Layout - 14x16+ useable. Optoma HD806 firing to what will soon be a 100 inch elite screen.

The seating is a large couch and loveseat. Now the difficulty. I have flat off-white walls, white ceiling, very light carpet. As this is a romper room as well for kid/dogs the ruler of the house has forbidden black walls.

On the carpet, I will be overlaying a large dark red/black turkmen rug to soak up some of the light reflecting back up.

She as agreed to a dark red wall on the screen end, but what other options might be out there to improve the picture?

I was thinking of mounting rods from the ceiling coming out from the screen in a \_____/ shape with black curtains to frame in the picture. What thoughts are out there for this?

Additionally, I get a lot of light on the ceiling, don't know if this reflects back down and degrades the picture, but assume it does. I can see one specific spot that gets a lot of light, would a black felt panel mounted flat on the ceiling in this location offer any tangible results?

Thanks guys.

It doesn't have to be such a black and white thing. ;) (pun intended.)

Forget about black walls - but go for nice rich dark palate that your wife can embrace. Remind her that all white is boring, out of fashion and harder to keep clean, especially where kids and dogs are concerned. Get her thinking outside the infernal "all white walls everywhere" box!

Show her the photos from Landshark's build - that might get her to realize a HT can be done tastefully without taking over a room.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=982083
(http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=982083)
You can do it. Man up, dude. Or be very worried if your wife starts talking about taking you and the dog to the vet to get fixed! :eek:

I love the idea of just the wall and ceiling, but she's fighting. I sent her the photo of landshark's one black wall and ceiling. Maybe she won't object with a clearer idea.

Color is a factor but key is non-reflective wall treatment. Black is simply not necessary and, frankly, hideous.

Just my non-technical opinion - biggest culprit to light reflected back into the room can be the screen - we started with white and very glad we tried a gray Da-lite.

It reflects practically no light into the room and an unexpected benefit is it makes the top/bottom black bars when showing widescreen movies almost invisible to viewers.

We have decent but not terribly expensive paneling in our room - it is dark but attractive and 100% non-reflective and, again, the key is more non-reflective than any single color.

What I have done in several of my rooms is a two color approach. The screen wall and ceiling would be the darker of the two colors and then the other walls a lighter complimentary color. I have done this in my bedrooms/bathrooms and also the game room I just completed for my boys.

If you click the other project link you'll see what I'm talking about. I find this works out very well and adds some interest to the room vs. having all stark white, cream, beige, or off white totally neutral colors.

I'll second that black is very hard to work with an not necessary to get a good effect and not the best choice (obviously) for a kids room or a multipurpose room. I have found that tans and reds work very well together as well as blues and grays. I think tans and greens would work well too.

Good Luck!

Regards,

RTROSE

I think I have the OK to go with a dark red on the wall the screen is mounted on. Other than that... I think I'm SOL from the Significant Other.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I think I have the OK to go with a dark red on the wall the screen is mounted on. Other than that... I think I'm SOL from the Significant Other.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Hey Ryan, buddy,

Do me a favor, will you my girly-man friend? Grow a pair!! ;)

JK. Mostly. :rolleyes:

I'll tell ya this: I can decide stuff like color scheme (in my frickin' basement at least) because I'm the boss in my house!!

And I have my wife's permission to say so! :o

I think I have the OK to go with a dark red on the wall the screen is mounted on. Other than that... I think I'm SOL from the Significant Other.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have a dark red screen wall as well. I used a light-to-medium brown for the walls and the ceiling. The significant other was definitely apprehensive about doing the ceiling, but it does not look strange at all. We both were pleasantly surprised by how natural and good it looked in the room. And I know even having the brown on the ceiling makes a big difference on reflections.

Click the link in my sig to check out the colors. Keep on fighting man! You at least need some color on the side walls and ceiling..