Weird Room for home theater

Hey Guys

Long time lurker, first post.
I just bought a house, and I was thinking of using the room below as a media room.
It is a "loft" above the living room, with one side open with a small balcony to the downstairs living room.
Room size is 14x18. Dimensions and picture are below.

Would there be too much ambient light for a projector?

I was thinking of putting the screen on the side open to downstairs, and put big blackout curtains hanging from the top of the large windows, to the bottom of the "balcony" area floor.

Is the room too open for the surround speakers, or too small for a projector?

Thanks in advance for your help!





Edited by Gandi - 3/6/13 at 4:27pm

So here are my main 2 options:

Both options I would use black out curtains all around the open area, and II would go with a light rejection screen, similar to SI Black Diamond, or a digital screen from DNP.



I am worried that the front seats would be too close in either setup option.

Green line is the screen, red is the curtain


Option 1:


Option 2:

Thanks for your reply!

I don't mind cutting into the drywall, I did it before at my parent's house, and my old apartment to route tv cables and speaker wiring. However, I am not sure if there is "accessible space". The room is made of wall studs and sheet rock, and I will have to check out the roof.

My biggest issue is the ambient light and seating space, as you brought up, I need to see how many seats I can practically put in the room, and what screen size would be enjoyable. I will probably go with a regular 3 seat couch in the back, with 2 or 3 recliners in the front.

My only other option would be to have a screen in the living room, but there would be way too much ambient light, and as you said the current room is fun and it feels removed from the house, so you can feel more engulfed or involved (not sure that's the word I'm looking for) when watching a move or playing video games.

Also, as far as the audio system being heard throughout the entire house, that isn't a problem, because fortunately I'm 26 and single and living alone, so no WAF needs to be taken into consideration.