Hill, New York) was a Major League Baseball catcher and is currently a Special Assistant to Toronto Blue Jays General Manager J. P. Ricciardi. , general manager of Quintessentials, a game store with four locations specializing in pool tables. ``People want to be more family-oriented, spending more time with their kids and using the space they have.'' ``I had a customer who rented one from me,'' adds Brian Otis, manager of Billiards billiards, any one of a number of games played with a tapered, leather-tipped stick called a cue and various numbers of balls on a rectangular, cloth-covered slate table with raised and cushioned edges. and Bar Stools bar stool n → Barhocker m in Glendale. ``His daughter and son-in-law died and now the grandparents grandparents npl → abuelos mpl grandparents grand npl → grands-parents mpl grandparents grand npl are raising two teen-age daughters. They don't want the kids on the streets. They've rented it for six months and now they're in the process of buying it. The kids love it. They're having fun there at home. ``You get more use out of that room instead of paying $15,000 to $20,000 on formal furniture that's not going to be used,'' says Otis. The pool table-dominated room will still make a dent in your wallet (tables cost anywhere from $1,000 to $70,000), but now your table isn't a one-trick pony. With conversion tops and mechanisms, a pool table can be covered for use as a dining room table or, if you're still in gaming mode, it can be switched over to an air hockey Air hockey is a game for two competing players trying to score points in the opposing player's goal. Equipment Air hockey requires an air hockey table, two mallets, and a puck. or ping-pong table for $400 to $500 more. Laura Berg Laura Kay Berg (born January 6, 1975 in Whittier, California) is an American softball player. She graduated from Fresno State in 1998. She has a rare distinction of having won three gold medals in the Summer Olympics. owns a conversion unit, but the table in her Agoura Hills home is rarely used for anything but pool. Not that visitors hanging around that room will get bored. Between the pinball machine, stand-up stand·up or stand-up adj. 1. Standing erect; upright: a standup collar. 2. Taken, done, or used while standing: a standup supper; a standup bar. and table top arcade games You can also check the Killer List of Videogames. This is a list of arcade games organized alphabetically by name. It does not include computer or console games unless they were also released in video arcades. See Lists of video games for related lists. and a pachinko machine In machine learning, a Pachinko classifier is a top-down hierarchical classifier]. It was named after Pachinko built into the wall, all in the same room, Berg's clients, friends, daughter Ashley and Ashley's friends all figure to keep themselves entertained. The room was originally constructed as a family room, but in mid-design, even with furniture and decorator fabric already purchased, Berg changed her mind. ``The fireplace is still there. So somebody could buy this house and change it back,'' says Berg, who owns a mortgage firm. ``I'm more into having every room be usable. I just decided it would be a waste of money to make it into a family room.'' Berg carried her full-use philosophy into the revamping of her living room - a formal-looking room that, Berg says, is anything but. With three television screens for mass sports watching or simultaneous Nintendo game playing, the living room can be as festive and action packed as the game room. Needless to say, Berg entertains. Kids of all ages use her home as an after-school and evening playground. Any of her formerly formal rooms will routinely hold 20 to 30 kids with ease, she says. ``I just knew early that, A) this was a house people would like to come to, and, B) there's nothing else around here to do,'' says Berg. ``(Before), my house was beautiful. It was all decorated and gorgeous, and I never used the living room, never used the dining room.'' Michael Hailfinger of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. says he stumbled upon the pool-table-in-a-dining-room concept almost by accident. True, he and his wife were looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a pool table for their game room, but they also needed a dining room table and couldn't find something the size they were seeking. ``I like bulky stuff,'' says Hailfinger, a technical services representative for a printing company, who, like Berg, ended up buying his table from Quintessentials. ``We were looking for a 12-by-12 table. A pool table was the closest we could get. It's a really nice-looking piece of furniture. The fact that it's a pool table is an added bonus.'' The Hailfingers' table hasn't taken on true dining room functions yet since the family is still awaiting the arrival of custom-made chairs from Honduras. Once the room is assembled, however, the table will comfortably seat 14 with nobody touching elbows. CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) Hip pockets Pool tables, popular again, are no longer being relegated to the game room (2 -- color) Lisa and Michael Hailfinger enjoy their pool/dining table in their home in Simi Valley. ``It's a really nice-looking piece of furniture. The fact that it's a pool table is an added bonus,'' Michael says. (3 -- color) The Hailfingers stumbled on their unique dining room table, which seats 14, by accident. ``We were looking for a 12-by-12 table. A pool table was the closest we could get,'' Michael says. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer (4 -- color) Brian Veasman, left, and Adam Franzino play pool in the redesigned game room at Laura Berg's house in Agoura Hills. (5 -- color) Berg, center, converted what was originally going to be a traditional family room. It now features a variety of game-playing options, including a pool table that converts for table hockey Table hockey can refer to:
David Sprague/Staff Photographer |
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