Hello to all!, First of all this is a great resource website everyone has great advice so time for me to take the plunge and share my home project and get your guys advice/feedback!

For some background I have been working in my basement doing more "destruction" then construction the last few months trying to open everything up so we have plenty of room to entertain friends and set up my 7.1 surround and get it out of my very small living room and now it is crammed in now.

I don't have any good "before" pictures because of a crashed hard drive but here is where I am today.


This is how it all started notice how there is not room for a couch let alone a surround sound and all the other goodies
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/mahpal/P1010095.jpg


Here was a room that we had no use for since it is just my wife and I plus we still have two more bedrooms upstairs (didn't think about taking a before picture till after we started ripping walls out
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/mahpal/DSC_0234.jpg

This is where I'm at today most of the framing done with can lights installed now the room is 12x23 a lot more room to work with!
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/mahpal/DSC_0133.jpg

This is the view looking in from the bar room in the right hand corner I am installing a ventless gas fireplace (it was the one request my wife had for the room)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/mahpal/DSC_0134.jpg

This is the view from where the tv will go, planning on getting a 52 inch LCD
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/mahpal/DSC_0132.jpg

Here is where I am as of yesterday where I framed in for my custom rack that I am building I am going to be able to access the rear from where I framed in my well access.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/mahpal/DSC_0136.jpg


I just ordered my speaker wire and just waiting for it to come in so I can start roughing out all my wiring. I decided that I am going to drywall the ceiling but what I am most worried about is how much of what kind of wire to run to the tv in the basement and to the two bedrooms and living room that I will be blocking access too.

Any tips, suggestions, compliments, or critiques would be greatly appreciated. I forgot to mention my equipment that I have I will do that later because this took me way too long to type as is.

looking good so far
why are you calling it kentucky's media room?
you a kentucky wildcat fan?
if you live in ky where abouts?i live in philpot, ky 15 miles outside of owensboro
take care
nat

I am sure other people will chime in with the same advice, but I will throw my 2 cents in anyways. Your room seems set up well for a front projection set up. For roughly the same price of a 52" lcd, you could get a true home theater experience.

I'm calling it Kentucky media room because I couldn't think of a catchy title that hasn't been used yet, and my freinds all call me Kentucky which is a long story for another time

I have a friend that is really pushing me toward a projector ,I'll be honest I need to do more research on them, the main uses for the room will be as a secondary living room for us to watch tv in the afternoon and as a way to entertain freinds because our old living room had a max occupancy of five people and that was very cramped

I'm worried with a projector it would feel like overkill when we are sitting watching wheel of fortune while unwinding after a day of work but like I said I need to educate myself more on modern projectors

Ok, if it will be used as a living room then an LCD might be a better choice. I assumed that when you said media room in the title that you meant this room would be primarily used to watch movies.

My favorite movie theater I have ever been to used to play wheel of fortune on the big screen before its 7 o'clock show. It was a lot more fun to watch than the stupid movie trivia geared towards 5 year-olds that most theaters play, however that was primarily due to the audience joining in, not the size of the screen.

There are some people here that would argue that projectors should be used in everyday rooms like yours, but I am not one of them. I think projectors should be used for special occasions, like movies, large scale shows (Lost, etc.), and sporting events, not the nightly news.

Your original thought was correct and will probably give you the most enjoyment. Good luck with your build, and don't worry, sometime soon you will start actually building and not just tearing stuff down.

I'm worried with a projector it would feel like overkill when we are sitting watching wheel of fortune while unwinding after a day of work...

My wife and I do exactly that every night (Jeopardy/Wheel of Fortune and other TV like Lost/CSI/etc until bed) on our 150" living room screen. It just depends on what suits you best.

Audixium that screen is awesome!! I bet the jeopardy board looks pretty sweet on that.

I guess media room maybe not the right term I guess I have a lot to learn...what do you call a room that you do everyday watching, xbox 360/wii, playing and watching a sweet blu ray movie every couple of weeks?? Because that is what I plan on building

I watch regular tv on mine all the time. 130 inches baby. Even king of queens looks good in 4:3... We have a 62 upstairs in our living room. Its just not the same...

Just make sure you get a receiver that upconverts. I have the Onkyo 606, and I really like it.

I did my whole set up for under $2,000. Which is what you would spend on a nice tv. And a projector has way more options. (think netflicks movie downloads to your pc, and projected huge on your wall)

Audixium that screen is awesome!! I bet the jeopardy board looks pretty sweet on that.

I guess media room maybe not the right term I guess I have a lot to learn...what do you call a room that you do everyday watching, xbox 360/wii, playing and watching a sweet blu ray movie every couple of weeks?? Because that is what I plan on building

Thanks - and yes, "Media Room" applies in your case.

I watch regular tv on mine all the time. 130 inches baby. Even king of queens looks good in 4:3... We have a 62 upstairs in our living room. Its just not the same...

Just make sure you get a receiver that upconverts. I have the Onkyo 606, and I really like it.

I did my whole set up for under $2,000. Which is what you would spend on a nice tv. And a projector has way more options. (think netflicks movie downloads to your pc, and projected huge on your wall)

+1

Tons of opportunities, especially when you start adding ingredients like media centers (ex: XBMC).

I am tempted with the thought of 130" of kevin james....

Had my first hiccup!! After purchasing my fireplace I realized that I have to switch walls to put the tv on because the fireplace is bigger than I expected and I don't have enough room on the far wall, this isn't a big deal except now I have not too confident where to place my speakers for my 7.1 setup. Right now I have stands but I really wanted to mount them on the wall/ceiling so I get a cleaner look and do not have wires running everywhere. Here is a picture of the layout of what it should like finished and here I am thinking about placing the speakers which are the purple dots and squares (sorry it is so crude looking I'm no good drawing stuff on the cpu)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/mahpal/basement4.jpg

let me know what you guys think thank