[mechatech]

Hopefully this doesn't turn into, how not to build a home theater

I've been wanting to do this ever since moving into this house, this room was just begging to be turned into a home theater room.



I have quite a few limiting factors that will keep this from being a truly perfect build, but I'll do what I can with what I have.


The Room

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This is a family room with a fireplace and bathroom. It was built on as an addition to the main house in the early 80's

Concrete floor

popcorn ceiling

Width: 17'

Length: 23'

Height: 8.5'



Limitations:

-----------

The room also has to be used as my main computer desk area.

I'm not the most skilled carpenter

The walls are covered in wood paneling that I don't want to remove.

Very limited budget for now.

Not much in the way of sound proofing options(that i know of)

The computer in the room will be the bluray player (for now)

No place for dedicated equipment room


Expectations: (fingers crossed)

------------

7.2 sound

140" screen

tiered seating (4 recliner seats on top, bean bags in front)

recessed lights

drop ceiling

other glowing lighting effects

glowing stars on the ceiling

no trace of the wood paneling

no brick on the fireplace

new carpet

stage and speaker stands



I have quite a bit of this already complete, should have started this thread when I started the project.


Enjoy

 

[mechatech]

I created these images with google sketchup to use as a guide while building this project. The dimensions in the model are exact to the room dimension in every way.


I'm sure I'll make a few changes as it goes along but it's a good guide for now.

 

[AaronN]

Looks like a nice sized space! Why are you considering a drop ceiling?


As for walls. I see two options; the economical, and the more costly. First, the economical: attach some 5/8" drywall to the existing wood paneling with a nice layer of green glue in between to absorb some sound. All out (without removing the paneling): Locate studs and attach decoupling clips and channel, then two layers of drywall with green glue in between.

 

[mechatech]

unfortunately I didn't start this thread early enough, and have already bypassed being able to do that. That suggestion sounds fantastic and I'm guessing I'll be kicking myself once I hear all the ways I should have done things. But that's ok, I welcome any recommendations and tips. I'll try to get all the pictures I have taken so far on here as soon as I can.


And I made a mistake, I didn't mean drop ceiling, I meant tray ceiling. Which would only be at the front and right side of the room. Adding this to have additional lighting.

 

[mechatech]

First thing I did was add the recessed lighting.

Had to remove this wall furnace

Plugged the hole and removed the gas line.

The is the back wall, all of the speaker wires go up into the attic from here.

This side of the wall does not have drywall behind it. It is the outside of the house, very thick wood here. So I just carved an area for the wire to run behind the paneling.

This the front wall

back wall was a little messy also, but it worked.







Because the wall paneling is staying up, the wiring was done by cutting a small section away then feeding the speaker wire up into the attic.


The main speaker I/O panel is in the back of the room.

 

[mechatech]

I primed the walls and painted the ceiling with a power sprayer

 

[mechatech]



and that takes care of the hearth

 

[ack_bk]

I guess I am confused why putting up new drywall over the existing wood paneling. This would make the room much more clean looking and would help with sound loss.

 

[mechatech]

I would imagine had I browsed these forums before hand, this may have turned out differently. But I didn't, so this is what I came up with all by myself

Got the 140" screen from ebay for around $100

I didn't get it pulled tight enough, so there are some ripples. I've since taken it down and fixed that.

 

[mechatech]

Had I done things properly, I should have put up drywall over the wood paneling. Like I said the project has gone too far forward to fix that now. I'll make sure it is clear when I am at the current stage of pictures. As of now this work is of the past months.

 

[mechatech]

Couple more pics showing the rest of the fireplace work.

 

[premiertrussman]

Looking good!

 

[mechatech]

Moving on to the soffit, I'm proud of myself for doing all of this myself, design and build. I've never done anything like this before so I'm learning as I go.

Adding 4 cans to the soffit

These pictures show how I've filled in all of the cracks. It doesn't have to be super smooth, the wall is about to be covered in Valspar smooth texture paint. But the cracks did have to be filled or else you could still see them through the texture paint.

 

[mechatech]

This update will bring me up to date on the pictures! So this is where it stands at the moment. The valspar smooth texture paint is on the walls, I troweled all of it on, this was time consuming and it had to be just right.

No sign of the old wood paneling now!

Cracks filled ready for the paint.

Looking back at these pictures, I wish I could go back and change a few things. Mistake #1: I should have finished the soffit before finishing the walls. The drywall dust is a mess, I HATE doing drywall.


Mistake #2: cover everything when sanding drywall.

Mistake #3: Don't lay the screen face down on the floor

Other than that, it's coming along pretty good.


The plan now is to put in new carpet, now I'm not sure if this is the best way, but I'm going to build the riser and stage on top of the new carpet and then put carpet on those when they are finished. That will make it so if it ever needs to be removed or upgraded there will be carpet under it.

 

[jherring69]

You are doing a fantastic job! It is really starting to come together. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished project.


Jason

 

[mechatech]

Thanks Jason!


It's still coming along fairly quickly. Here are some more pictures:

Screen is back on the wall, the wrinkles are back also, short of taking the screen apart and stretching it again, it will have to stay that way

I've also been picking out carpet samples

Lots and lots of staining to do, door trim, base and crown.

Mantle and vents are up. Fireplace is done

Wrapping the felt around the trim pieces.


Next up. Pictures of the finished screen. Lights behind screen, stained wood, carpet.


I'm hoping to have the carpet in and the trim up before september 1st!

Also thinking of redesigning the stage and riser. Looking forward to that part.

 

[mechatech]

Actually still on schedule, I was trying to at least be at a place where the carpet could be installed by septemer, looks like I'll make it.


Also I was sent the wrong light ribbon, so it will be a couple more weeks before the soffit lights are finished.

The lights look really cool behind the screen, very happy with how that turned out.

Having some trouble deciding on how to hang the lights on the soffit. My dad came up with the idea of using a metal carpet strip to hold the lights with. But that makes the lights too close to the wall, which doesn't diffuse the light enough. Still looking for a better solution to this. Any Ideas?

The carpet is ready to go. Got the carpet at Menards for .99/foot.

Removing the old carpet tomorrow, then hopefully putting in the new carpet on Friday morning.


All of the wood is cut and stained and will be going up next.

 

[Skyking999]

As nice as the screen back ground lighting looks, hopefully you can come up with a way to do the ceiling edges just as well. Looks real nice so far and keeps looking better. Good luck with the carpet installation. That's a big step forward!

 

[mechatech]

Yay! the carpet is being installed now. Can't wait to get home and see how it looks. I'll have pictures up soon.

 

[jdanforth]

WOW! Quite a transformation! Well done!

Don't sweat the hindsight... I already regret stuff in my build and it has barely begun. I'm positive that I will wish I had done some things differently but I just want my theatre, ya know?


What did you use for lighting around the screen and in the tray ceiling? I love that blue light spilling out of the soffit. It seems from the photos that your lights around the screen are in tune with the color of the video signal. Is that my mind playing tricks on me or is that a feature?