One amazing mom created an enormous NES-themed game room for her kids

You've got an empty room in your house, a couple of young kids who like to play Nintendo games, and a penchant for DIY projects. What do you do?

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This, apparently, if you're anything like Scottsburg, Indiana teacher Rorie Lizenby:

Pretty intense! But Lizenby brushes off the project as little more than a two-week diversion (while working full-time as a teacher, no less). Here's how she did it!

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby
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First things first: schematics!

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

Lizenby based her work on a NES-inspired print, originally created by Allen Swart:

Allan Swart
Allan Swart

"Initially, my intent was not to create an accurate depiction of the original Nintendo controller, just a generic retro gaming controller," Lizenby told Tech Insider. "

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The first thing she did was put up a background for the massive NES gamepad on the wall:

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

Which she then framed with grey-colored wooden boards:

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby
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The next step was priming the space for the d-pad and start/select buttons"

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

Her work on the d-pad is especially impressive — it's a stunner!

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby
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You may be wondering why there are four buttons, instead of the original two.

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

For Lizenby, this was a question of aesthetic balance. "I like the way the four buttons visually balance the d-pad," she told us. Because the internet is the internet, folks on Reddit and Imgur criticized her work for not perfectly duplicating the original NES gamepad. Lizenby had a simple response to critics: "Despite all the criticism over the buttons, I have no desire to change it."

At this point in the project, Lizenby turned her attention to the walls. They got the same dark grey coat that the gamepad did, to match the original console's color scheme:

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby
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Rather than perfectly represent the original NES gamepad, Lizenby swapped the middle section for a wall-mounted 42-inch HD TV:

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

Though she originally intended to only create the gamepad on the wall, she couldn't help but re-create the console as well:

Nintendo home theater
Naturally, the first thing she did was create a wire that mimicked the original NES gamepad wire. Tyler Lizenby

"As I started wrapping up the wall portion of the project, I was inspired to add more.  That’s when I started working on the entertainment center/console," Lizenby told Tech Insider. Again, this all happened within the span of two weeks.

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Next, she picked up this piece of inexpensive furniture on Overstock.com:

Nintendo home theater
After some modifications, the cabinets were ready for the NES treatment. Tyler Lizenby

She created cut-outs with the original font, and color-matched them using Sharpies instead of paint:

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby
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The result is stunning. This looks remarkably similar to the original NES:

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

In case there's any confusion, this is what the original NES looks like:

Nintendo Entertainment System
First released in the US in 1985. Nintendo
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And this is Rorie Lizenby's incredible finished product:

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

Thankfully, Rorie's husband Tyler took a ton of photos of the finished project. Join us in gawking at them!

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Tyler Lizenby
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Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

And here's Rorie herself, testing out the TV and getting the A/V end of things finalized:

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby
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The true test, of course, is whether her kids like it. Looks like she passed!

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby
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The room is far from finished — Lizenby has plans to swap out the carpet and add some more reasonable furniture.

Nintendo home theater
Tyler Lizenby

"They just grabbed what they could carry," Lizenby said to one concerned Reddit commenter who was worried about the angle that the kids were playing games at. 

As for Lizenby's own gaming past, her mom wouldn't let her get a Nintendo Entertainment System. "I actually never had an original NES," she told Tech Insider. "My mom wasn’t too into the idea of having gaming consoles in the house. But when I would visit a friends who had them, it became clear that I was a gamer at heart. I enjoy strategy games and MMORPGs and usually stick the the PC for gaming. My husband also enjoys playing video games so naturally, our boys do as well. "

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