I have a pretty terrible home for home theater. No basement, lots of open spaces and a kitchen and office downstairs adjoining the living/family areas. Dedicated HT is basically out of the question, but I've given a lot of thought to possible layouts for at least improving the family room setup that we have. The biggest problem is the basically open space to the kitchen, but putting in a permanent or semiperm wall has a WAF of zero. So we need something that can be put up and taken down in minutes. I can imagine building a setup with sliding panels floor-to-ceiling that would help, but it won't be cheap or easy. I was hoping someone might know about a commercial solution to this, or have another clever idea - haven't found anything in casual searching.

The accordion-style walls are pretty ugly IMO, and the corporate conference room type things are probably too expensive, but I'd be willing to look if someone has a good source.

What's your intent with a movable wall? To isolate sound? I don't think you'll have much luck with that.

I have expensive, foldable walls in the conference rooms at work. These are not the accordion type, but folding insulated wall panels. Rubber seals, locks and all. While they do muffle the sound some, you can still hear the conversation in the next room.

They might help some with highs, but I don't think any kind of movable wall will do much to isolate low frequencies.

No, it's really for privacy. I realize isolation isn't possible this way - but even a little muffling is fine. To be clear, this is mainly to make the viewing and listening experience better, not to keep others from being annoyed by the movie. So low frequency isolation is not an issue. Anyway, sound is secondary, light is the main concern. Right now, there is line of sight to the family room from (1) the eat in kitchen nook, (2) the kitchen, and (3) a desk in the office beyond the kitchen. If any of those lights are on, it's distracting, and I don't even watch in complete darkness usually.

Imagine this scenario - someone watching the movie decides they want to make themselves some popcorn and get a drink and doesn't mind missing a few minutes of the film. Right now, the 150W of light being turned on, cabinet opening, the microwave going, dishes clattering, etc are basically happening in the same room, no more than 15 feet from where people watching the movie are sitting, so they get to hear and see it all. Anything would be an improvement. Even a pull-down screen would be a little better.

Come to think of it, maybe there are some window treatments that would look OK that I could put up. I still prefer the wall idea though.

No, it's really for privacy. I realize isolation isn't possible this way - but even a little muffling is fine. To be clear, this is mainly to make the viewing and listening experience better, not to keep others from being annoyed by the movie. So low frequency isolation is not an issue. Anyway, sound is secondary, light is the main concern. Right now, there is line of sight to the family room from (1) the eat in kitchen nook, (2) the kitchen, and (3) a desk in the office beyond the kitchen. If any of those lights are on, it's distracting, and I don't even watch in complete darkness usually.

Imagine this scenario - someone watching the movie decides they want to make themselves some popcorn and get a drink and doesn't mind missing a few minutes of the film. Right now, the 150W of light being turned on, cabinet opening, the microwave going, dishes clattering, etc are basically happening in the same room, no more than 15 feet from where people watching the movie are sitting, so they get to hear and see it all. Anything would be an improvement. Even a pull-down screen would be a little better.

Come to think of it, maybe there are some window treatments that would look OK that I could put up. I still prefer the wall idea though.

Window treatment on a track would be a great idea, along the lines of those privacy curtains they use in patient rooms...but the nice ones aren't cheap. shouldn't be a problem with the wiffe though

We have the same issue in our house except we actually want to use our family room.
What I would like to have is basically a movie screen that goes into the ceiling when not in use and I can lower it when we watch movies. The screen width would have to be the entire (or most) opening and be 9 feet tall.

Window treatment on a track would be a great idea, along the lines of those privacy curtains they use in patient rooms...but the nice ones aren't cheap. shouldn't be a problem with the wiffe though

Did some looking today. So far everything I've seen would look pretty much like shades or drapes bizzarely placed in the middle of a room. Not as easy as I'd have thought.

The corporate/school panel partitions would be about $800 for what I need. Not that thrilled with the look, which varies from bland to blah.

I did find some 7' Shoji screens that look pretty decent. If I put them on the kitchen side, that would only leave a 1' gap at the top. Most of the panels are not light blocking, though.

We have the same issue in our house except we actually want to use our family room.

?? We also want to use our family room. What I have is the opposite of a dedicated HT, or did I miss your point?

I wish I could do a movie screen/projector, but there are so many windows in the room, and the placing is really inconvenient (narrow width of the room, next to entry, opposite fireplace). If it would work for you then it seems like a great concept, you just have to find the huge pulldown screen.