I'm going to try to build a 1950's era, drive-in style home theatre and I could use some help. I need a little advice on paint colors, carpet, sconces, decor, etc. The space is a finished attic approximately 14' x 20'. The 92" screen will be on the 14' wall. There's also a 10' x 10' breakout room, which we're making into a mini diner complete with black and white flooring, 1950's era diner booth and a boomerang laminate table and counter.

Here's the booth we ordered: http://www.barsandbooths.com/bandbdinerboothembroidery.htm

And here's the laminate we're using for the table: http://www.formica.com/publish/site/na/us/en/index/laminate/colors_collections/classics.detail.6959.0001.html#

The paint we've selected for the diner area is Humble Gold by Sherwin-Williams (http://sherlink.sherwin.com/swapp/search/begin.do;WHSESSIONID=G3vfJRPqvSyrHTdTNrd3YvnBbm27D1JJzmQQLqM GT6DHfq2Nkq2w!-307394623!NONE) I'm a little worried that this color will be too light for the theatre area.

If you have any suggestions and or advice please post them here. I'll try to upload a few photos later.

Thanks,
Kelly

get out your check book:

http://kingofdeals.stores.yahoo.net/autofurniture.html

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/kingofdeals_1959_65629250

Also:

http://www.butlersandsigns.com/fusichcar10w.html

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-38427106709213_1958_996007

look at this theater

http://www.tktheaters.com/gallery/southbeach/

Instead of buildings, consider cars lined up on each side. And have your seats with those 50's style tray holders, even drive-in speakers for added effect- maybe for announcements or even to play only the trailers and concession commercials and then switch over to the real audio gear for the movie. Now that would be sweet!

Victor

Wow! That's really cool. Thanks guys. Keep it coming. :)

Any suggestions on paint colors?

go to google "images" and search on "50's decor" or "50's diner"

here is one link I found:

http://mariesmanor.fateback.com/MixedMedley/50s.html

Another good resource is Alibris.com. I just checked and there are a bunch of used books on "Drive in Movies" for under $10 should give you lot's of ideas.

Also check for books on Drive in theaters and 50's diners.

First thing I thought of when seeing this thread was the Ronnie's theater indoor drive-in concession area in St. Louis and the Sci-Fi drive-in diner at Disneyworld. They are a bit bigger in scale :rolleyes: and geared more towards the diner aspect, but same idea, complete with 2/3 scale convertables as seating.

Ronnie's
http://usera.imagecave.com/ccoolidge/ronnies1a.jpg


Sci-Fi Diner (this place is awesome!!!)
http://usera.imagecave.com/ccoolidge/disneyscifi.jpg

Yeah, the Sci-Fi drive in at Walt Disney World is what gave me the inspiration to use the 50's diner theme. :)

I must have walked right by it when I visited DW 2yrs ago. Where was it located in?

It's located in MGM Studios.

Here are some photos of my retro home theatre, which is currently under construction. The main room is approximately 14' wide x 24' long. The closet to the right will house the A/V equipment. The device rectangular device pictured at the center of the room is a Mitsubishi mini-split, which works great for this space. I had my HVAC contractor install it a little high to make room for the 92" fixed screen that'll be mounted below it.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the attic access. I need to install a flush mount access door that I can mount the screen overtop of, but still be able to access that space if needed. Most attic access doors have 3/4" x 2" trim that surrounds the door. I obviously can't use that.

There are 6 recessed lights and five wall sconces in the room. The projector will be mounted on the ceiling.

Here's a photo of the A/V closet and another two images of the 10' x 10' adjoining room, which is where the 50's diner booth, and mini kitchen will be. The door opening to the left is the second floor HVAC equipment.

Why not build a screen frame which pivots from the top. Then when you need to access the attic, simply tilt up the screen to enter.

Victor

I've noticed that a lot of folks have posted pictures in these forums that automatically show up. Why do you have to click the ones I posted? Am I doing something wrong?

You need to open an acount at photobucket.com (it is free) and upload your pictures to it. Then cut and paste the [img] blah, blah, blah [img] link into your post. It will make sense once you set up your account. Good luck.

Kelly,

I love your idea. I've always had a thing for Drive-in's and the 50's era. I would love to do something like yours if I had more room. Any aspirations in putting a small stove or ice cream machine in your mini diner? The smell of burgers grilling up or sitting in a booth eating a sunday would be perfect!

I can't do the stove, but a soft ice cream machine would be cool. I am putting in one of these though, but I haven't decided on the color: http://www.barsandbooths.com/retromicrowave.htm

This is too cool: http://www.tktheaters.com/gallery/southbeach/ How can I build this background?

This is too cool: http://www.tktheaters.com/gallery/southbeach/ How can I build this background?

The quick way? By calling these people, who are listed in the credits for that theater:

Credits
- J. Frederick Construction, Inc., Component Fabricator
- Anthony Salcito, General Contractor
- Chip Satterlund,
Electronic Design Group, A/V
- Michael Brothers, Senior Designer
- Robert Reck, Photography
- Tony Tangalos,
Electronic Design Group, A/V
- Walter Spitz, Additional Lighting Design


-drin

Do you have an inexpensive way? :)

It looks one of two things to me:

1. The buildings are either painted on the wall, in which case you'll have to find someone to paint them who's VERY good at perspective painting.
2. The buildings are actually an extruded molding that fits onto the walls, complete with internal lighting. I can't find anyone selling such things via Google, which either means my search abilities suck (possible), or they're custom (possible).

Either way, I don't think there's any inexpensive way to get this effect. That's a custom room which I'm sure cost a pretty penny for the wall finish.

-drin

Try looking up local theater and set designers. They could pull off something like this and you may find them at a discount.

The buildings in the TK theater are actual scale model building fronts with working lights. A good set designer or model builder might be able to recreate this, though it will be expensive. You could also go with a background mural, which you can get printed to cover an entire wall and paste on. You can get painted or photographic style wall murals, though the photographic ones tend to look best to me as they give you a bit more of a lifelike 3d feeling and make the room feel bigger. If you are talking about covering a 20x8 foot wall, it will run you anywhere from $100 and up to cover each wall depending on what mural printing company you use. Here is one inexpensive site: Mural site (http://www.raincitywall.com/)

Here's some examples
http://usera.imagecave.com/ccoolidge/Ocean-Breeze-room-after-copy-copy.jpg http://usera.imagecave.com/ccoolidge/garden-copy-copy.jpg


You can use a photograph of your own and have them custom print your own mural (a little more expensive), or use a standard mural image from their library. You could even go to a drive-in, diner or classic car show to really get the background you are looking for. I would recommend a nighttime or dusk scene.
Here is a couple of examples of what I mean, taken from another mural site.

This one is actually a painting
http://usera.imagecave.com/ccoolidge/car.jpg http://usera.imagecave.com/ccoolidge/miami1.jpg

You could also do a fiberoptic star ceiling to make it really lifelike. :cool:

You could play around with the size/layout of the image and get really creative and incorporate room treatments into it, or on the bottom half, etc. Some mural companies (like this one, another mural site (http://www.blueriverdigital.com/photomurals) ) can also print your image on your own custom genuine wallpaper, or on Celtic Cloth fabric for a little more $.