The DayDream Theater - Page 3

Thanks Brad. Got the primer on the theater yesterday and that makes a world of difference. Looks like my drywall work turned out pretty good...I was nervous about that. Getting some color on will move me onto the finishing phase and a big variety of things I can work on...looking forward to that.

Dale

Today we went to Home Depot and made our paint and flooring choices. We had hoped they could color match to our carpet but, they said the colors were too small to scan. So we did our best to come up with ones we felt were close to those in the carpet. We ended up going with all BEHR brand paint. They all come with the primer in the colored paint. They said this helps get good coverage with only two coats applied. I guess it's been a while since I've painted as I had not heard of that and wonder if it's just the latest gimic...guess we'll see. Here's what we decided on:

Royal Liqueur - satin finish for the bar and bath
Formal Maroon - eggshell finish for the left, right and back walls of the theater
Dark Cavern - flat finish for the screen wall
Disney Mouse Ears Black - flat finish for the ceiling

 

Distressed Maple Salinas laminate flooring by Home Legend for the bar and bathroom



These web samples are a poor version of the real samples which are much richer and deeper in color and without pixelation!

Dale

Edited by dvmiller - 11/13/12 at 10:45pm

Hi Chris. Thanks for the tip. I went with the Mouse Ears because of so many others on AVS mentioning it. The one you used sounds like some serious black!

No pics yet but, I am surprised with the coverage of the Mouse Ears. I've just got one coat on and the coverage, over high-hiding white primer, shows almost no thin spots. Hopefully the other colors we chose will cover as well.

Dale

For me its aesthetic. I wanted to cover my less than professional (although it turned out good) drywall work and have a look similar to the rest of the house. From what I've heard texture is so common because it's difficult even for the pros to get drywall near-perfectly smooth and get it done quick. Quick certainly wasn't my reason!

I've never heard that texturing enhances acoustics...doubt it does.

Dale

Yes indeed, some fun stuff has started to happen, especially if you like to paint. I'll post an update momentarily.

Dale

Two coats of Mouse Ears black is on the ceiling. I think I'll need one more of that. These photos show the screen wall and the right wall with one coat of the Dark Cavern and Formal Maroon applied. The white square on the ceiling is where the fiber optic sky box will be so I didn't bother painting that area.





I've also put the first coat of Royal Liqueur in the lounge.



Dale

Hi Chris, I agree but, in the theater I painted the ceiling first and it didn't work out so great. Problem was the frog tape masking didn't seal and the black leaked down along the edge virtually all the way around the room. I think this was because the tape couldn't seal on the rough primer and texture. So for the lounge I decided to try the opposite. I will be painting the ceiling a light but, not white color. My hope is the frog tape will seal better on the satin finish leaving a cleaner edge. Thanks for your comment.

Dale

Wall and ceiling painting is finished. The theater walls and ceiling took three coats. The screen wall and both walls and ceiling in the bar/bath area took two coats to cover. I turned off the flash on my camera to avoid the dots but, the result is a hideous red color on the walls. My earlier posts show the colors closer to what they really are.









Finally starting to see the light at the end of the projector (as my wife says).

Dale

Quote:
Originally Posted by dvmiller
Finally starting to see the light at the end of the projector (as my wife says).


Sure did and sure is. Her level of excitement has been growing with the project's progress and she's been insturmental in helping make decisions on the paint, carpet, flooring, etc.

Dale

Hi Sully12, thanks for the bump. There hasn’t been much worthy of an update until now. Of the limited time available during the summer, all was spent on a long, arduous, frustrating (at times) project to build a fiber optic sky panel and box frame. I’ll be posting that story shortly.

Dale

One of the key features I wanted to include in my theater was a fiber optic sky. There are some great ones here on AVS and everyone seems glad they went to the effort (trouble?) to build one. My plan was to build one 8x12 foot but I felt that might overpower the room so it was reduced to 8x8. I started out by anchoring a 1x4 frame to the center of the ceiling. I decided to use a couple of sheets of 4x8 pink foam insulation and attached 1x2 frames to strengthen them.



I went with the foam insulation to keep the weight down and because I wanted to try hinging them to one side of the ceiling frame and then could swing them up into place. This is one thing that worked out very well and they have been swung up and down many times during construction. They are screwed together as one 8x8 panel.





I purchased this star kit on ebay made by a company in the United Kingdom. It included the LED light engine, remote, transformer & adapter for US electrical systems. It came with 200 fibers in 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 mm sizes. It is a white light with a twinkle wheel that can be set for six different speeds.



Initially I painted the panel with a coat of Disney Mouse Ears Black. From Jo Ann Fabrics I purchased their black stretch velvet, which my wife and I stretched over and stapled to the frame of the panel. I also used a spray on adhesive before applying the velvet. It seemed to turn out quite taught with no sagging. Next began the task of threading the fibers, which proved to be a very time consuming and frustrating experience. I used a needle to drill a pilot hole and cut each fiber end at an angle to make it sharper. Even with this it proved difficult to get them threaded. It took all summer to complete the threading. When I swung the panel into place something didn’t look quite right. Almost immediately the velvet began to sag and in a few days did so by several inches in the middle. After staying out of the theater for several days I decided that the velvet would have to go. Since I had already glued the fibers at the back of the panel and trimmed them, I couldn’t simply start over. So I sprayed the panel with a can of wall texture and brushed on two coats of the Mouse Ears. This resulted in the fibers being painted too, which created a more varied look, much more than just having three sizes of fiber.

With the fiber panel completed I attached a box made of 1x6’s, swung the panel in place and attached 1x4 trim to hold the panel.



On the trim I mounted a dozen Hampton Bay task/accent lights from HD. These are the 20 watt Xenon 110 volt type that can be plugged directly into an outlet or run through a dimmer. Here are the trim pieces with lights mounted.



I painted the box and trim to match. The finished sky box:









I am certainly challenged in trying to get decent pictures of the panel. The star layout is loosely based on a September sky with the big and little dippers. The sky is turned on/off and the accent lights dimmed with X10 modules that will be controlled through iRule.

Dale
Edited by dvmiller - 11/15/12 at 1:00pm

Hi elmalloc, The seats are pretty comfortable and most have rocker backs too. I was looking for theater style seats, which are just as expensive as recliners but, am going with these since they were free from an omnimax that was getting new chairs (which it turns out are not as comfortable as these!). I have the same issue as you with falling asleep in recliners.

Dale

Thanks vanice, The glue I used to secure the fibers to the back of the panel is a silicone adhesive that is safe for foam. The paint is a latex base which didn't attack the foam, I'm sure an oil or solvent based paint would. I was really worried the spray texture would damage the foam as it does have a solvent ingredient. The guy at the hardware store thought since the foam already had a coat of paint that it would probably be o.k. This seems to be true although I would have put more texture on except I didn't want to press my luck. I'll try to take a picture of the surface. The foam is 1 inch thick.

Dale

Here's a close up of the panel surface.



To me the texture gives a kind of shadowy effect. The image is very light but, really is black in person. I would have ideally liked more texture if not for the fear of the chemical attacking the foam. While I really like the velvet look too, the lighting in my theater does not shine directly on the star panel so the surface is not very visible. The finished pictures in my earlier post included some utility lights pointed upwards in my attempt to get photos.

Dale

I've been working on installing lighting fixtures in the theater and bar. We purchased six sconces for the theater, 3 on each side wall. We found them at Lamps Plus.





For the bar we purchased this 4 foot, 4 bulb fixture, also from Lamps Plus.



In addition I installed 6, 5 inch can lights from Home Depot, they're the Halo brand. I originally planned for 4 inch fixtures but, when I went to install them I found out they were non-IC (insulation contact rated) so I had to enlarge the holes for these which are IC rated. Fortunately I tended to leave extra length when putting in the Romex during the rough-in electrical. This came in handy as these fixtures have an arm on them about 8 inches away from the fixture itself, requiring a longer wire.

Dale

Thank you Johnny.

The screen size may have to be adjusted in relation to the proscenium, curtains, projector light output, etc. It seems that almost no one says their screen is too big but, we'll see when I get there. I do want to have a feeling of being immersed in the action.

My project seems to be moving along now, You on the other hand are making flying progress! I've subscribed just to try and keep up!

Dale

I've been working on getting the speakers installed. Have 9 (L,C,R,LS,RS,LB,RB & 2 Subs) in the theater and 2 (same as the surrounds) in the bar/lounge. They only come in white which, worked fine on the white ceiling in the bar. I painted the ones for the theater flat black.





I hooked up a stereo receiver and CD changer which sounds so much better than the portable I was using. To have sound now gives the project another dimension and carrot to keep progressing.

Dale