First I want to thank all the great contributors to this forum. I have been reading it for a while and have gotten some great ideas.

I am hoping for some help in laying out my basement theater/bar though. This will be my second theater. The first one was really basic and was a lot of fun to build, but was done on a very tight budget. It was also done before I found this site, so I made a few first time mistakes. I am hoping to avoid that this time around.

My theater is going to be in the basement of my house. The basement is currently unfinished. Attached is a drawing of the existing framing that is in place. The ceilings are eight foot.

Again I will be working on a budget, but would like to get the best design possible for my theater. Right now, I am considering continuing the existing bedroom wall the length of the basement to make my theater and bar, but I am concerned as to how it will look coming down the stairs and seeing one long hallway. Also, I haven't decided if the bar should be in the theater room or be its own room separated by double doors, so I can still see the screen from the bar. Any ideas or tips you can provide would be appreciated. I plan on starting construction later this fall and will be sure to keep everyone updated on my progress.

Here is a quick drawing of the theater room and bar if I were to separate them.

How big would the bar area be. Maybe put the bar where you have your theater and run your theater north and south to the left of the stairs.

My initial reaction is you are wasting a lot of valuable space for a hallway. Putting the theater North-south on the left eliminates the need for a hallway.

I could build it to the left of the stairs, but I have pre-existing windows on both of the walls where the screen could possibly go. I could put the screen/stage in front of one of the windows I guess and just lose access to that window. Are there any drawbacks to blocking a window?

I blocked two in my basement.

I blocked two in my basement.

And I killed 3.

You have a lot of room available. What else would go in that space? Just a bar and theater? How big do you want the bar? For the theater are you hoping to put in 2 rows of seating?

My initial thought was like the others, put the theater north/south with the screen on the south wall. Maybe an "L" shaped bar in the north-east corner along the bedroom wall.... No need for a hallway so drop that idea.

After reading everyone's great ideas, here is what I have come up with for a new design. Please let me know what you think, and thank you everyone who has provided advice already.

I'm not sure that I like your idea for the bar area, but that's just me. Its like you have the bar patrons sitting inside the bar looking out. To me they shoud be sitting on the other side of that counter looking in. The bar stools are like a second row of theater seating. What's with the den? What will it be used for?

After assessing the amount of space available, the bar has become more of a snack counter. I introduced the counter top and chairs to give a second row of seating for the rare occasion when we have more than four people in our theater. My wife and I also tend to eat and work from within the theater, so I thought the counter space would work nicely for that.

I got the idea for the counter top from HawkeyeJosh's post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=777621). I wish I had the space to fit a full bar in like he did, but unfortunately my room is not long enough, so I ended up with the above design.

As for the den area, my wife and I wanted that space for a sitting area. We don't currently have a good area for a Christmas tree in our house, and thought that would work nicely.

If I was in your position I would flip the the screen around so it is covering the larger window. I would also remove the wall between the den area and the theater.

Sorry missed your revised layout when you posted it before. Much better use of space. As for keeping the theater separate form the den I like it the way you drew it.

If you haven't seen buffbakers sit at bar for his last row you need to give it a look for ideas.

http://public.fotki.com/jeffbaker24/bar__home_theater/

Also a FYI, I often eat a dinner at my sit at bar when I come home late and one of my FAVs is on or the wife wants to get a movie started before it gets too late.