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Tiny theater on a tiny budget - Page 2

post #31 of 77
4/29/12 at 5:18pm
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Got my sanding done yesterday, needs a couple of small areas of mud fixed but I feel like the end is in sight! Went to look at paint today (see the Mouse Ears thread), going to go with black screen wall, dark red/burgundy on the lower wall then a chair rail and black the rest of the way up. Not sure what's going on the ceiling yet...
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post #32 of 77
4/29/12 at 6:08pm
Awesome! Trust me it feels really good to get some paint on the walls.

Good choice on the two tone walls with chair rail. I think it adds a nice design element to the room.

If I may make a suggestion I personally wouldn't do a black on the top portion of the walls because you'll most likely want to do a black ceiling as well. I think it might be a little strange to have the blacks on each surface right next to each other, but that might just be me. Maybe try a dark gray on the top portion of the walls? Or do black on the bottom, then red on top, then black on the ceiling?

Either way I'm sure that it will look great!
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post #33 of 77
6/27/12 at 6:30am
Thread Starter 
Wow I haven't updated this in a while - but I finally got some primer on the walls! Even though the paint guy at Home Depot originally told me I could just use Behr paint and primer in one over bare drywall, I decided I'd be better off using a dark-tinted drywall primer then Behr "Black Forever" over the top. The primer is a pretty good shade of grey so I'm hoping the black will go on well. No pics, maybe tonight if I get more done.
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post #34 of 77
6/27/12 at 11:09am
Good choice going with regular primer. New drywall really sucks up the paint and you final coats will look much better with some primer underneath. I haven't had very good luck with the combo paint primer.
Edited by BllDo - 6/28/12 at 7:45am
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post #35 of 77
6/27/12 at 1:18pm
I agree with BllDo. I'm not a big fan of the "paint and primer in one", especially on new drywall. Plus, the darker tint really helps with coverage. I learned that the hard way when it took five coats to get the dark red in my room to look nice........

I'm looking forward to some pics.
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post #36 of 77
6/27/12 at 3:26pm
If you are painting bare drywall and taped joints use a DRYWALL primer. They are specially formulated to normalize the absorption rates between the paper on the drywall and the taped joints. Otherwise the difference in absorption will show in the final finish, particularly dark colors.
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post #37 of 77
6/27/12 at 6:18pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks guys, yes drywall primer is what I bought. No progress tonight because I was helping a buddy run coax and cat 5 in his new house. Maybe tomorrow.
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post #38 of 77
6/28/12 at 5:52am
Quote:
I've haven't had very good luck with the combo paint primer.

I've had great luck with the Behr Ultra Primer + Paint in 1. I've done Mouse Ears on my theater ceiling, a custom color-match burgundy on my theater walls (to match the burgundy GOM) and now white on the kitchen ceiling and a light green on the kitchen walls that will soon continue into the family room. A single coat in all cases, except for the burgundy and that's because I used a different paint for the first coast and did a really crappy job. I'm confident that if I had used the Behr in the first place, it would have only needed one coat.

Using quality brushes and roller covers is a big help, too. That's not the place to save a couple of bucks. I've been using the Sure-Line covers and getting great results. They hold a LOT of paint for one coat coverage.
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post #39 of 77
7/3/12 at 5:12am
Thread Starter 
What do you know...primer! 3 walls down, 1 to go tonight.
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post #40 of 77
7/6/12 at 6:55pm
Looking good!

Anymore painting progress over the last few days?
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post #41 of 77
7/10/12 at 3:13am
Thread Starter 
ok, got a little more done last night, screen wall and half of the side walls got the first coat of "Black Forever". I switched to using a paint pad rather than a roller, and I'm not happy with it so the second coat will be rolled.

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post #42 of 77
7/10/12 at 7:51am
Good job! Keep the pictures coming!
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post #43 of 77
7/10/12 at 8:09am
The dormer window area could house the projector.

Years ago, one AVS'er used the dormer space to house a large crt pj, in a narrowish room. Fabric panels continued the back wall slopes and cleaned up the room's lines.
Window got a black out panel. Pretty nice set up. smile.gif
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post #44 of 77
7/10/12 at 8:21am
Thread Starter 
yeah if I was going to start over I would have removed all of the cabinets and counter top (opposite the dormer) and used that as the screen wall because it would allow a bigger screen, but it's a bit late for that now smile.gif I'm throwing onto the wall with the door which limits my screen size to 82" (see older pictures on the first page) but that works fine for the size of the room. Hoping to get the first coat of black finished on all walls tonight, still haven't decided on a color for the bottom third of the walls, or a trim color.
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post #45 of 77
7/16/12 at 6:13am
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ok, more progress this weekend - picked up the paint for below the chair rail and got that mostly painted. Also decided on a chair rail/trim color. It's going to be....gold! I picked out a nice shade of gold (Behr Twenty Carat) and a Martha Stewart gold glaze that I'm going to dry-brush over the top. Anyway, pics of this weekend's progress (ignore the unpainted corners). Next up is the ceiling (same red as the bottom of the walls).

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post #46 of 77
7/20/12 at 10:31am
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More work last night, change of plan on the ceiling I decided on black rather than the deep red. I got the ceiling masked and painted, and got it 99% covered and ran out of paint. Really there are just a couple of spots that need touching up and I think I can use my little sample pot of black to finish up without a trip to HD. I'll still buy another quart next time I'm up there for touch-ups but I want to get the ceiling finished tonight. I'm off to Disney World next week so probably not too much progress before then, but you never know.
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post #47 of 77
8/14/12 at 5:27am
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ok back from Disney and got the trim painted! Yes it's gold, no I'm not sure I like it yet. Still need to do the dry-brushing of the "real" gold glaze over it, maybe that'll change my mind on it. Remember the windows and door will be covered by heavy curtains so you won't even see that trim most of the time.





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post #48 of 77
9/6/12 at 8:57am
Thread Starter 
ok so no progress for a while, I did finally get the new light installed last night and I think it looks good (much better than the old ceiling fan that actually obstructed the projector a little).



Now I need some help. This room has what's left of the kitchen cabinets on one wall that I want to use for displaying movie items (prop replicas, mini busts etc) - mostly Star Wars but also some other stuff my wife likes (Willy Wonka, Nightmare Before Christmas). I painted the outside of these cabinets flat black to blend in with the walls but I don't know what to do with the inside. Any thoughts? I'm going to leave the cabinets open and light them (somehow) but I'm open to suggestions about whether to paint, how to light etc.

Here's what they look like now -



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post #49 of 77
10/3/12 at 10:08pm
Hey! How's it going?

Making a decision about the inside of those cabinets is a little tricky. I think that the white may cause some unwanted reflections, but the black will make the contrast with your displayed items a little odd. How about painting the insides a neutral gray color?

Were you able to get the lights installed?

I'm looking forward to any updates! biggrin.gif
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post #50 of 77
10/4/12 at 3:16am
Thread Starter 
It's funny you should ask - I painted it last weekend and went with completely black for the cabinets and I'm going to line the shelves with something (maybe black velvet, maybe clear acrylic) to allow my display items to not stick to the very matte surface. The lights arrived a week or so ago but I haven't installed them yet, they work great though - thanks again for the eBay help finding the right items. I couldn't believe how bright they are!

Tonight is a big night however as I'm going to buy carpet'/padding and my father-in-law and I are going to attempt to install this weekend. Since it's a simple layout with riser or stage I think we can handle it, and I'm going with a very "budget conscious" carpet from Lowes (.71c per sq-ft) in dark grey -

http://www.lowes.com/pd_11307-1761-29122-004-1200-AB_0__?productId=3743715&Ntt=breckenridge&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dbreckenridge&facetInfo=

It's plain but has a bit of texture/pattern to it (if you look on Lowes for the mocha version it shows the texture better), and it fits the budget at just over $100 for the whole room. I've installed carpet before when I lived in England but over there we didn't do carpet padding, tack strips or stretching so it'll be a learning experience.

I'll be sure to post pics of the weekend activities smile.gif
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post #51 of 77
10/4/12 at 7:29am
Sounds great! Yeah, those LEDs can get really bright. Luckily they can be dimmed with the remote. I normally leave the lights in my room on the lowest setting which is perfect.

That carpet looks great! Good luck with the installation!
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post #52 of 77
10/9/12 at 7:34am
Thread Starter 
ok MAJOR progress this weekend! Carpet was first up, went in easily considering I've never done it before. Came out looking great!







Now progress was being made and I didn't want to stop, so on Sunday my buddy Lawrence came over and we mounted all of the speaker brackets. We temp-mounted the screen to get the spacing right, and they went up pretty well and are solid. After obtaining some longer screws (the threaded insert on the Energy speakers is quite deep inside) I mounted the 5 Energy Micros. I'm torn about speaker covers on or off but I'm leaving them on for now while there is still construction going on.









Of course now that I had the speakers mounted I had to test them - stupidly we had run all of the in-wall wires without testing and because they are running between the lathe/plaster then covered with drywall there would be no way to pull new cable through if it didn't work. With that being said, I broke out the new receiver (which hadn't even been opened yet) and sub, and fired it up!



I'm pleased to say everything worked perfectly and sounds sooo good. I couldn't help myself and hooked up the PJ too (you can actually see it in a couple of the pics above, Vivitek Qumi pico projector). Since I had no other sources I watched video from my iPhone over USB to the receiver...the first 10 minutes of The Avengers. I so happy with the way everything worked and sounded, and I haven't done any speaker configuration yet.

One thing that amazed me, the Qumi is only 300 lumens and during the "proof of concept" testing the room had to be completely dark, no lights on at all. Now even with the new ceiling light burning as bright as it goes (2 x 60w bulbs) the Qumi is still able to produce a very clear and bright image, I guess it's down to the matte black walls everywhere sucking the light out of the room.

One last thing...yes I pulled the PJ back out otherwise I'm never going to get any more work done in that room!
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post #53 of 77
10/9/12 at 8:22am
Hey, that looks great!

The carpet looks awesome. I personally have never installed carpet but may try it someday. It looks like you did a great job! smile.gif

It's always exciting to fire up the system for the first time, but I'm glad the projector was quickly taken away. We don't want any "temptations" that may halt progress now do we? wink.gif

Do you have a list of what else needs to be completed? It looks like you are getting very close to the finish line.
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post #54 of 77
10/9/12 at 8:33am
Thread Starter 
Thanks! yeah it's a pretty big list still, with the biggest construction items being the baseboards and chair rail, and the countertop none of which have even been purchased yet. Curtains are probably the next thing (I have them but haven't put them up), the LEDs in the cabinets then seating will be the last thing I get unless I come across a great deal along the way. You're right though, it's really starting to feel like I'm almost done...
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post #55 of 77
10/16/12 at 12:57pm
Thread Starter 
ok, a bit of progress this weekend - I did get a couple of curtains up and all of the baseboards cut and painted. Hoping to borrow a friend's nailgun and compressor this week so I can get the baseboards installed. I'm having trouble finding a good option for the countertop that's cheap, the counter is an odd size (72" x 27") so the pre-made counters that HD and Lowes carry won't fit (they are mostly 72x25.5). I had a local store price a custom one and it would be just over $200 which doesn't sound like a lot but for this low budged build that's more than my speakers! I have a few other options I might try like putting down a sheet of Wilsonart laminate (about $70) and cutting to size, another option is tiling it but I don't have any experience with tile and I'm not sure it would be any less expensive once I factor in tile, thinset, grout and renting a wet saw. Anyone got any creating countertop ideas? smile.gif

Anyway, here are a couple more pics. The curtains are color-matched to the walls but the flash is washing out the burgundy wall so they look different.





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post #56 of 77
10/16/12 at 1:23pm
Why not just buy the Home Depot 25.5" countertop and lay a 2x4 behind it? enamel or epoxy the board for durability and it will look ike it belongs there. It also provides additional display space behind the counter.
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post #57 of 77
10/16/12 at 4:09pm
Thread Starter 
I thought about that, but since the pre-made countertop has a backsplash built in it might look weird if the backsplash is 2" away from the wall. maybe I'll try to mock it up in Photoshop later and see what it looks like.
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post #58 of 77
10/16/12 at 5:08pm
You can get pretty creative with countertops. You could use an old wooden door and refinish it. Even some "furniture grade" veneered plywood stained and topped with many coats of polyurethane would work.

You could also construct your own concrete countertops for pretty cheap. I think those look very cool and plan on doing one in a bathroom.
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post #59 of 77
10/29/12 at 6:33pm
Thread Starter 
So I haven't posted in a while and no it's not because I put the PJ up and all progress stopped - I've actually been doing a lot of work on the room, to the point that as I type this I'm sitting in an *almost* finished room watching Monday Night Football. A while ago I set a new goal to have the room at least functional before the first game of the NBA season on 10/30 and I'm happy to say I made it! The only items left to complete are some trim on the countertop (more on that tomorrow when I take pics) and the LED cabinet lighting. I still don't have seating so its just me in my Cozy Sac bean bag, but it feels so good to be watching the football in the room and know that it's almost complete. Pics coming tomorrow assuming I have power and better lighting.
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post #60 of 77
10/30/12 at 7:39am
Thread Starter 
ok, pics of the current progress :















The last 2 pics are particularly interesting - if you remember I'm using an LED pico projector (Vivitek Qumi) that only puts out 300 lumens which I know would make most people here shudder. Those pictures were taken at 8:30am with the curtains open and while it's not exactly retina-burning I was pretty amazed that the Qumi picture is actually watchable under those conditions. When this room was the "proof of concept" and still white, that image would not have been viewable at all.

The AV rack is temporary, haven't quite decided what to do there. Still considering moving all of the equipment to under the screen since I don't have a stage. I could also move the equipment to the cupboard next to the fridge (remove the door and have sliding shelves) but that would require a lot of wiring to be run behind the seating area...maybe in revision 2.0 (I said that to my wife last night and seriously thought she was going to slap the hell out of me) wink.gif
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