Welcome to "The Dog House"

Well I guess I am going to start my "construction" thread like everyone else. Welcome to "The Dog House" Home Theater...I am always in my wife's Dog House; hence the clever name.

The basement is completely unfinished and with the help of a very skilled friend, we are starting to finish off the theater portion. Of course that takes precedent to things like a living room, closets, storage rooms and the bathroom.

The finished size of the room will be 26 feet long, a hair over 14 feet wide and 8.6 high. There will be a concession stand built at the same time just outside the room which can be seen in the images as the opening under the crawl space.

Currently we are still in the framing stage, but the electrical should be started this week hopefully. My Insteon Automation system for lighting control was supposed to be here last Friday, but a huge snow storm in Chicago pushed that back until today.

Here is the before image looking at the rear of the HT


Here is the before image looking at the front of the HT

And here is what we are working on now

The Dog House is where I have been spending most of my time since I started this project.

Hope to have the false wall finished this week. Also need to move some HVAC stuff but should have the soffit built this weekend.

Finally got the Insteon stuff from smarthome.com today. Look forward to begin working on the electrical side. Should have more pictures and a floor plan for the room by this weekend.

mmoeller, when the room is complete you are welcome to come over for a demo.

It seems like years ago we talked about this project Bryan. I guess an 18 month old will do that to a guy.

I will be getting a hold of you in the coming months to see if you are willing to lend me some advice. I am going to need lots of it, and lots of supplies.

And my signature isn't just a joke, she really hates this place...hence my clever theater name. It seems like every day I turn in a receipt to my wife for this project, I might end up living in this room before it is over.

Well came home to a nice surprise today. My "guy" was done framing the room in the basement. It is really starting to come together now.

My father in law owns an electrical company so I am going to "borrow" all the electrical supplies from him over the weekend, and hope to have the electrical and wiring done by next week. I am going to be in Orange County on business Wednesday and Thursday (god I love the Inn at Laguna Beach!) so hopefully when I get back the wiring will be done.

Here are some finished framing pics.


This is a pic of the front screen wall. It will of course be covered in some sort of fabric. The center is going to house my SMX 108' AT 16.9 screen.


This is the make shift sofit we built to hide the HVAC and gas line for the fireplace upstairs. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I like the fact you walk into the room further and the ceiling height increases. It turned out better than I thought.

This is looking towards the back of the room at the sofit.



That little cubby hole you see to the right of the brown chair is where the rack system is going to go. You can see it better here...


I was afraid the room was going to be too small when finished, but it feels massive when you are standing in it. I am thrilled thus far.

If anyone in the Chicagoland area needs a "basement" guy I have the guy for you. This guy is unreal, you won't beleive what he charges to do side jobs. PM me for details. His work is fantastic and you will think you are robbing him when he tells you his rate. Great guy to boot...

Well off to decorate the Christmas Tree with my wife and 18mo old daughter. I will try and stay out of trouble until at least the weekend.

Thanks for the kind words guys. The soffit scared me at first but the more I look at it the more I like it. I am a very semetrical person, so having it only on 1 side scared the crap out of me. But it turned out great, I can't wait to see it done.

As far as flooring goes, I am just going to stick with carpet. Get the thickest pad I can find and some sort of carpet. I will let my wife figure that out because I will certainly make a decision she doesn't like.

The basement already had those staggard braces. Since I know nothing about construction I am not really sure what the purpose is, but I am sure they will help.

Mark,

I didn't realize you guys were so close. I would love to see what you have going for your theater. Once I get this pig finished I will have to have an area HT meet. This room isn't going to be anything spectacular, but I am still very excited.

Ended up getting some fabric samples on Friday, I think I am leaning toward chocolate brown for the screen wall and a lighter brown for the walls. I am going to try and find some pics of other HT's using similar color schemes.

Picked up some black landscaping tubing at Menards yesterday and ran it through my soffit this afternoon. I have 2 going from the front of the room to the back for cable runs. Then I have one running through the soffit between 2 joists for the projector cables. I just have to figure out how to keep the cables from rattling inside the piping.

My wife is starting to pitch a fit, so once the electrical and insulation are done which is hopefully this week, I am going to slow things down until after the new year.

That image was taken before the walls were attached to the ceiling. At this time they were not plumb.

The can lights are in and he is going to finish the up electrical supposedly tomorrow. I will have more pictures wednesday morning.

My wife is b!tching about this "Christmas" thing so I am going to take a break until after the first of the year before I keep going any further.