Show your Before and After pics... - Page 15

crazy thread with awesome builds! All of you pro's should click my sig and help me with my basement setup I have the small space issue

Wow!! Nice to know so many of you guys are in North Georgia. Some of the most amazing work I've seen. I can only hope my "Theater" comes out 1/2 as nice.


Mike

I just discovered this thread, so I thought I'd post a few before/after pics of my theater.
The room began life as a loft area above the living room, with just a railing across the front of the room and windows at the back:








A friend of mine who is a master carpenter and I did all of the work ourselves, over the course of about 10 months in our spare time.
The screen sits on a new wall we built where the railing used to be.
Version 1 was finished in January of 2004 and ended up looking like this
(large panoramic image that you'll probably need to scroll right to see):



The amber faux finish looked really nice with the lights on for when we play pinball or the arcade machine.
But I realize that it's not the best color scheme for movies.
Ultimately we end up using the room for movies 99% of the time.


Version 2 (completed November 2008) consisted of a complete color scheme change (except the carpet),
as well as moving from a 6.1 to a 7.1 audio setup with several bass traps.
These changes made a huge difference.




Version 2.1 (completed last night!) adds acoustic panels on the walls and ceiling to reduce first reflections.
I've only sampled a few scenes so far, but the audio improvement is incredible.
We watched the asteroid chase scene from Star Wars Episode II, and even my girlfriend was amazed at the difference in the sound.

Here are some of the panels, all 2" thick with 2" air gaps:





There are a lot more pictures on my theater page in my signature.

Fun stuff!

Nice job! I really like your in-wall rack. Question about the carpet: do you find the light color distracting during the movie at all? My existing room has an off-white carpet, and I'm wondering if that really needs to go or not.

Here is the thread for mine.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1061375

Before, while framing. (I did it all myself, cept the drywall, and carpet)



after lighting and wiring



Theater installed.







Now its party time!







Living room before


Living room after, with all the windows, I went with a LCD projection as they handle bright ambient light better than plasma.

Thanks! I love watching movies at home. We never go to mainstream theaters, only the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, which has full wait service, great beer and food and fun movies. We have movie nights at the house almost weekly. The next is Saturday in fact. We're starting to show the Lord of the Rings trilogy over the course of three Saturday afternoons.

Unfortunately I didn't replace the original carpet when we built the theater. The color doesn't seem to affect the movie viewing much though as I never really notice it while watching a movie, but when I have the chance I'll put in a different color for at least aesthetic reasons.

The built-in component cabinet is awesome. There's just attic space behind there, so access to the rear of the components is through one large door that covers the entire back of the cabinet that swings open. It's so easy to make changes, add/replace components, etc.

Next I'm thinking of flush-mounting a black mini-fridge on that same wall in the aisle of the back row. That way people can bring up extra drinks and store them there instead of having to go down to the kitchen or beer fridge for more.

bumped for updates. Don't let this thread die, way to much cool stuff in here.

damn, I'm kinda upset I don't have any real before pics, but here it is before and after it's latest transformation...

Before


After

I really like the bold blue!

Before:


After:

(attached)

And the full story, so far: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post11293005

(I should probably tidy up a bit before taking the after photos, but you get the idea.)

This was done as part of a great room make-over. We now have a separate theater room in the basement, but this setup is great for watching from the kitchen, etc...

It looks like it's also a nice little secondary setup for the cat.

That's a lively bunch of people you got there.

Before the renovation



After

I don't know if this has happened to anyone else but sure feel stupid! I had all of the before and construction photos on the camera and my wife thought I had downloaded them to the computer and I had not! I now only have like 8 construction photos left out of nearly 200!

Oh well.

This is the screen wall with the sump pump and the electrical panel I had to work around.
Before:

After:


Looking back from the screen wall to the bar area.
Before:

After:

Did you already start writing to that disk? If you recently deleted them (or even if you haven't captured many new photos yet), there is some free restoration software out there that *may* be able to get it back easily (certainly worth a try).

This is what I've used in the past:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html

By the way.. I love your theater and decor! Definitely some ideas I may need to copy. Phenomenal job!

[quote=miltimj;16020534]Did you already start writing to that disk? If you recently deleted them (or even if you haven't captured many new photos yet), there is some free restoration software out there that *may* be able to get it back easily (certainly worth a try).

This is what I've used in the past:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html


Hey Tim, thanks for the point at the restoration software I'm going to give it a shot thank you!!

Before (facing front of room):


After:


Before (facing rear):


After:


Before:


After (not totally complete in this photo):

Unfinished-Looking Toward the Screen Wall





Finished

"BEFORE" - This was a garage, that was being used as a place for junk. Took us forever just to organize and get rid of stuff.


Where the insulation is, is where the garage door used to be.


And the "AFTER":

















Thanks to everyone on AVS for their great help!!!

Wow...I'm so impressed by these build outs. The level of attention to detail is astonishing. Love it. It's makes my anal little designer's brain go into convulsions of joy.

Frank

Well, I unfortunately do not own this theater anymore... had to move this past summer. But someone might enjoy the before and after pics anyway:

BEFORE:



AFTER"

I'm curious to know: when you sold the house, were the buyers excited about the theater, or was it a hindrance?

What kind of speaker wires are those reaper, they look enormous

There were a couple of parties that looked at the house and commented positively about the theater but I was actually surprised and disappointed about the fact that the majority did not. Most comments I heard about the basement were related to the size of the basement... clearly they hoped to do something else with the space.

Are you referring to the black lines coming out of the walls? If so, the image is deceiving. Those lines are not wires precisely. They are wires surrounded with wire wrap to make it look nicer. So, while the speaker wire inside is 12 and 14 guage (speakers were bi-wired), they are surrounded with wire wrap and it ends up looking like a garden hose coming out of the wall. It 's pretty sweet looking isn't it?

Wow. That's got to be one of the most dramatic make overs I've ever seen. Well done.

Frank

Here is my before and after photos.

Front of room



Back of room



Walls and ceiling were painted. You gotta love the 19" LCD Display with the "custom" entertainment center. LOL



DIY Riser



Rear Seats installed



Front Seats installed, wiring ran.



Upgraded to a better entertainment center. It was a little more personable.



Began construction on the real Entertainment Center/False Wall



Screen installed



Speakers in place



False wall completed and final pics of room

HT 1.0


HT 1.5

Screen Wall Before:


Screen Wall After:




Bar Area Before:


Bar Area After:




Equipment Closet Before:


Equipment Closet After: