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The Interstate 35 Theater/Family room

2K views 23 replies 7 participants last post by  gtessau 
#1 ·
I intended to do a full build thread, but due to a hard drive crash and the loss of all of the "in progress" pictures, I'm unable to do so. I do have a few Before pictures from when I looked at the house before moving in, so I can just do a before/after thread. I do want to thank all the members of this site who did make build threads that gave me a bunch of good ideas.


When I bought the house, the basement had some finished area, including a bathroom but mostly was concrete walls.









 
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#2 ·
Unfortunately, those are all of the before pictures that I have. I do have a few pictures of the first demo I did, taking out a partial wall for better flow. I also built a wall sectioning off a storage room.




 
#3 ·
I didn't like the small basement windows, and for aesthetics/safety, I wanted egress windows put in. I planned to do all of the basement work myself, but when it comes to cutting a hole in the foundation of the house I think it is best to leave that to professionals. In one of the pics you can see some of the soffit work I had started.






 
#4 ·
Extremely quick and dirty before/after plans. Not to scale


Before:



After:
 
#5 ·
Finished bathroom:




 
#6 ·
Finished stairs:








The side of the stairs were open, and I was just going to close them off. The wife introduced me to Pinterest, and I got some ideas to not lose the available space. I couldn't do full depth drawers where the bookshelf is as that is where my well tank sits.
 
#7 ·
Finished family room area:







 
#8 ·
View into the theater:



 
#9 ·
Some specifications:

Projector - Optoma HD20

Sound - Onkyo S5400 HTiB


Media closet -

Sony Blu-ray player

Apple TV

PS3

Dish Network VIP622 DVR


Infrared repeater from front wall into media closet

USB plug-ins on wall for PS3


Harmony 650 remote
 
#10 ·
I was just going to put an 18" door on the media closet, but once again Pinterest gives a better idea:


 
#12 ·
Screen - Sherwin Williams paint from the Projector Central article

Ceiling - Ceilume Stratford tiles with CeilingLink grid


Entire build, excluding egress windows (which were an additional $5,000) was done for just under $10,000. That includes the projector and Onkyo system.
 
#13 ·
Flooring is Allure Ultra vinyl plank from Home Depot
 
#14 ·
Looks good. I like what you did with the bookshelf door to the game closet. Can you post some closeups of the ceiling? I'd like to see what that looks like more closely.
 
#15 ·
Ceilume Stratford Black tiles



 
#17 ·
Why did you go with the ceiling tiles instead of drywall? Is it open behind the tiles for access to wiring?
 
#18 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by NickTheGreat  /t/1464861/the-interstate-35-theater-family-room#post_23123055


Dang, basement to theater in 12 posts flat!



Looks good. I really like the door to your rack

Thanks! It solved the problem of where to store movies as well :)
 
#19 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Conspiracy*  /t/1464861/the-interstate-35-theater-family-room#post_23123073


Why did you go with the ceiling tiles instead of drywall? Is it open behind the tiles for access to wiring?

Initial reason was for access to wires, etc. I first planned to do the whole basement with drop ceiling, but after price comparison with drywall I decided to rethink that decision. At that point, the reason to do it in the theater became more about looks and differentiation from the rest of the basement. I love the look of it, and have had a lot of compliments. Some people think it is a tin ceiling
 
#21 ·
What kind of setup do you have for those racing wheels? I've been debating doing something like that.
 
#22 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mn_hokie  /t/1464861/the-interstate-35-theater-family-room#post_23127431


What kind of setup do you have for those racing wheels? I've been debating doing something like that.

Playseat Evolution seats, one has a Logitech G25 w/ shifter mount, and the other one has a Logitech Driving Force Pro. I put USB ports in the front wall under the screen to plug them into. Got the seats during a rare sale on Amazon for $149 each. Now they want $400
 
#24 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rebelranger  /t/1464861/the-interstate-35-theater-family-room#post_23139353


what is viewing distance? How large is your screen? Is that just trim around the screen? Do you watch with zero or low light? Did you really consider speaker placement or just go by ear?

Good questions... Viewing distance is about 13 feet. Screen is right at 100". The screen is painted directly on the wall, trimmed out with black chair rail. I spent extra time working the wall to ensure a smooth surface. If we are watching a movie at night, it is pretty much zero light, but sometimes we will leave the poster spots on dimly for some visibility because the kids don't like it so dark. It is watchable with some light, I will watch during the day sometimes and with the egress windows there is a fair amount of light.


The only consideration I gave to speaker placement was putting the mains and side surrounds at ear level when seated on the couch. The center was just centered on the screen and placed directly below it. I just tried to center the mains in between the screen and wall/closet door. I didn't do any calculation regarding listening angles.


If I were doing a dedicated theater, I would probably spend more time working out the specifics of speaker placement. My fear looking into the future would be if I ever need to replace my speakers, as I built the recesses for my LCR and side surrounds specifically for these speakers.
 
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