Basement Theater Build (Colors to choose?)

I'm in the process of finishing my basement. I finally got the drywall up and coat of primer on the walls. I'm trying to plan out my riser for my home theater seats sitting in the next room. They are 3 recliners together. The closest dimensions for the chairs i found was this image here (http://www.4seating.com/berkline-theater-seats/images/berkline-13175-tangiers-dimensions.jpg). That said, the first row of seats i'm planning on putting directly on the floor. I want to build a riser just behind them for the second row. I have looked at the stickied riser calculator, but because I dont have all the variables decided I cannot get the correct riser height.

Below is a picture of the basement where I plan on putting the screen. Having no experience with projectors / screens my initial plan was to center the screen on this wall and hang curtains on both sides, one to hide the door, the other to just make it symmetrical. But now i'm thinking that approach will only net me a smaller screen - which I'm not sure if it is worth the projector then. So i was thinking if i got around ~106" screen that would still fit on this wall. I would paint the wall and the door black. All AV equipment will be in the room behind the wall. I am assuming the bottom of the screen will be about 24" from the floor. Basement height is 9'

So i'm looking for any recommendations on the following

• What would a good size screen would you recommend for this wall?
• How far back would you place the first row?
• How far back for the second row?

Edited by dbldown768 - 12/28/12 at 11:26am

well originally that's what i had planned. unfortunately i changed this when i was framing the wall. after all the drywalling was done, i said the same thing. There isnt much that is going to change at this point. I guess just put that with the things i would do differently. That being said, if you think that a 106" screen is still possible, then I dont think I'm losing much.

So you think that about 6.5' between the rows? Thats the size of the platform basically. Using those numbers suggests a riser at 16" high? That seems pretty high

Floor to bottom of screen 24"
Height of seated front row viewers top of head 42"
Height of rear row viewers eyes 36"
Screen to front row viewers eyes 11'6"
Screen to back row viewers eyes 18'
Minimum riser height 16 1/8"

When i just measure I had something like 11 for the front row and 15/16 for the back. But again, I have never done this before. Also, I saw some pictures of peoples platforms on here that had a bar top behind the riser. I was thinking of doing something similar. If i went with a smaller screen say ~95" maybe this gives me a bit more room.

So i started to paint the colors into the basement. I wanted to go dark to give the best looking contrast to a front projector. That being said, I didnt paint the whole room dark as i thought it might make the space very small. As of right now I have behr 'poppy seed' on the wall where the screen was going to go. The rest of the walls are all 'suede gray'. Since I dont think I am pulling the trigger on black drop ceiling tiles, I have trying to determine if I should be painting the soffits the same color as the wall (ie. gray). Also, I'm not sure if i like the two colors poppy seed (dark blue) and gray on the same wall together and was just thinking of painting everything gray. What will work best for the contract of the screen?

Note, two bright painter lights are shining on the wall currently

First off let me say I know nothing about projectors, if i havent made that clear. Also, this is one section of the basement and is not only a dedicated theater room as the adjoining space to it is also being worked on. I am not against the false wall, but I guess i'm thinking that could be a project for the future if need be. I'm not really sure about how to go about making it, considering the door is already in place on the right hand side. That door was there because I planned on putting all the AV equipment behind that wall. I guess the other reason I decided not to do the false wall as of now as I can still get a 106" screen on that wall without any issues.

Now as far as painting the door, that was definitely my plan to paint it the same color as the wall. Just not sure if I am going to keep the dark blue or just match the gray. Or maybe it would be better to paint that wall black. I have painted the inside of the recessed wall blue as shown in the pictures below. I think the biggest question for me, is the color of the soffits and how much that is going to play with the projector. As i stated, I wanted black drop ceiling tiles but the cost and ease of getting some seem to be be swaying me to just do white. The white tiles will brighten the room a bit, especially if i paint the soffits. In addition, I will have 3 sconces on the wall.

@Spaceman, i just check out your build thread and I must say very nice...




the platform will be moved up against the wall. just moved out to paint.