A Sports Bar in the Family Room

Unique design always begins with a dilemma. Sherry and Keith Gregor's was twofold. For one, they’d spent 10 years trying to figure out just what to do with their 500-square-foot family room. Then one afternoon they sat down with their two teenage sons in the room to watch sports and realized that their favorite football teams — the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals and the University of Cincinnati Bearcats — were playing at the same time.

To solve the second dilemma, they hauled in an extra TV and watched both games side by side. “Out of laziness it stayed that way for a while," Sherry says. "Then I got to thinking, 'This could work. Why not just turn it into a sports bar?'”

After all, while the decor exuded family on the surface — a large family photo hung over the fireplace, and the word "family" was displayed on a shelf — the space didn't quite function for their actual needs. This is a family who loves sports. Keith was a championship point guard for the University of Cincinnati; his father played in the NBA in the late '60s and '70s; Sherry had season tickets to the Cincinnati Reds growing up; and their 14-year-old son is a sports nut, too.

“Everything we did, it didn’t look like it filled up the room," Sherry says. "I never liked it. In 10 years it never looked decent."

The only logical thing to do was build a sports bar.


AFTER: And now ... game on. The room has everything a sports fan could want: multiple TVs, a full bar, two fridges for wine and beer, stadium-style recliner seats, a padded booth and memorabilia signed by some of baseball's and football's greatest athletes.

But while the Gregors had the vision, they needed someone to build it. They met custom wood designer Doug Roth at the Cincinnati Home & Garden show and explained their plan, not sure if they'd be met with confusion or open arms. “I was like, ‘Sweet!’” Roth says. “I love to do something nobody else has.”

He told them he wanted to make it look like the Fox and the Hound Irish pub in Cincinnati, a dark-paneled, masculine-leaning space. “I instantly knew exactly what this needs to look like,” he says.

After checking out the pub, the Gregors said "cheers" to Roth's approach. "Once those paneled walls went up, it grew even bigger and turned out really awesome,” Sherry says.


They originally wanted all the TVs on the fireplace wall, figuring since they never really made fires, they'd just tear it down. But Roth found that if the attention was pointed the other way, they’d get 2 extra feet of space behind the seats, giving them room for a corner booth.

Now a 65-inch TV hangs above the fireplace mantel, which is adorned with football helmets from various teams: the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Bengals, Oak Hills high school and Ohio State University.



On the main viewing wall, two 60-inch TVs flank an 80-inch one in the center, above which is a ticker that continuously scrolls sports scores and news. The room has two coolers on the left — one for wine, another for beer and soda. Above them LEDs illuminate hard liquor bottles. Roth designed the cabinets and added columns for extra detail.

The wall panels are stained solid maple 1-by-4s. The center is one big piece that Roth constructed in the living room, then hoisted up.


The Gregors bought this padded vinyl bench online. Roth then added trim to the bottom to make it blend in with the millwork. He designed the table, too.

The jersey, photos and small shelf of championship rings are from Keith’s college days. The large bobble head is the Cincinnati Reds mascot.



The red bench back is from the old Riverfront Stadium's seat number 5. It’s signed by former Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench, whose team number was 5. Photos and bats signed by Cincinnati Reds players are also displayed.



Keith and Sherry met at a Taco Bell in college — she attended Ohio State University — and a neon sign reminds them of their early days as a couple.



The room is set up with a raised platform and stadium-style seating. The Gregors' oldest teenage son loves theater and film, so the space functions as an incredible movie-watching room, too.

But, of course, with a drastic transformation like this, there are bound to be naysayers questioning your judgment. The Gregors simply plowed forward like they were returning a punt.

“My dad was like, ‘Why would you do that?’" Sherry says. "Even the neighbors said, ‘Why don’t you do it in the basement?’ Because I don’t want to go down to the basement," she says. "Everyone always hangs out in the kitchen. It just made sense to do it all in one area. Of course, they all love it now. Now that they’ve seen it, everyone has changed their mind. It’s been packed ever since.”

Next: London ambience in a New York basement

URL: A Sports Bar in the Family Room http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-21894.html