Hinni Home Theater - need help with the finishing touches

I have procrastinated waaay too long in starting this thread. We started this project well over a year ago. It began w/ us just wanting to finish the basement, and me wanting a media room to hang a front projector. As we went along, it turned more and more into a dedicated room.

We paid someone to finish the basement, since my DIY skills pretty much involved knowing how to sign a check. During the build out, I hung out on these forums way too much, and started stressing about how to do things right. The DIY kicked in when it came time to do the low voltage wiring. It took me forever, but that started me off with the desire to do more and more things myself.

The design was done "ready, fire, aim style". If I had to do it all over again, I would have done it a lot different. There were many mistakes made, but I did a lot of things right. The smartest move was in hiring bpape out to do the acoustical design before sheetrock went up.

I'll throw in more information as this thread grows. Right now, the room is technically finished (i.e. inspection is complete, and the room is useable), but I still have the acoustical treatments to build and integrate into the room, and I want it done in a way that is going to make the room look more like a real HT instead of a media room.

My current bland state from the rear of the room:


Shot of the side wall:


Shot of the back:


Currently we just have one row of three seats. Due to the double doors (bad design) and the equipment closet being located in the room(more bad design), there isn't a whole lot of room left for another row. I think for now we are just going to get a bar height table, and a couple of bar chairs to put in the rear of the room. We also plan on throwing a couple of bean bags in the front.

The front wall is going to 6" of OC703 everywhere the screen is not. So the screen will get put into a shadow box. I'll likely use black GOM or Dazian cloth for the screen wall.

The part I am trying to figure out now, is how to make the side walls look nicer. We were originally going to just make simple 2'x4' acoustical panels wrapped in fabric, and hang them on the walls like pictures, but I am now more motivated to do go for a more finished look.

I am thinking about putting in columns where the sconces are. Those sconces are 14" wide, and that looks roughly the width I would want the columns. We'll replace those sconces with something narrower or potentially use some glass or something in part of the column and turn the column into a big light fixture. We have a wetbar outside of the theater room, and I was thinking of making the columns match that color.

Wet bar on the other side of the room:


We may want to end up replacing the trim with something in the same color as well.

If we go with the columns, I am not sure what to do in between them as far as the panels go. I need to draw something up to give some of my current thoughts, but I am thinking some panels like the ones used by GPowers, or perhaps doing different sized ones like you see in Sandman's theater.

In the past I was too shy to ask, so I am starting this thread now, to hopefully get this phase of the HT done right. So any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, direction would be helpful ;-)

Also, if you have any questions on the details of the construction/equipment or whatever, I'll be happy to answer.

Projector: JVC RS1
Screen: 114" diag 2.4:1 DIY w/ blackout cloth
AVR: Pioneer Elite 84
HD-DVD: Toshiba HD-A1
Bluray: Samsung BDP1200
DVR: Dish 622 that is currently located in the family room, connected to the receiver via component video and digital audio.
Speakers: All ACI

Front: Sapphire XLs
Center: Sapphire XLC
Sides: Emerald XLs
Rears: Custom Emerald XLs that will go in the ceiling (not finished yet)
Subs: 2 of the Force XLs

Rack: Middle Atlantic AXS (slide out version of the slim5)
Chairs: Berkline 45004 motorized in leather/vinyl combo 7077-29

I'll likely upgrade the HD-DVD player once the 1080p24 firmware upgrade happens for the Toshiba XA2. I also may ugprade the AVR as well, as I haven't gotten the firmware updated to fix the LFE bug, and am hesitant to ship it off to get fixed. This receiver will work quite nicely in my family room, where there wouldn't be any sources that exploit the LFE bug.

The ceiling is actually quite darker than the pictures show. The front wall will end up all black once I put up the 6" of insulation that will act as a shadow box as well as bass absorption and wrap it in cloth. If things seem to bright after that is finished, I'll think about blacking up the area of the ceiling that is above the stage.

The main thing I am currenly trying to figure out is how to do the side and back walls w/ the acoustical treatments. Something nicer than picture shaped panels on the wall.

Thanks, it has been the staring at all of the above theaters (amongh others, including yours) for the past year that has me desiring to do something nicer. Right now I am leaning towards taking your approach and leaving some of it as painted drywall.

I guess I need to break down and learn how to use sketchup or something to draw out some things that I am thinking so that I can bounce some ideas off of you guys.

I hired out bpape before we put up the drywall. He helped me avoid a ton of mistakes and has really helpful along the way. When I hired him though, I was just thinking we would hang panels, and not have any columns. He said the design would still work if I went with more cloth coverage, but just to leave some of the panels blank. As I get things more figured out, I'll contact him again to see if there are any new room elements that we can take advantage of for bass traps or anything. I'll post the acoustical design layout when I get a chance.


They turned out quite nice. If I could figure out a good spot to put them in the room, I would order some more ;-)

As I mentioned earlier, I hired out bpape to do the acoustical design for my room. I haven't implemented any of this design yet, but that is what I am in the process of figuring out how to do from an aesthetics point of view.



The chairs ended up being located more towards left of center of the room, as opposed to being offset to the right like show above.

Originally I just planned on doing the simple fabric framed panels hung like pictures on the wall. Bryan said that I can still use the above design even if I go w/ the all cloth (or mostly cloth) look, but just to leave some blank space behind the GOM.

I'll see if I can sketch something up for what I am currently thinking for the side wall look, but I am currently contemplating just going about 2/3rd the way up the wall covered w/ panels, and leave the drywall exposed above that, with maybe some wood trim breaking up the lines between the cloth and the drywall. Note, that the panels called for are 2" thick, so I don't know if that is going to be too big of a depth change going to the drywall, and maybe I should just bring the cloth all the way up to the soffit.

Ok, here is a rough idea about what I was thinking for the side wall. This sketch only shows the columns and an idea of what would go between them.

One of the first reflection points falls right where a column would go, so I was thinking of using part of the column as the acoustical treatment, and just wrap it in a dark fabric.



Thoughts?

The side walls are currently a tan color, with the ceiling,front and back wall a darker tan color. The carpet is a mixture of black, brown and tan. We are thinking whatever wood we introduce into the HT room (columns and new trim) should be a close match to the wood in our bar (I think it is medium to dark cherry stain on maple, the pictures in the first post are pretty accurate for those colors).

So if we go with a black cloth for the screen wall, does anyone have any suggestions for the cloth on the side walls?

I was thinking a dark tan or brown or something like that. Also, if we end up going with the various shape panel design like above, I am likely going to have to pick out two colors. But in looking through the online GOM samples, I am having a rough go finding something "brown".

Any help/suggestions anyone has to offer would be much appreciated. I'd also like to get some other ideas or feedback for the panel/column layout design.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my side walls. Like I mentioned earlier, I am thinking about leaving some drywall exposed at the top of the wall, along w/ the soffits and ceilings.

But, if you take a look at the first picture in this thread, you may notice that there is more space between the right soffit and screen as there is between the left soffit and screen. The screen is centered in the room, but the soffits are different widths. I don't really know how much this bothers me, but it dawned on me that if I ended up covering everything but the ceiling in fabric, that I could make the soffits the same size. Any suggestions?

I don't know if I really want that much fabric, but it at least gives me more to noodle on.

I am in the process of ordering a bunch of GOM samples. Finding brown/tan GOM colors is a royal PITA.

Thanks for the idea. From what I can tell, pretty much anything that you can blow through should do the trick. My only concern about going non-GOM is fire safety. No smoking allowed in my place, but I wouldn't want some other freak accident igniting my walls. It does look like there are some products that you can use to treat burlap and such to make it fire retardent though. Then again, if I am not going with full coverage, I don't know how concerned I should really be about this.

Verrot, Thank You! This is exactly the sort of feedback that I have been hoping to get.


Actually, that is what I want to hear. I really like the front/back wall/ceiling color a lot. Since I am going to be covering the front wall, and most of the back wall anyway, I think painting the remainder of the sidewall that same color is an excellent idea.


I was originally thinking of removing the baseboards and replacing them with something stained the same as the columns. If just having the panels go all the way to the floor will work, then that will be something I will consider, and maybe get rid of the baseboards all together.


I need to noodle on this one. I don't think the column would look quite right going in the location where the side speakers are. I would also need to make the column a lot deeper than I would want if I were to put the speaker inside of it. I can't quite visualize how it would look surrounded by the column, but not hidden.


I hadn't thought about having accent lights shoot from the side of the column. That might be pretty cool. I really like the vertical panel layout you drew up. If my ceiling was higher, I might prefer the other way, but I think the vertical orientation will give the room a little more height.


Thanks! I am not sure if there is any gray in there or not. I think it is black with various browns/tans or whatever. I'll have to look closer though. We picked out that carpet first, then used the colors in there to pick out the paint in the HT room, and the carpet color for the rest of the basement. I am really hoping that I can find a fabric color suitable for acoustical treatments that will match it quite well.

Thanks again for your input.

The carpet is made by Masland Carpets

The style is 'Rhythm'

It was one of the styles that BIGmouthinDC was looking at a while back. I really liked it, and then when we went to pick out carpets, our decorator explained to the carpet guy that we were looking for something 'fun,dark, etc etc', and it was the first sample that he pulled out. I said "That's it!", and we were done picking out carpet in the HT room.

As fair warning though, it is not cheap.

No worries. Everytime I see a pic from Big's room, even one I have seen before, I find myself staring in awe.

I am somewhat back from the dead. I picked up a nasty virus a couple of weeks ago that had me in bed for almost a full week.

I had a bunch of GOM samples show up at the door a couple of days ago. I'll get some pictures of the ones we are considering, but right now I am leaning towards the Anchorage Coffee Bean color, and potentially some accents with the Anchorage Red Delicious. If I go w/ the Anchorage line for the side walls, I'll likely do the Anchorage Onyx(black) for the screen wall. The Anchorage line is not good to put speakers behind (which I am not), but is supposed to be just fine for acoustical treatments.

I am starting to think about just going back to the plain ole hung panel route, as opposed to the columns and chiseled panels covering most of the wall. I am worried that if I have the fabric going all the way to the floor, that I am going to be constantly worried about my 1.5yr old and/or 5yr old pushing on the fabric, and leaving dents or causing it to stretch or whatever. Is this something I should worry about?

I figure it would be easy to tell them to not touch the "pictures", but to keep a kid from touching the wall is not likely.

Still no real progress on the room itself. I finished getting my pool table back together over the weekend. I was able to get in some good stapling practice on that bad boy.

I started playing with Google Sketchup over the weekend so that I can map out some different design ideas. I am a tad slow w/ the tool, but it is definitely helping me visualize some things. I put the screen wall in place, and darkened up the soffits, and played around w/ columns etc.

Here is a model of the room w/ part wood part fabric columns, and simple hung panels. Note, that is not my carpet, but it was the closest carpet pattern they had in sketchup.



I think I need columns if I go the simple hung panel route, because the sconces we currently have will be hard to work around. My next step is to model up some designs w/ full fabric walls. Here I can go with or without columns.

I'd like to get some input on ceiling color. I am debating between going w/ a much darker version of what I have or black or just keeping what I have. If I go with the panel design above, I would likely paint the sidewalls the same color as what I have on my ceiling now, or potentially something darker.

Classroom?? Help me out on that one, because I am not seeing it. Don't fear though, as this is just my first sketch... trying to get a feel for how it would look with the simple hung panel approach as opposed to doing 2/3rds or the full wall w/ fabric.


I may end up going darker on the side walls, but black was never an option there. I am wondering about black on the ceiling, versus a dark brown. The side walls will either be painted the same color of my existing ceiling, or something slightly darker, and the acoustical treatments will likely be a very dark brown. Then again, I may go with full fabric walls which would probably be mostly the dark brown.


I don't have dimensions on that sketch, but I have those 2' x 4' treatments centered between the floor and the bottom of the soffit. This has them about 1'4" off of the floor. Would you consider that too high? I seem to remember bpape telling me that they usually go 2' from the floor, but it would be ok to just center them.

thanks,
aaron