I've started the "Upstairs Theater"

Edit: I made it into Electronic House!
http://www.electronichouse.com/artic..._theater_seats

Here are the finished pics (well, as finished as a theater ever is):









Index:

Door demo
Framing
1st round of drywall
Renders and colors
Green Glue
Window plug
Sand filled door
Infinite baffle sub
Soffit framing
Lighting
Riser framing
Stage framing
Column framing
Curves
Speaker and equipment mounting
Stage and riser trim
Soffit trim
Carpet part 1
Carpet part 2
Starry sky
Soffit trim
LED step lights
Soffit curve trim
Soffit underside trim and lights
Arch trim part 1
Arch trim part 2
Acoustic treatments
Grafik eye
Fabric frames
Column curve
Door panels
Screen wall
Projector
Projector trim
Curtains part 1
Curtains part 2
DIY theater recliners (separate thread)
Wet bar plumbing
Wet bar backsplash
Wet bar wall carpet
Equipment rack trim and HTPC
Entrance door power curtain
Equipment rack trim plates and blank plates


Well after looking for years and now finally having some place to build one I've started my theater. My room is a bit narrow (11 feet) but I have plenty of length for my purposes (over 20 feet). My layout will be very similar to rsprances "Arthouse Theater" (great theater BTW). I have not nailed down a style yet but I have something in mind. I guess I'll tackle that part once the room is in the right configuration.

This is what I have to start with:



I'm taking bedroom 2 and the unfinished storage area and removing the divider wall to combine them into one space. I already checked with the builder and he verified that the wall I want to remove is non-load bearing.

This is what I will turn the space into:



To even start the theater construction I have to move the hallway door to give me space for the sound stage, frame in the air ducts that run from the attic to the first floor in the unfinished section, and then frame in the back and rear side walls for the theater space itself. Since I will have the extra space on the side of the rear section I am going to put a small wet bar and have a location for the equipment that is nice and out of the way. The door at the rear of the theater will allow me to access the rear of the equipment with no effort at all.

I checked over my current sketches and my head location for the front row is right at 11 feet so I think that will be OK. I do have room to push the riser forward some to move the rear seats up some and I may end up doing something like that. I started out with no rear theater wall but with it there it gives be a nice place to stash the electronics, cleans up the messy back wall with the ducts and I just like a nice rectangular room

NOW I remember your username. I came this close to copying your theater exactly.

I have revised my plan slightly after doing some framing and check for actual space. I have removed the rear wall and just extended the side wall all the way back. After framing up the walls over the ducting there just was not going to be enough room between the back of the theater wall and the ducting wall to be practical.

Now for the actual construction.

First thing I have to do is move the door that enter the theater room to give me space for the screen stage. At it current location I have about 3" of space for the screen and front speakers. I am moving it down the wall to give me just over 24" of space.

You can see from this very poor pic that there just is no room for the screen.




The door and trim are all gone.




And with a little sawzall work the new opening is, well, open.




New framing and the new door in place. I opted to have the new door swing out of the room rather than in.




The new door is also sealed.




Sheetrock and mud/tape




A little paint and trim and it's as good as new.

The unfinished half of the theater room had uninsulated outside walls. First thing to do is insulate those walls.





Next this is framing in the attic to first floor ducting and insulating that framing.







The wet bar will go in this little alcove (when all the junk is out of the way).



Fortunately, there is a bathroom that backs up to the area that I want to put the wet bar so roughing in the plumbing was a breeze.

I considered having the screen on the other end but I could never come up with a configuration for the rear riser and the aisle between the seats that I liked. I really did not want off center seats so my only other choice was to move the door. If I would had had 2 more feet of width I could have done it.

As for seating, right now I'm planing on 2 rows with either 5 or 7 seats. With my extra 18 inches I have gained I might do a bar stool style 3rd row now though. Here is a rough layout of my seating plan. I looks a little sparse but I did not sketch in any columns or wall treatments on this layout so the actualy room width will be smaller in the end.

I got a little more work done this weekend.

I installed the can lights for the wet-bar/equipment area and I also installed the return for the HVAC system.




Everyone's favorite thing to haul up or down stairs.




I needed to install the drywall in the wet bar/equipment area before I build the division wall.






Here is the new division wall. I will leave the opening closer to the existing door open but I will put a door on the other opening.

Lots of work this weekend!



All the boxes are in and the switches are all wired up.





Six inch recessed lights and the air return.





Switches for the equipment lights and the boxes for the power and speaker connections for the equipment. (I really don't like my roto-zip)




Outlets and rough plumbing for the wet-bar.




Time to demo the wall dividing the two rooms. First thing I had to do is remove all the insulation and wiring.




Next was to remove the door. I wanted to reused this door so I was a bit more careful with it.




I had a friend to help with the new drywall on the ceiling and with the demolition of the old wall.




And the wall is gone!




A little broom work and it looks much better.




It's hard to see but on the right side of the door opening you can see my 83 inch long shim that I had to make to fix my retarded framing. It's 1 inch thick on the bottom and 0 inches think at the top. At least the opening is plumb now....




I smurfed the smurf tubes in place.

This is a test render of what I think I'm going to do on the side and back walls:



These are the actual materials:



For the curtains.




For the wall panels.




For the under and inside of the soffit.




For the arch and soffit trim.




Carpet.

I will have a starry sky also with blue rope lights in the soffit. I may end going with a black vinyl rather than the black stained wood. I will just have to wait for the carpet and GOM samples to show up to see what looks the best. I will also have can lights in the soffits, probably centered over the arches.

Here is a quick unrendered view from the back row:

The carpet is made by Joy Carpets and the style is Dottie. I have a sample on the way and I have found a localish carpet store that has a roll of it to see if I like the sample.

The carpet and fabric samples are in! I really happy with the colors on the carpet and the fabric is what I expected also.



The carpet sample is about 8" x 12"



The pattern is GoM "Anchorage" and the colors are "Onyx", "Midnight", & "Lapis"



The colors go well together (even better than the pic lets on).

All of the first layer of drywall it in! It's now starting to look like a room.





I temporarily installed the rear door mostly to just get it out of the way.



The entrance door in relation to the bar/equipment area.



The usual pile o' junk that accumulates in a build.

I pulled all the old carpet, padding, and tack strips out. I also removed the baseboards.





I also relocated the now slightly less massive junk pile to the other side of the room....



The mudding and taping has started.





I'm not going for "seamless" for the drywall since I still need to do the 2nd layer/GG but I wanted to at least fill in the gaps. Something I did not take a picture of was the attic insulation work. That is something that I don't want any memories of....

My wife and I finally made it to the carpet store that carries the "Dottie" carpet that we are interested in and we promptly found another carpet that we liked. They had a small remnant of it so we picked it up cheap to see how it looked in the room. It's a bit busy but I like it:



It's called "Silverscreen" and it's made by the same company as the other carpet that we were looking at.

I was planning on using the Green Glue Noiseproofing Sealant on the seams of the 2nd layer. How far will a tube of it go?

Thanks! More drywall mud went up last night. That part should be done soon so I can start on the next layer of drywall. I will probably end up slowing down the progress in the next few weeks as I have several other projects that need my attention. I'm hoping to have all the soundproofing done mid October though.

I have not worked out that detail quite yet....

Obviously the black GOM is fine, the dark blue would work well too since the primary color in the carpet is charcoal but the lighter blue does clash a bit. I have a color card with all the shades of the "Anchorage" fabric on it and I'm also considering some other materials. The general style (arches with curtains) won't change though if I go with the Silverscreen carpet. I will probably make some more renders soon to see if that carpet will work.

I never noticed that you are basically just up the road from me....