Wolf's Lair Home Theater-Construction/Pics - Page 9

After all my hard work, my toes once again garnish the rave reviews. It just doesn't seem fair

Richh, I am using Minwax Antique Walnut Polyshade (combination of stain and polyurethane). I pretreated the wood with Minwax conditioner about 10-20 minutes before I stained. Applied the first coat and then sanded it down (once dry) with steel wool (0000 I believe). Then applied the second coat. There is a major difference between coats one and two. It is a relatively dark stain which I think hides the grain like you mentioned.

Mrpergo, I am going to put a piece of trim on the bottom of the soffit that will cover the edge of the drywall and the edge of the soffit woodwork. I actually bought a piece of baseboard molding for elsewhere in the basement that is the wrong size. I have stained it and will see how it looks as the filler.

Thanks Mark. So, you have been done for about 4 months and you are already considering renovations. Don't let my wife read this

hummm, memory foam is a good idea. I was thinking of a thin rubber mat cut to size. Most likely the drawer will hold a couple of throw blankets, and maybe a few remotes. Shouldn't be that bad. I just wonder if I inadvertently created some sort of helmholtz resonator...or some other novel acoustical nightmare.

Bpape, let me appologize in advance

I finished putting the crown molding up, so here are a few more shots of the soffit.


The outlet for the rope light. I don't think it will be too noticeable one the cove is created for the rope light.


The riser is stained (I think it looks worse in these pictures. It must be the flash):




I order the ring pulls for the panels on the riser as well as my 66' of blue LED rope light. This was the cheapest I could find, but it is still pretty expensive. It sounds like the same stuff that other sites are selling for 1-2 hundred dollars more. We shall see.

Last night I put the first piece of the cove molding up. I placed a 3/4" filler strip at the bottom of the soffit and them put a piece of crown molding (upside down) on top of that.

Cove molding in place. You can see the filler strip. Brad holes need to be filled.


Looking down into the cove. I cut a few supports to make it a little bit more stable. The rope light will run under the supports.


Finally, a test shot with a white rope light (not the best photo in the world):

Thanks Joe,
Thanks jikkjack, I will look at those.

I got this today:


It looks like this within the molding:


It looks like this from below:


She says she likes the white light better, but I convinced her to at least let me finish the soffit before we commit. I think that because a large portion of the light was just sitting in the middle of the room that the effect was compromised by the ambient blue light. When it is done, it will be wicked and she will like it

I have stalled a little in the theater. All the woodwork has got me longing for something different to do. I also want to wait until Bryan has done my analysis before I go too much further.

I don't know if any of you remember my pool room. It looked like this:


Now it looks like this:

I replaced the wood paneling and textured the walls months (maybe years?) ago. Last weekend I took down the entire ceiling. I wanted to stain/poly the timbers and paint the ceiling. I figured it would be easier to bring it all down and then put it all back up.

Here are some of the panels. I painted them a green. I call it "Statue of Liberty" green. I then sponged on a bronze glaze. Next I am going to sponge on a pewter glaze. It should create a cool metallic, patina look.


Here the you can see the metallic look to the bronze glaze.


I am taking the rest of the week off, so my goal is to have the ceiling back up by the end of the weekend.

I have not hooked it up to the Grafik Eye yet, but it was advertised as dimmable. I am considering buying a "cool" white LED light. Apparently, white comes in different flavors, and I have heard that the "cool" white has a subtle blue glow to it. However, no decisions until the cove is completely finished

After 4 hours of adding polyurethane to the ceiling timbers, I am convinced that, if I have not killed my brain cells, I have at least severely maimed them.



If there was any redeeming factor to the whole process, it is the fact that there was a slight breeze coming off the mountains.


Here is what the ceiling panels look like after both the bronze and pewter glazes were applied.

For those who are interested in home theaters, I apologize. I am unaware of a basement finishing forum, so you must bear with me I will get back to the HT eventually.

The ceiling is back up and the walls are painted (except for the stair wall).



I also did some work of the basement exterior door. It was scraping the floor of the hallway. Since I am planning to tile the hallway there was going to a problem opening the door completely. Right in front of the door there is about a 3/4" slope. This slope was going to make tiling very difficult. So here is what I did. I cut into the jams on either side of the door and remove the lower part and the threshold. You can see the slight slope to the concrete.

Different angle:


For those who have read the beginning of my thread, you may recall that I had some "water issues." Essentially, during heavy down pours, water was seeping through the gap between the brick veneer and the cinder blocks. You can see the gap in the above picture. I am hoping that water will not take this route anymore, but if it does it should flow outside and not into the basement as I left a slight opening for it to flow outside.

Next I put a 3/4" thick piece of PT lumber (with a ton of silicone sealant):


Then replace the jam pieces that were cut 3/4" shorter:

Some caulking, primer, and paint and it should not be too noticeable. I also had to cut 3/4" off the door.

End result is my door opens all the way and there is enough of a gap to tile the floor now. The threshold is now higher so I can fill the slope with some leveling compound, and then we are ready for tile!

Thanks guys!

I have been working on various small projects. I leveled the floor in front of the basement exit door. I installed the "ring pulls" on the riser panels. Works like a charm.


I also put up the vent grills in the pool room. I think they work pretty well with the rest of the room.


I have also been installing the baseboards and door trim within the pool room (including the prerequisite staining and poly). I will spare you the pictures until I am done.

I spent a lot of time today cleaning the garage, since the HVAC is likely going in next week. Last week I found some left over fabric that my wife had used to put on the back of curtains. Humm, why not build a screen real quick to mess around with screen size and position? I have been debating whether or not I have enough room to pull my SmX screen off the wall and put the speakers behind the screen. I have also been debating whether to go with 2.35 or 16x9. This was a chance to try some things out without actually cutting my SmX.

My conclusions: Yes, I will pull the screen out and put the speakers behind it. As far as 2.35 goes, I don't think it is going to work. My projector location is pretty much set in stone and the throw distance is likely too short to use with an anamorphic lens. So it looks like 16x9 with some sort of DIY masking.

I also finished the light tray. I put aluminum tape in the cove to prevent any bleeding of the light through any cracks. I also installed the blue rope light. My wife still doesn't like it, but she did say, "it is your theater, you can do it however you want." I think it is a little too bright, but should be just right when I get it on a dimmer. I also think the white walls don't help the effect.

Here is a shot of temporary screen and the blue light. Took about 20 minutes to make the screen. I made it 2.35 101" wide. You can also see where the HVAC return is going to be now that the screen is off the wall. How much of a problem is having the return behind the proscenium going to create? Can you say, "very large air filter?"

Thanks Judson,
They were already black, so no painting required. A little pricey, but I think they add a nice detail to the room. I got them here:
http://www.atouchofbrass.com/c-116-wall-registers.aspx

I may try spray painting the white return vents black to match after the HVAC is installed.

Not much thought about it yet. I did look around a little at lowes the other day .

The wood is 3/4" and I suspect the carpet and pad will end up being at least 1/2", so not too much of a difference. I have seen threshold transitions between rooms that are as high or higher than that. I looked at where carpet transitions to hardwood floor in my house and there is a similar height discrepancy, so I don't think it will be that big of an issue. If it is, I will have guests sign a waiver prior to entering .

I didn't think about the carpet installers messing it up. That is a good point.

My main concern was a safety hazard. I thought about putting a 1/4" layer of plywood also. Then I looked at my threshold leading down into the basement. It is close to an inch high and I have never given it a second thought.


I guess the human stride avoids that 3-4" space at the top of a stair without thinking about it.

I took the family to the beach, and I came home to some presents from Bpape (thanks, man).


I eagerly opened them and they turned out to be just what I wanted! 2" OC 703!


So I started on my front wall. Framed out the proscenium and painted it black.
The smiley face is so my 3 year old can ask "why is there a smiley face on the wall." You can never get enough "why" questions at that age.


Initially I tried a box cutter, and then a hand saw, to cut the OC. Then I gave in and ran to K-mart and bought a $15 electric knife which makes cutting the OC much, much easier. After a little while I had corner bass trap number one: