Need advice on attaching black velvet to wall.

Wrap wood frames, staple on the backside and friction fit on the wall. If you mess up and they are too loose use some Velcro. Glue is forever, your screen is not.

Have fun!

Well, you either glue it (see post one) or you staple it (see post two). I suppose you could also do fabric track as well.

Damn. That looks good BIG.

The problem I see attaching fabric directly to the wall is what to do with the seams and edges. When you wrap something you get a nice straight fold and you can put two pieces next to each other and the seam is hard to spot. If you staple directly to the wall you need to hide the staples.

Thanks James!

+1 on wrapping frames.  Do yourself a favor and get a good stapler while you're at it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by jkasanic - 1/21/13 at 10:30am

Depends. If you make the frames 1/8 inch smaller than the available space, once wrapped in fabric they will be snug enough to stay in place by themselves. If they don't want to stay, add SMALL DABS of Velcro along the tops. Staple the Velcro to the wall and the frames. Just to prepare yourself mentally. When you remove the panels it will pull the Velcro and the Staples off the wall.

My frames are Velcro free. The bottoms sit on the floor (one on the top edge of the screen) it takes very little to hold them in an upright position. You may need to paint the wall black so that any gaps between panels are hidden in the shadows. You may need mid span supports to resist bowing caused by fabric tension.

I was planning to use velcro but as BigmouthinDC mentions, a press fit is the way to go.  It's amazing just how good (or bad depending on how you look at it) velcro can be in this case.  I only have velcro on one of the smaller pieces below the screen.  The rest are snug fit and I don't have any issue with them staying in place.

I used Guilford of Maine FR701 black material.  It's an acoustically transparent material.  In my case, only the subwoofer is outside of the AT screen but I still thought using GOM was the best way to go.  I got 5 yards for under $100 delivered and it's pretty easy to work with but YMMV.

Your wall is black.. perfect..

Now you can rip some wood for your panels. Take some ripped pieces and test fit a corner. Once I test fit, I actually started building the panel by screwing the pieces together and before you know it the whole wall will be framed by wood panels. Mark them (left corner , right corner.. center.. etc.) and then take them down and starting stapling the fabric to the panels... Then hang your screen in the center of the wall.. (on top of the fabric frames)


You also can take a look at the "Fabric Frames" Thread for pics..

P.S. - you should color your wood panels black. That helped with my own black velvet panel install..

I'll be stapling velvet directly to the wall so I'll let you know how it works. My speakers will rest on shelves mounted to the screen wall making fabric panels difficult. The staples on the left and right will be hidden by fabric panels on the side walls and the top staples will be on the soffit so not very visible.

It shouldn't be too difficult. Why not incorporate in-wall speakers in the fabric panel(s)...?

This is one of my front fabric panels (black velvet)... used 1" wood frames..

IMG-20130122-00175.jpg 109k .jpg file



design,
This should give you a idea. But the wood should be even with the panel and staples going around it.

IMG-20130122-00177.jpg 117k .jpg file



Testing the motorized curtain I installed last week with a scrap piece of black velvet. ...

IMG-20130122-00178.jpg 98k .jpg file

I already have my 7.1 system which I'll be keeping. I actually think it should be fairly easy. Just roll the velvet over at the top and staple from the back side of the velvet along the soffit/wall line then I'll staple along the side walls which will have acoustic panels and will hide those staples. Do the same for next row which will be near the bottom of the wall (only 6’6” between soffit and floor) and staple below the baseboard line; shouldn’t see one staple.

Here is a diagram to show where my floating/bracketed shelves will be.


And here is a shot that gives you an idea of the actual space. I should be ready in the next week or two so I’ll update this thread with my success or failure pics.


The screen above is just painted drywall and the velvet border will be removed shortly. Once the velvet is stapled on then the new screen can be hung

On the wall where your screen is mounted, you have a soffit running along the ceiling. If you are planning to attach the fabric to the screen wall only, you will have to work the fabric under the soffit, on the side of the soffit and up to the actual ceiling... unless I'm missing something.. Are you using a Fabric Mate System to install it?...



My Theater Update: Adjust the miter saw to cut 47 degree angle and continue to cut moulding...


and replace the blower motor in the pickup..

No.

May be OK for subs, certainly not for your mains

Is there any reason this wouldn't work?



Again the sides would be stapled from the front side of the fabric on the side walls because those will be hidden by acoustic panels above the wainscot. Where I will need to staple along the wainscot at the bottom the staples will be visible so I'll either hide that with a trim piece or just use a permanent marker.

If you don't get a line of staples exactly straight the fold won't be straight.

If you staple some stiff cardboard inside the fold you will get a better result.

Why not drape the fabric like curtains?

That was one option I was thinking of. I have a lot of left over ¼ birch ply and I could staple to the back of that and then use the nail gun to attach the ply to the joint of the wall/soffit. Then I could continue on as I had planned originally.

Curtains are another option although I want the front wall to disappear except for the screen and speaker shelves.