Choosing a Pool Table Felt Color for Your Game Room

Most people picture a pool table with green cloth, and green is still the classic. But when you are having a table covered or installed, the choice is wider than that. The shop's recovery form offers twenty-three felt names, from standard greens to blues, reds, greys and darker tones. That is plenty of freedom, and a little structure helps you use it.

Start with the room, not the swatch

A color that looks great on a small sample can behave differently once it covers a big flat surface in your actual room. The table is the largest block of color in a game room, so it pulls everything else toward it. Look at your walls, the finish on the table's wood, the carpet or floor and the lights above. Then ask which of those you want the cloth to agree with, and which you want it to stand apart from.

Light matters too. A basement with small windows and warm bulbs will make cloth look deeper and warmer than a sunny room will. If you can, look at the sample in the room where the table will live, at the time of day when you will play most.

The names on the list

Here are the felt names the shop offers, grouped loosely to make them easier to scan.

• Greens: Premier Series Standard Green, Leisure Series Standard Green, Dark Green, Spruce, Evergreen and Olive.
• Blues: Blue, Electric Blue, Navy, Denver Blue and Teal.
• Reds and warm tones: Red, Burgundy, Rust, Mahogany, Camel and Gold.
• Greys and darks: Bankers Grey, Charcoal, Pewter and Black.
• Purples: Purple and Grape.

The felt colors page on this site shows the full range with swatches, which is easier than trying to picture names like Spruce or Denver Blue from words alone.

Questions that narrow it down

Do you want the table to feel traditional? A standard green, or one of the darker greens such as Dark Green or Evergreen, reads as a classic pool room at once. Do you want it to feel like part of a modern basement or a media room? A grey like Bankers Grey, Pewter or Charcoal can sit quietly beside a dark sectional and a television wall.

Is the room already full of strong color? Then a quieter cloth lets the table settle in. Is the room plain? Then the cloth is your chance to add something. Burgundy and the other reds suit a room with warm wood and dark paint. Blues suit a lighter, cooler room, and a team color suits a fan who wants the table to match a jersey on the wall.

Balls, chalk and spills

Some practical points are worth thinking through before you fall for a color. Very dark cloth can make it harder to see a dark ball in a shadowed corner of the table, so check the lighting. Chalk dust shows differently on different colors, so if you do not want to wipe the cloth often, ask how a color wears with the chalk your household uses. And remember that the shop uses a high quality felt with a choice of spill guard, which is worth considering if drinks tend to wander into the game room.

Making the call

Whatever you pick, a recovery at the shop covers replacing all of the felt, examining the table and tightening every fitting, and re-leveling. The color is the part you will see every day, but it is only one piece of the job. If you are torn between two options, say so. Steve has been in the business since 2010, and he can tell you what he has seen work, or what to avoid.

One more tip: if the room has a lot going on, such as a sports theme, a bar and a wall of memorabilia, pick the cloth last. Settle the lighting and the wood finish first, because those two change how any cloth looks. Then look at two or three finalists side by side instead of one at a time. A color that holds its own next to its neighbors is usually the one you will still like when the novelty wears off, and that is a better test than any single swatch on its own.

Take a look at the felt colors page to see every name side by side, then send a request through the recovery quote page or call (845) 597-5532 and ask for Steve. It is easier to choose when you can say the name of the color you have been looking at, and easier still when you can see it on the shop floor.