First off, I do not plan on taking the wood paneling down and replacing it with 2 x 4 's and drywall. I am on a pretty thin budget to redo the room, never mind the equipment. I am looking for ideas, and perhaps some constructive criticism on my ideas for what I want to do down there.

The room is about 23' x 13'. We plan on putting two rows of seating down there, with the second row on a riser, as well as a countertop/bar behind the second row facing the screen. The seating color is a microfiber tan. The carpet is a tannish peach. The support post will act as a walk way. Behind the wood paneling is a thin layer of insulation and 2'x2' studs every 16"-24". I am not worrying about sound isolation.

Here is the entrance to the room as you when you walk down the stairs, you take an immediate right.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/fht123/Stairs.jpg

Here is the front of the room where the screen will go. The AVR, Sat Box, PS3, Etc, will go in a built in cabinet under the stairs, which is on the left in this shot.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/fht123/ScreenWall.jpg

Here is the rear of the room. The door leads to stairs that lead to the outside, the sump pump is behind it, the door has a good seal around it, no cold/heat issues.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/fht123/RearWall.jpg

In the rear of the room to the right is a area I plan on putting cabinets and a counter top area to use as a dry bar/concession area.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/fht123/DryBar-Concessions.jpg


I plan on installing a chair rail through-out the room and baseboard on the bottom of the wall. I then plan on getting some kind of cloth to put on the wall above the chair rail to the ceiling. I plan on painting below the chair rail to the base board another color. The screen wall I want to do in black or a darker color. I also plan on getting rid of the florescent lights and installing can lighting, as well as making the drop ceiling 2' x 2's instead of the current 2' x 4's.


I need help choosing the colors, something that would go with the color of the carpet perhaps. And thoughts on painting the ceiling. Any help, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Why not add acoustic treatments to the walls and cover above and below the chair rail with two different colors of material (i.e GOM)?

Probably not the best solution, but you could simply painting the panels. Just tint the primer as dark as you can.

My in laws painted their panels white and it didn't look half bad.


Another solution is installing the drywall over the panels.

Once I add in the drywall cost and all costs associated with it, its going to stretch the budget farther that I want to. As far as the acoustical treatments, how expensive are those?

Ok, I just checked GOM out, that is going to be way to expensive. Is it cheap to make my own?

Painting the paneling on the bottom 1/3 below the chair rail is what i plan to do, just want something different than painted wood paneling on the top 2/3 of the wall.

Any ideas?

What is your actual budget? It doesn't sound like you have the budget to do anything meaningful besides basic cosmetics (paint).

The cost of the durable fabric most often used for theater spaces here (GOM) is actually more $/sq. ft. than putting up a drywall layer.

No GOM, no drywall.....not trying to sound proof the room in any way....just trying to cosmetically dress up the room a little. I am hoping to extract ideas from those who have done this before, or those who might have an idea or suggestion for it......

So far I have decided......that adding a chair rail and baseboard to the bottom 1/3 of the room will dress up the room quite a bit, maybe even make it look like waynescoating.

On the top 2/3 of the walls, I do not want it to look like wood paneling, but yet I do not want to take the paneling down......so besides painting the top 2/3s of the wall, I thought perhaps I could put some fabric of some sort on it to dress it up...give it that movie theater feel.......Any suggestions of that? The kind of fabric.....the color?

... give it that movie theater feel ...

Most people on this forum go to great lengths to give their rooms that movie theater feel. Often times, it begins with removing existing walls to expose studs; buying special fabrics to make acoustical treatments; replacing drop ceilings with soundproof alternatives. I do not know that there is a whole lot that anyone can inform you of to merely decorate your room.

Perhaps you would do well to browse the "show me" posts to get an idea of color schemes. There might be one that would work for you. If you are determined to simply hang fabric on the wall, head down to a fabric store (e.g., Joanne's) and buy something you like that is within your budget. Just make sure it is fire retardant. You could probably buy some trim molding to frame out faux panels.

You could also put up a paintable vinyl wallpaper, but considering what I paid for my Anaglypta, that might be out of your budget.

I think you might do well, as Cathan suggested, to tell the group what the budget is, so people can vet their own creativity against your constraints.

Budget is around $500.

Since your budget is tight, do what you can now and if budget allows later, then do more...
Just do the chair rail/base boards, and fabric like you want...
It is your space, Paint it as you see fit...

there isn't a magic answer for you, or your situation...
So roll with what you like and make changes as you desire.
The goal here, is to have a space that you and your family can enjoy
Not much else matters.
chris

OK - here is a cheap idea. Buy drapes/curtains like a movie theater. Only put them on the top half of the wall and cover/secure the top and bottom with 1X4's. Then paint the wood and the bottom half of the paneling in a coordinating color.

If you can do the drywall yourself it will be less than your budget. An 8x4 foot sheet of 3/8 drywall is like $5. You could jest nail and glue it to the paneling.

I actually like the wood panels, it's retro. Too bad it's on all four walls, would look really cool to have it on one or two walls in the room. Perhaps just drywall one or two walls only? At the very least, drywall where your bar is going to be.

Secondly, replace your lights with pot lights. There are ones that are made for drop ceilings. Actually, someone here built a theater and left the ceiling bare, and painted the joist and duct work. Looked pretty good too.

Finally, paint your doors and door trim (same color), like a dark chocolate brown, but something that is different then the walls.

Just a couple of suggestions....

so...as it starts to get colder outside I will start on the basement project. Since these pictures I have taken down the cieling tiles.....right now my plan is still to do the fabric on the top 2/3 of the wall, and either paint the bottom 1/3 a different color or put carpet on it.

The other thought i had was to look into an owens corning basement system type of product. Does anyone know of a DIY product like this?

My local home depot has a nice looking display of more up to date paneling. One of the displays has a pre finished browninsh/leather looking bottom half, a painted chiar rail and painted standard paneling (like yours) on the top half. It actually looks pretty nice. You could look at purchacing the bottom (its not paneled) and chair rail and installing over your existing paneling, and just painting the top.