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Retractable Blackout Curtain Screen?

9K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  domi_nic 
#1 ·
Hey Everyone,


Long time lurker, first time poster here. I'm moving into a new apartment and I have an ambitious idea. I'm a bit limited in space, and I wanted to get creative in furniture positioning, so I came up with the idea of having the projector project onto the wall in the living room with the windows. Now how would this work? I have two large windows and a glass door to a balcony. What I'd like to do is make a retractable blackout curtain that can go up/down at will. Not only will it serve as a blackout curtain, but once it's down it'll have a projector screen on the inside. I'll have a ceiling mounted projector pointed straight at the windows. Okay, so it's a bit hard to visualize, so I've attached my floor plan (the far left wall/window area is where I'd have the curtains) and a visualization of what I want to try to do. My only issue is... I only have a vague idea on how to proceed and was wondering if anyone has seen this done before or has any suggestions?


Also, another suggestion is to have one set of drapes, and just a separate screen mounted to the ceiling. The only thing is that our ceilings are pretty high (10ft), so I'm afraid we'd have to creak our necks up to view the movie, which wouldn't be too comfortable, but I suppose it's just a factor of how far back we sit. Anyway, any suggestions/ideas are welcome! Thanks!


Please see the attached images (made with my awesome ms paint skills) for a better idea... thanks everyone!



 
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#2 ·
I have a similiar setup....but my screen is so large I don't have to blackout the windows, the screen does that for me.....but your idea will work...


You can get a screen with more drop since your ceilings are 10 feet tall, that solves the looking up problem....

 
#4 ·
I have similar setup but don't want to damage ceiling or walls. I am thinking of reusing my blinds mounts to support a BO cloth on light horizontal aluminum rods. The only problem is that my window is 11ft long and I am planning to project on 160" diag 16:9 screen. It will be hard to find 11' rods and get them into the apartment.

For now, I am projecting on my vertical blinds
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yerbolat
I have similar setup but don't want to damage ceiling or walls. I am thinking of reusing my blinds mounts to support a BO cloth on light horizontal aluminum rods. The only problem is that my window is 11ft long and I am planning to project on 160" diag 16:9 screen. It will be hard to find 11' rods and get them into the apartment.

For now, I am projecting on my vertical blinds


To accomplish all that, you'll need to Spline together two Roller Blind Tube Rods...a 8'er and a 4'er (cut down to 3'). Use a 32" x 1" Dowel Rod sanded down so it fits just snugly inside the Tubes.


Such Roller Tubes have both very small ridged channels running length ways, and a single pronounced Channel. Using a expanding Glue such as Gorilla Glue, , you apply some beads of Gorilla Glue onto the leading 12" length of the Spline (dowel) then Tap the Dowel into the 3' section of Roller Blind Tube...into 15" deep,


Quickly do the same with the other end of the Dowel and the 8' x 1" Roller Tubes. Line up the Big "U" Channel, set the Rod on a flat surface, and go have 3-4 beers. When you return, you trim off the expanded Glue that's around the edge of the joined Rods. After 24 Hurs Drying, the Tube should be perfect


Your going to want to use heavy Duty Spring Loaded Retrieval Ends.

Or even better....get the beaded Pull Chain Ends. They are smooth...heavy duty, and easier to adjust.


The Roller Blind Tubes come with decidedly beefier hardware. You will need to use such.
 
#6 ·
I was thinking of using aluminum rods for the upper bar, just put them on something like this: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10037036 , attached to the existing blinds support. For the lower bar, I am thinking of light and thick PVC pipes. Is there a special connector for PVC pipes?

Basically, I would roll up the cloth on a PVC pipe, and then take both bars off the supports. Then just put it all on the floor. I don't want to keep it hanging on my window, since it goes all the way up to the ceiling. That is actually one of the reasons I am not buying pull down screens.

I am definitely not a purist, would be fine with small creases and waves, it is better than bulgy blinds, anyways. Blinds seem to have >1.0 gain, though...
 
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