The Route 66 Basement Theater Build

I've got myself a nice little townhouse, that we have been updating slowly since we bought it. We moved in to this unit in 2008, and have 2 bedrooms and 2 and a half baths, we bought before it was built so we got some stuff added in for us. We opted for the On Demand water heater, and then some flooring upgrades, but that's been about it. We did opt for the rough in for a bathroom in the basement. So now we have a basement to start finishing!

We have been shopping for items for the basement and throughout the house to upgrade for about 6 months now. Had our roommates move out this month and cleaned up there room, so now we have storage space for everything that was in the basement. We found carpet and tile and everything we need for the bathroom except the shower base, which we need to start the whole thing.

I am putting up some pictures so that maybe we can get moving on it now. I'll also put up some pictures of the other things around the house I have done along the way. I'd also love for some ideas on the area. It's not a big basement, and we are looking at it as a theater room, with closet and bathroom so that when we sell it can be a 3rd Bedroom Suite.

Besides the Theater room (that isn't going to be like everyone elses, as we are only planning for at most a 80" LED LCD) I have started a whole house distributed A/V system too. All the equipment will be located in the basement.

My Basement is about 19' by 22', I have about 15' by 15' for the Theater Room. Time for Pictures!

Entering from stairs.

Straight in.

Back corner.

Under stairs.

other corner.

Have 2 sump pumps in the corners, and then the pipes/drain lines for the Bathroom stuff. One Window, and the water heater on the wall in the upper right hand corner. And that thing at the left end of the stairs is the stupid Radon vent pipe.


CAD Picture of open Basement

Finishing Idea.

Thanks everyone.

Guest Bedroom updated:









And our bathroom gets a new sink and counter top:
Old top




New top.


And Tile and carpet choices:

So we found a steal on a new counter, sink and faucet for the guest room, so I guess I'm not done there yet...oh well.

I am thinking about putting my speakers inside of Columns in the wall. I plan to put Acoustically transparent fabric over the front of the column, and I know I need some space behind for fitment, but is there something somewhere that says this is not a good idea? My current speakers aren't huge (Fronts and center) so I know they will fit, but whats a standard speaker size? So if I was to upgrade it would likely work too.

Thanks for any help.

So we remodeled the Guest bedroom, I should be finishing it up this weekend. Turned out great. The Wife goes for foot surgery on Friday, but then I will be starting with the basement (Slowly) as we got the beginning piece I needed to base everything else off of for my Graduation present from my dad. (Who also helped us lay tile in the guest bathroom)

Are basement build is based off a shower base. Since the whole in the concrete is already there, we have to build from it out. Shower base was my graduation present. I will post pictures this weekend. Thanks for looking though.

Some basement pictures with a pile of tiles and other stuff.

That silly guest bathroom is almost done!

it is done, and a new kitchen light. Now I can start on the basement! (I think)

My Pile of Equipment is mostly old stuff, I'm thinking about hard wiring IR plugs (Mono Headphone plugs?) into each component to make using my IR distribution system better/easier/cleaner. Is there some reason not to do this? I'd be adding 1 or 2 plugs to the back of each piece of equipment and then wiring one to the IR sensor on the front of the unit, and the other as a pass through. Has anyone done this before?

Thanks for any information.

The Good news is I got a new toy, A Xantech MRC88 unit. Does anyone know if the only way to control it is with a Keypad, or can I get my Harmony Remotes programmed to turn it on, change inputs, adjust volume, and set to a certain zone?

On the other side of good news is not good news. Looks like my basement and theater room work will not be starting till I can find a new job that pays more (anyone looking for a CAD Drafter in the Chicagoland - Rockford Area?) or we get another roommate. The Wife had elective surgery in June and has been out of work, so No money to get started.

Thanks, only 2 more to do and a kitchen, and hopefully some time in there we get to the basement and the theater. I think we will start after x-mass now that I got a new job. Should help with the funding, but I'm working two full times untill atleast Dec. to get some money together, doesn't leave any time to work on the house right now.

Finding time to clean for a Bears game party on Sunday is looking difficult even!

Yep, sure is, one of four that will probably be getting into every thing when we are working. I'm sure the dog will be helping too. the tail you see is from Reese's, we nicknamed her fluffy.

We are going to be starting on the Basement in May! I'm excited. We are going to be using Matrix Finishing systems walls for the main theater room walls. It's a hard panel on each side of 3" of styrofoam that comes in 4x8 panels. Should be a reletively quick install. (Still have to figure out the ceiling and do the Bathroom, but I'm excited that we are moving forward! Thanks for following.

Hey thanks, We now have a deadline to finish, so things should start moving soon. Have to be done by the end of November, there is a little one coming. Would love to see some pictures of your basement when you have the time.

I received some toys recently for the MRC88, a pair of touch screens for control of it. I've started installing them already, will need to work on the programming though. I've also got a pair of speakers to install in the guest bedroom as part of the whole house system. I'll probably be mapping out the connections for everything this week and adding the MRC into the system.