My Ridiculously Inexpensive Dedicated KICK *** Home Theater! <<The Sequel>> - Page 7

Update: I found a perfect curtain rod at Bed Bath and Beyond today. It was a bit pricey, $48 after 20% off coupon, but it was worth it. I am hanging it and the curtains right now. Pics coming later....

It's done! I cannot believe how incredible it came out. It is so nice that I found the lights I had purchased were concealing a lot of the beauty, I removed them! Either they find a new spot in my room (not likely) or they go back to Target. I just couldn't hide the beauty of the velvet curtains with a couple of lamps. Some of you out there are going to tell me my speakers are too low again, I know, I can live with it.

In this shot I am almost half done hanging the curtains. I hung all the panels with the plan that I would cut down the ones over the screen later once everything was hung. You can see the ugly BOC I needed to conceal, it was really the inspiration for this project.



A mess of curtain supplies:



The bracket from the rod I found mounted on the wall:



The rod sitting in the bracket:



And the final product which I have to say looks even better in person, my camera had a really hard time filming this:



Between lowering the screen and the curtains I am now in HT nirvana!

Thank you! I am thrilled with how it turned out, way exceeded my expectations. When my wife walked in to see it for the first time this morning she was stunned and said it made the room feel like a true movie theater. I am so glad I went with the burgundy, it is a beautiful color.

For anyone interested these were on clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond for $14 for each shorter panel and $22 for the longer ones. That's cheap for velvet curtains.

Thanks. Here is how I did it.

1.Hung Elite EZ Frame screen at the desired height.
2.Found a curtain rod that could expand to span my entire front wall of 139".
3.Test fit a curtain on the rod to see where the brackets would need to be mounted in order for the curtains to be flush with the ceiling which was my desired look.
4.Once I knew the bracket mounting position I installed all 3 brackets that came with the rod at the same height.
5.Hung all curtains on the rod. I used a 108" panel on the left of the screen and another on the right so that it would go exactly from the celing to the floor, I have 9 foot ceilings.
6.I purchased the shortest matching panels I could for above the screen knowing that I would be cutting them down anyway, these were 84".
7.At this point the entire front wall was concealed in curtains including the screen, the only thing not covered was the area below the 84" panels to the floor.
8.Next I cut the material away from the 84" panels leaving enough to tuck behind the screen. When I started I cut too much away on the far right, it actually does not go behind the screen but rests on top, you can't tell from ground level anyway.
9.Then I used the material I cut away from the top of the screen to tack beneath the screen to complete the effect. Since the cut away portions were the lower ends of curtains I just oriented these pieces as if they were curtains hanging, that is the hemmed part at the bottom of the curtain rests on the floor while the rest is tacked behind the screen.

It was a very tedious but easy job to do. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to add some theater ambiance for not a whole lot of money or effort.

Thanks RT! I am a bit sad to lose the light stands, I like them a lot. i am surveying the room right now looking for possible places to put at least one of them.

In other news I am looking at speaker stands, I heard you guys loud and clear-mine are too short. I have really only found one stand I like:

http://www.bello.com/index.php?parti...21&categ_id=43



They will actually cost less for a pair than the pair of lights. Only one issue; there is no matching center stand available (to my amazement), any solutions?

Spent a good amount of time tonight lining the projector up with the screen. It looks awesome projecting on that huge screen flanked by velvet curtains.

I took some screen shots, in each pair the first is with the lights off and the second photo is with the lights on (so you can see the curtains).

So my next mini project begins. Today I am focusing on making a pair of masking panels for 2.35:1 movies. I made these for my last DIY screen and they work awesome. This time though is more of a challenge because the screen is wider and the frame is less deep. Last time the panels fit inside the screen frame with a friction fit, it worked perfectly. This time I only have 1/2 inch of frame to work inside, I don't know if friction fit will work this time. I'll figure something out.

My masks adventure has begun! Please read this post in my new masks thread for all the details:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...7#post15525357

I spent my entire afternoon and evening working on the masks.

The 2 completed but uncovered masks:



A single mask getting ready to be covered in velvet. Note the electrical tape on the metal and foam. I put this there to ensure that the metal would not separate from the foam. It was entirely unnecessary as the metal is such a perfect fit I could barely pull it off anyway when I needed to make an adjustment.



A single completed and covered mask:



You can't really see it in this photo (which is great) but the lower mask is installed.



A test fit I did to see if the masks would stay suspended by friction alone. Have a look to see the result:



A close up of the construction of the mask. The metal is a custom fit over the foam. Once assembled these masks are extremely rigid and relatively lightweight. Several of my complaints about version 1 of my masks are addressed by these new masks. Specifically they have a nice sharp edge due to the metal, my last masks relied on my foam cutting skills for a sharp edge. Also they are much more rigid once assembled then the blue foam ones I made were. This allows them to sit flush against the screen with no bowing or sagging.

The second mask is drying now, I will have them both installed tomorrow. I am going to project a 2.40:1 movie right away and I'll take before and after photos. I am expecting a dramatic improvement.

V2 of the masks are finished and a complete success! They work exactly like the first version did, completely friction fit. I made the upper mask fit tight enough that no Velcro or any other supports were necessary, it stays in place perfectly on friction alone. These masks are an improvement over my originals because of the metal reinforcement I used. It made the masks super rigid which allows them to lie totally flat against the screen, no bowing or sagging at all. The metal also gives the edges of the mask above and below the picture a very sharp edge.

I am 100% satisfied with these. Sitting in my HT with these installed and a 2.35:1 movie playing on my 120" screen, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Here is the screen with both masks installed:



Here are a couple of photos showing the masks uninstalled and standing up against the wall:





Here is a screenshot, lights out with the masks installed:



Here is the same shot lights out with the masks uninstalled:



And the same shot with the lights on, masks uninstalled:



And some more screen shots, all lights out with the masks installed:

Thank you! I have been at this mask game as long as I have been into home theater. Made em on all 3 screens I have owned. They make a huge difference in the picture quality and to me more importantly in the cinematic immersion. It is an effect that is greater in person than it would seem it would be.

I have to say I was within inches of giving up on these yesterday. I was going crazy trying to devise a way to keep the top mask in position. I should have just tried my standard friction fit, it worked like a charm (I didn't think it would).

I encourage anyone who dislikes gray bars or just wants to improve their experience to implement some form of masking.

I actually used 6 panels in total. (1) 108" on each side and then (4) 84" (shortest available) over the screen. I needed that many to make it look full enough. That 50" width does not actually cover 50" of wall when a pleated look is desired. Since my left and right sides next to the screen were only 14" wide the 50" panel width was just right. The rule of thumb is that you should use 2-3x the curtain width as wall width. So I used 50" of curtain for my 14" sides and 4 panels which is 200" for above the screen where the width iis 109". I attached the lower curtains with flat head thumbtacks behind the lower border of the screen frame. In this area I did not want a pleated look, instead I laid the material on the curtain wall flat.

I leave the masks off at all times. When a movie is 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 I put them on. After the movie I take them off again.

Thanks for the inquiry but I don't have the time myself to make these for other people. Besides they would be practically impossible to ship.

Great suggestion, never thought of that. I could just order 2 sets and have an extra stand. The only issue is that those stands only come in 24", 30", or 36". The 24" is too tall for my center because my screen is 24" off the floor. So unfortunately I cannot make that plan work.


I would suggest reading through both of these threads completely:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008446

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...7#post15525357


But the black velvet frame looks great against the burgundy velvet curtains. Also a black frame absorbs light that hits it resulting in a nice sharp edge to your image.

Some screenshots:

2.40:1 with masks installed:




















The next 4 are the same shot, the 1st with masks installed and lights off:



The 2nd with the masks installed and the lights on:



The 3rd of the masks uninstalled and the lights off:



The 4th of the masks uninstalled and the lights on:



Finally some shots of a 1.78:1 movie, this was cool because no masks were needed and the entire screen was filled. It was awesome:







I'm actually standing in this shot, you can see the image projecting on my shirt. I did this to give you some scale to see how big this picture is.

Thank you very much!

Of all the changes I made over the last couple of weeks the best by far was lowering the screen, it made everything just feel right. Prior to that I would spend the whole time analysing the wall and not really enjoying what was on screen.

I don't have any at the moment. But as you alluded to, this is the least important aspect of the masks for me. They fit so tight within the frame it is impossible to see the ends anyway, combine that with lights out and it's a non issue.

I do have to admit looking at them to make sure they look good anyway, which they do. :-)