Be honest: did you get into Bob Ross about four or five years ago when “The Joy of Painting” appeared on Neftlix?

I sure did.

I remember watching his show on TVO in the mid-1980’s.  The guy could create a beautiful painting from scratch in a half-hour episode, but even more impressive was that afro of his!  More memorable too.

In 2016 or 2017, whenever that show appeared, I got really, really into painting.  Not actually painting, but watching Bob Ross paint, and learning about painting as a hobby.  The types of paints, the brushes he used, the colours, his canvases, and his “wet on wet style” – it was such a jolt to my OCD!

I told myself, “When I move into a house, I’m going to use an entire bedroom as a painting room.”

Yes, I said that.  A guy who has never painted in his life said that.

But I also told myself, based on my love of “wood shop” from public school and my illustrious win of the 1993-94 Industrial Arts Award at Bessborough Public School, that when I moved into a house one day, I’d have a wood lathe.  I’d turn bowls all day long.  Maybe make some baseball bats.  The options were limitless, right?

Fast-forward to 2021 and I do not have a painting room, nor do I have a wood-working room.

Bob Ross would be ashamed of me.  So too would Bob Montgomery, my shop teacher from 1991 through 1994.

I don’t know if it’s the size requirement or the time requirement, but I will likely never have a hobby room.

I mean, I do have every G.I. Joe action figure from 1982 through 1987 adorning the wall of a wine room that came with our house, even though I don’t like wine.  So maybe that qualifies as my “hobby room,” right?

Actually, wait; I do have a ping-pong table, but it’s in the rec-room and it’s not really a “games room” per se.

In any event, I scoured MLS looking for the best “games rooms” or “hobby rooms,” and here’s what’s out on MLS right now…

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Ah, wow.  I know which one I have to start with.

Bob Ross, I have failed you.  I never built myself a “painting room,” but that doesn’t mean another Torontonian out there can’t make up for my oversight, right?

Just look at this setup here:

That’s enough to make Bob Ross smile.

Wait, he was never not smiling.  It seemed like he was on acid every minute of the day…

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I didn’t get the music gene.  It just never took.

I was assigned the trumpet in Grade-6, but by Grade-8, I still couldn’t play a single note properly.

Having said that, I’ve seen a LOT of houses with “jam rooms” in the basement, like this one:

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I never really got into billiards, er, pool as we call it here.

I would much rather have a ping-pong table, but I think the votes would be split 50/50 on that one.

Pool tables and ping-pong tables don’t seem to pair well.  In fact, most of the houses that have pool tables in the basements have shuffleboard tables too, like this one:

And this one:

See, it’s a trend!

I had no idea this was a “thing.”

Oh – that games room has a bar too!  It also has a Bosu-ball in the middle of the room for some reason.  What’s that about?

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How about a pool table and a foosball table?

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Okay, this one I can get behind!

Billiards, a putting green, and a wet-bar!

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I also never got into bowling.

I mean, we all hit up Thorncliffe Bowlerama for a friend’s birthday in the 1980’s, of course.  Nothing quite like a 5-pin tournament with those rubber bumpers in the gutters so kids felt better about their shots.

I love the brickwork that adorns this bowling alley, but isn’t a little narrow?

Yeah, but then isn’t this one a little too…………..open?

There aren’t any gutters there!

What happens when you really give’er?  The ball rolls along the carpet until it smashes the back wall and an antique painting falls to the floor?

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Remember last month when I featured basement movie theatres?

This room could be used as a movie theatre.  It’s the right size, location in the house, and has the correct ceiling height.

But I like what they did more here…

Oh man, just imagine?

I certainly can!

And look at the two chairs facing the screen!  It’s like you bring your buddies over and take turns hitting golf balls into the simulator, and chill out, drink a beer, and watch eachother.

There are actually systems and software that allow you to virtually play a famous golf course.

“Hey Chris, wanna come over to my basement and play The Masters with Tuck and Jeff?”

A guy can dream…

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I grew up playing road hockey in my driveway.

I was always jealous of the kids that lived on quiet crescents or dead-ends that got to actually play on the road.

Today, we see the well-off families basically paving over their backyards and putting in field-turf!

But what about those that have hockey-puck shooting galleries in their basements?

I honestly don’t even know what to make of that.

I have never seen anything like it.

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Speaking of, “Never seen anything like it,” what about your own basketball court?

And no, not like the one in Michael Jordan’s house, or like Drake probably has.

I mean a seemingly-normal house in North Toronto that just happens to have this:

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For those who can’t afford an entire basketball court, how about arcade-basketball?

Nah, that sucks when it follows a damn basketball court in somebody’s house.

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Alright, three more, and I saved these for last.

First of all, what kind of “hobby room” is this:

I have no clue what’s going on here.

It’s a beautiful room!  Love the black frames on the doors, the mouldings around the interior door, and even the flooring.

But that craft table – the one with a built-in roll of paper on the end, and what looks like Sharpies in a bin on top, is sitting below…………..hot air balloons?

I haven’t figured this one out yet…

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Alright, we did a basement bar edition, I think we’ve done home offices before as well, and today we’re doing games/hobby rooms, but what if you combined them all?

This is a “study” in a luxury home somewhere in Toronto:

I feel poor just looking at this room!

I’m picturing men wearing neckerchiefs or ascots, lighting Cuban cigars with flaming hundred-dollar bills, talking about hunting, and preparing the maiden voyage of their yacht while taking turns at 9-ball…

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Last, but certainly not least, I barely need to introduce this one.

Let’s just call it: the greatest games room you’ll ever see:

That’s one pool table, one poker table, nine pinball machines, eleven arcade games, and a wet-bar.

What would you even think if you walked into somebody’s house, and this was their basement?

Final thought today: let’s say you had space in your house for an arcade game like the ones above.  You get to pick from the following three:

Which one, and why?

🙂