The MacBeth Theater (flood resilient build) - Page 8

Thank you, it’s been an experience and changed a great deal from the initial imaginings; my various home improvement projects tend to do that. For instance my wife told me one day she wanted a shelf made that would span our eating area of the kitchen (it became an eating area after we built a family room addition a number of years ago) to hold her collection of tea pots. It was a very reasonable request and would have been simple to do. The space had a small fish tank and a corner cabinet and the shelf would have gone above it. Well that started the wheels churning and the designer in me had all kinds of ideas. So what would have been $100 in supplies ended up having another couple of zeros added to that and is now a 12’ length of cabinets and 6’ length of countertop with backsplash and LED lighting. And yes she did have an open cabinet to display her teapots.

Never ask a designer to do something small was the lesson she learned.

The sub turned out alright, it helps a lot that it is front ported and variable. Ideally you’d want to do a sub crawl and find an ideal spot in your space. Mine had to fit in a predefined spot so I had hoped that its ability to fine tune would not make that a bad decision and so far it hasn’t. I can say that the enclosed rack dramatically amplifies the sub that I’ve had to turn it down a good bit. I do plan to run room correction when I can finally get to the microphone that is in my storage area. I can’t find my rear surround brackets, spare PJ bulb or AVR microphone so I know they have to be back there somewhere.


Thanks!

110v LED here is the link (I bought the ready to paint primer cover):
http://www.pegasuslighting.com/led-mini-step-lights-louvers.html
I bought some colored gels that AVSers recommended to me. I plan on ordering some new gels soon as the current ones really kill the light; going to try some more transparent gels. I think the one that is on now only allows 12% light through or something like that (It was the most transparent red they had). I have some pictures somewhere of the gel on and off; with the gels off it puts out a huge amount of light.

I am more than honored to be among such august company.

Am I overreacting or justified? I need some advice.

So in the past week or two that the theater has been done we had a sleepover for my son’s 10th birthday and the boys of course watched a movie and as boys do you get the normal “This is cool, this is awesome, yadda yadda”. I’ve had some family over and to varying degrees you get some form of compliment. Some people really like it and tell you and some are more reserved which is normal.

However, yesterday my wife had our neighbor over who isn’t a big movie fan but has been wanting to watch the Twilight movies with my wife as they bought the books together and read them. After they were done I asked my wife how her friend liked it, meaning the movie and the theater. Apparently her comment was “You guys are so funny about your movies”. With the tone that I took as you all waste so much money on silly stuff. That might sound like a leap but I’ve known her for a number of years and know how she is. She is nice enough and helpful, we watch each other’s kids but there is a snotty undertone to her.

Another example, my wife is on a new diet and had a picture of her dinner on FB, very nutritious, the typical comment you get is, looks good or something supportive. Her comment “Looks like every night in our house”.

I don’t know why but it’s gotten under my skin. I’ve always been taught that if something is important to a family member or friend or anyone really that you should be supportive even if it’s not your cup of tea.

Anyone else had similar comments from people?

Thanks guys. I guess some of it is jealousy as they are tight on money but even if they had the money they wouldn’t spend it on a theater which is cool. To each their own I always say. If someone built a nice patio and pool it’s not my thing but I can appreciate a nice space, or even an elaborate wine cellar or humidor I can appreciate the craftsmanship and effort expended even if I don’t partake.

I’ll just try to ignore her comments. Won’t be easy, you all know how long and hard creating these spaces is. My brother who recommended against spending the money on the space will say it turned out well. It’s not something he would have done, or at least not to the level I did as he will have an open concept basement theater at some point. But he knows it’s what I wanted and for my first time constructing something without him he was impressed.

On the theater front I have the space outside the theater cleared and will be painting the ceiling this weekend. I may also pick up the tile if I can fit it in. I'm going with a 6"x24" walnut look tile, has a hand scraped texture to it.
Edited by design1stcode2nd - 3/26/13 at 12:15pm

Thanks! I was originally looking for leather seating but since it was going to be a craigslist buy I had to take what I could get. They are warmer than leather but harder to clean and yet more friendly if a cat is in the room while we watch. It was a fantastic deal so I can’t complain and I’ve grown to like them. I paid less for 6 than most pay for half of one
I knew I could count on you guys, that’s all we need the occasional 'atta boy, am I rght?
I have to say the second frame was packed very well although unfortunately my wife confiscated that one and has put a Twilight poster in it. Ughh, oh well I can always get more down the road at some point. The future lighted poster/TV will be for me.

Brilliant! They are sparkly after all.
When I was hanging the frame I thought of that. It could be mounted to a wooden frame, put in two florescent fixtures in on the left/right (or LED’s to the back), add hinges and a catch and you’d be set. Well at least that was my thought process.

My intention is to eventually hang a TV there on a 360 degree mount/arm so it can be used as a lighted poster and as an extra display just by rotating it (I have an HDMI cable run to that area).

Also instead of mounting directly to the drywall I used coated picture frame wire and hung it that way. Seems to work well and only one small hole in my wall for each.

On to tile patterns. I’m going to try picking up the tile for the area outside the theater this Saturday. I won’t have an opportunity to start installing it until at least the 6th but I do need to decide on a pattern. I have installed a number of different tiles before, floor, backsplash, shower in a number of sizes 4x4, 6x6, 12,x12, 18x18 etc but I haven’t tried these wood look tiles before. They are 6” x 24” and I’ll be going with a 1/8” grout line. I’d prefer no grout line but that’s not really an option.

Anyway I have laid out two patterns, a traditional wood floor like pattern (as best you can with same length tiles) and a herringbone pattern. I don’t mind the extra work of the herringbone but it will take a bit longer and might cost an extra box of tile. No big deal they are only $2 something a sq/ft.



Or

If the tile wasn’t a wood look and say slate-look or something similar a subway or running bond would be a nice choice.

If it was a big area that would be a nice feature but its 11’ x 24’. The space will be pretty well filled by some sort of cabinet/server/buffet/bar, my L shaped desk, craft desk and kids toys so there probably won’t be an inch of tile visible around the perimeter except along the stairwell (it’s a smallish house by today’s standards).

I think I’ll stick with the traditional pattern. I’m going to stop by a local tile shop just to make sure I have what I want but I doubt that they will have anything as cheap that I’d like better. Plenty of things I’d like better but costing a bit more I’m sure.