Open the door to the self-styled “kawaii tech creator” Light Blue Flowers‘room, and suddenly you’ll feel like you’ve been living your life like a strawberry in a Fruity Pebbles cereal. I like it much others players onlineFleurs is an expert in “cake games”, a term that comes from the Japanese kawaii aesthetic, and perhaps, a need to distinguish themselves from unassuming black leather and plastic game companies trying to sell to men. Pastel games, on the other hand, push cool maximalism. Collection of peaks in animal crossing. Adorn your shelves with furry creatures of all kinds. bowled over kirby keys, and extensive fields of rose. a lot of pink You can get in on the action with a few simple steps, and not just by investing in Razor’s famous quartz line.
So if you’re convinced or if you’ve always wanted a piece of sugar, Fleurs and Teny, a expert in cute things who makes content like @10eegaming helped me put together some tips on how to bring your current gaming space into the sweet galaxy.
Discover your design preferences
Pink, purple, and cat-eared headsets make up some of the most popular pastel gaming design choices, but that doesn’t mean you should implement them. “Cute” is a personal thing – before you transform your space, decide which images, colors and elements resonate with you. Above all, your play space should feel like “an expression of ‘you’ and the things you like,” Fleurs said.
“Finding an aesthetic that works for you is really about experimenting to see what really clicks with your self-expression, and the best part is that you never have to be tied down to just one,” Fleurs said. “Try lots of different aesthetics or combine them into a hybrid mix that makes something new entirely! It can be helpful to figure out which colors are your favorite as a starting point, and then go from there to decide which themes you prefer.”
To start somewhere concrete, Fleurs recommends “picking one accent color to start with and using that as your foundation to create a sense of cohesion.”
“You can use transition colors, such as black and white, to help things to match and flow better visually. Using these transitional colors also means that you don’t need to change them if you get bored of your accent color, because they’ll go with everything. If you’re feeling extra spicy, you can add a secondary accent color,” she said. “For example, my main accent color is baby pink, my transition color is white, and my secondary accent is mint or blue. I try to avoid red and orange like the plague.
While you’re looking for your ideal colors (some free paint samples from your local Home Depot or paint store might help with this) keep in mind that you can find gaming items in just about any of them. The Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 series offers up a minty and ergonomic gaming chair for $539, but your options open up even more if you’re good with any comfortable chair, like the $499 Dolphin Blue Standalone ErgoChair Pro. More affordable, well-performing, and still colorful options can be found. big retailers and furniture sites like Wayfair, which also has a range of attractive gaming desks for less than $150.
The keys are like jewels in that there are so many of them and they all feel special to hold, but some that stand out in pastel colors include the $29.99 Epomaker honey milk establish, inspired by apollo 11 genespeed Fall and Myth set, and the Pom Jelly Series, which turns your keyboard into a tray of Turkish delight. Let your keyboard rest on a waterproof mat from amazon either a summer scene from Etsy, then download the dolls this purple rabbit either Magikarp Swimming. You can find beautiful coiled cables of all shades. in mechanical Y Alpaca Cords, and you can customize anything with paint and tape. Fleurs made his motherboard pink with those simple tools.
But try not to overthink and don’t feel the need to stretch your budget. “Decoration is just another word for ‘Where should I put this object?’ and you don’t need to follow any aesthetic rules,” Teny said. “Each room is built piece by piece, and it’s always a work in progress. Change is part of the process, so allow yourself to experiment.
really go online
After determining the things and colors you’d generally like to see in your game room, look to the deepest annals of the Internet for inspiration. Browsing Amazon is a no-brainer, but not everyone knows the many joys of specialty Etsy storefronts and Ebay art. Especially with its pastel game setup, which, as we’ve discussed, is highly individualized and personal, you should make the most of the internet as a place for like-minded weirdos.
My best tips for shopping online: Look for the most specific imaginary items on Etsy and marvel at the things that seem to come from your imagination. I am obsessed with these delicate wildflower keys, for instance. Download the eBay app to cheap vintage finds and make reasonable offers to get them even cheaper. On both platforms, save items to your favorites to stay organized (and avoid impulse purchases).
Other online stores you may want to check out for your pastel set needs, courtesy of Fleurs:
- sakuraiarmerie on Etsy and Instagram: “A couple from the US who do custom decorations for gaming PC fan covers and wall plates, I’m even releasing some collab designs with them!” Fleurs said.
- Effervescent Lungs on Instagram: “A small UK company that makes truly unique furniture that you can order to be personalized exactly how you want it. Two words: Sanrio tables.”
- superlove.store: “An independent Australian business that makes stickers and decals, plus a few other cute accessories. I have his ‘Haku’ and ‘Game Over!’ stickers on my PC.”
- SugoiMart.com: “A Tokyo-based company for japan box which stocks a lot of different anime products, games, and household items.”
- neonfreek.com: “A company that makes really cool custom neon signs! I want a really bad one.”
You’ll also find a strong online cake gaming community. “I owe a lot to the incredible #gamer girl Y #kawaigamer community on Instagram and TikTok,” Teny said. “There are so many inspiring women who share what they love, and as a collective we ended up having a direct influence on game companies to create more products geared towards female gamers.”
“I’m a millennial and I remember buying cat ear headbands at Claire’s in the mid-2000s and thinking ‘I wish they made cat ear headphones’ at a time when they didn’t even exist,” she continued. “Now you can find hundreds of different types!”
Some picks from all those cat ear headphones – I have to recommend razorThe socket, which comes in pink or black, has the best performance of anything on the market, and is currently on sale for $99.99more affordable Somic G951s detachable kitty ears this Robocop looking headset of Phenikas. For cake lovers who value their real ears over plastic ones, you can find beautiful, high-performance sets. by Logitech, bose, Sonyand in A10 by Astro Gaming.
As for Teny’s favorite Etsy shops, try LuxSkinsOfficial, CBcustomsandrepairY PrintablesYeg, where he purchased a custom-made Switch Lite TV mount. etsy is the kingdom corny change accessories you’ve never seen before in your lifelike custom thumb grips and bespoke controller color schemes.
prioritize joy
Online, you may feel intimidated by the sheer number of stuff professional players and cake fans seem to have. don’t be. Your pastel play space should prioritize happiness and a sense of peace over consumerism.
In fact, “one of my biggest inspirations for designing my space comes from Marie Kondo’s book spark joy, where he talks about perfecting our sensitivity to joy; this process begins with recognizing which objects feel closest to our hearts and provide us with emotion and inspiration,” said Teny. “So I started designing my space with this philosophy in mind, and only kept (or collected) the items that brought me the most joy.”
“Another good way to identify joy can also be childhood nostalgia, which is why Nintendo and Sanrio have such a strong presence in my space,” he continued. “I believe that the best aesthetic is the one that fits naturally when we truly and uniquely listen to our hearts. So my game room helps me maximize my own personal sense of joy.”
You don’t need to spend a lot to cultivate joy. “A lot of my decor is very low budget—the framed images were images I printed off the internet or illustrations I cut out of a shōjo manga magazine or a Pusheen 2020 calendar,” Teny said. “The fake plants are all from my local dollar store. I also visit thrift stores to find some of the more unique finds.”
“There’s a lot you can do on a budget,” he continued. “Stores like Daiso and Miniso are also great options for stuffed animals and home decorations, as well as Target and Ikea for basics.” So much when it opens a room and generally buy small, infrequently and intentionally.
make do with what you got
In that spirit, Teny recommends that others try transforming objects they already own by “spray painting them a different color, adding stickers, changing drawer pulls, or overlaying a piece of patterned fabric.” Valuing what you already have saves you time and money (and the planet!)
“Starting to decorate an entire game room and making a setup can be a super expensive hobby or side interest,” Fleurs said. “I see a lot of young people online who are desperate to have these big, elaborate setups you see on TikTok, but honestly it can take years to curate and save up for them.”
Fleurs prefers to take her time with her design purchases, to make sure that she really wants the item and that it will really serve her. “I see my setup as kind of a long-term journey, so I don’t feel the need to get everything all at once. I think it’s also a healthy way of looking at it as it makes it more personal, plus it helps with the more consumer aspect as whatever you decorate with will have more value to you,” he said.
