Tiny theater on a tiny budget - Page 3

Actually I went cheap on the countertop and used vinyl self-stick tile that looks like slate. I figured it was worth the gamble and if it doesn't work out I'll do something more costly. It came out well, we'll see if it holds up long term.

Tonight I'm going to clean the shelves off and maybe stick the led strips up with painters tape to get a feel for how I want to run the two 15ft strings. The cabinets are 6ft long so I should be able to run underneath one shelf, through a hole down the next one and back along with a bit to spare, for 4 shelves that works out almost perfectly.

Hey guys, I'm starting to wrap things up on this build but I've run into a problem with my LED lights. Take a look at the picture and you'll see that I can't find any way to make these lights fit in the cabinets that doesn't look like a fairground game! The top shelf is easy as it has a large overhang that I can hide the lights behind, but the other shelves have nowhere to hide and it just looks...bad. Any ideas?? I need to light the underside of the shelf to light the countertop, then light the insides as best as possible. I have 2 x 15ft strings with the controller box inside the bottom left cabinet and the cabinets are 6ft wide. Sorry for the horribly grainy iPhone picture.



Oh, I also ordered chairs this week, Lane 103 Matinees (just 2) and they should be here in 7-10 days. Got a good deal @ just over $360 per seat (manual recline).

Thanks Alex I didn't know those connectors existed, the 11" long ones might just work. I have some quarter-round somewhere, if I can find it I'll do a mockup but I think it'll work to hide the lights. More cutting, nailing and painting ahead...just when I thought I was done with that

Picked up the quarter round today, cut and painted it. As soon as it's dry i'll nail it up, but can't put the lights in until the 11" connectors arrive. Good news today, my chairs shipped and are scheduled for delivery on 11/15. Can't wait!

ok, lots of progress to report. Got the lights installed and they look so much better, got a little filling and painting to do after drilling the holes but overall they look great -





Biggest thing to report is that my chairs arrived yesterday! Lane 103 manual recline in black bonded leather and I got them for a steal ($360 per), and only took 10 days from order to delivery to my doorstep. I love these seats, they make the room feel complete and even though they cost more than my projector I think it was well worth it.

well it's been a while since I updated because I've been enjoying the theater. Got a couple of things I want to post about though. Firstly, since my PJ is a Pico the mounting has always been an issue - I was using a Monoprice speaker mount since it has the same tripod threading and it worked fine but since the PJ has no adjustment (no zoom, no lens shift) getting it aligned perfectly was almost impossible. While wandering around the internet a few weeks ago I came across I guy who was using 3 Vivitek Qumi PJs in a gaming setup and to align them he used photographer's focus rails, basically these are sliding rails that can lock in place and have very fine adjustment. I bought a pair so I could have up to 6 inches of movement on both axis, and it worked great - here's a pic of my PJ mounted now :

Also I finally got some of my display items up in the cabinet along with my wife's Wonka stuff and Mousketeer ears, and while my SW stuff looks a little cluttered (I really need to sell a few things) I'm really happy with how it came out, along with the concessions area.



Now on to a little bad news - last weekend we went shopping and while waiting for my wife to get ready I was playing Forza Horizon on the big screen. We left the house, returning 6 hours later to find I'd locked one of the cats in the theater. The carpet at the threshold was destroyed as he tried to claw his way out and the poor little guy obviously couldn't hold his bladder and urinated in one place on the carpet. After soaking it up and a week of applications of "Nature's Miracle Urine Destroyer" I think I've got it out as best as I can, there was never a stain but I know from experience that cat urine will return to smell in warmer months even if you think you've got it all. I'm hoping I got to it fast enough and with enough enzyme cleaner that it won't be an issue, but if it is and I can't stand it at least the carpet/padding didn't cost me a fortune and I could replace it.

Overall I'm really enjoying the theater, watching a lot of movies and basketball games and playing far more Xbox than I should. My wife really loves it too, and that is perhaps the most important thing

I bought two of these : http://www.ebay.com/itm/190605404389?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 along with one of these : http://www.ebay.com/itm/190605700577?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I would actually not buy this specific ball mount again as the lock isn't quite strong enough but there are lots of them out there. The rails are perfect and the price was right

The drop mount is just a Monoprice speaker mount - http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082804&p_id=3012&seq=1&format=2

It comes with the attachment for a threaded mount (speakers, tripods and the Qumi all share the same size mount), and the rails just have a threaded hole on the top - that's also how you join the 2 rails together (mounting screw from one into the hole on the other).

I wish I could take credit for this idea but that must go to "glowplug" from the GTPlanet forums. I just happened to come across his thread completely by accident and it was such a revelation - http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=251228