Joined
·
2,088 Posts
Hi everyone,
I've adapted my small living room/studio to be convertible into a dedicated home theater space, and I wanted to share a summary of the building process hoping that it might help those who, like me, can't afford an expensive dedicated home theater and want to keep their living room usable. The main idea for this build came from @Javs curtain system.
![3082681]()
![3082682]()
The previous room setup:
Before I installed the curtain system for the whole room, I had only about half the room covered in black.
![3082195]()
![3082196]()
![3082199]()
The main goal was to stop nearby light reflections with something that could have some decorative value for the room. That's why I chose the hexagon panels for the ceiling. I used magnets glued to the ceiling to hold the panels, which were covered with cotton velvet.
![3082209]()
The first panels were 3mm MDF, but they kept falling because the glue could not hold the weight (the magnets could hold as long they were not disturbed). Then I replaced the panels with a honeycomb structure cardboard. It was much better, but some magnets kept falling whenever the ceiling paint peeled a bit. Also, the pieces of velvet on the sides kept falling too on warmer days.
![3082212]()
So, I decided to replace all this with a curtain system for the whole room: darker and sturdier, barely any maintenance required.
The current room setup:
![3082670]()
I ordered 30 meters of polyester velvet from FabricLand.co.uk, after comparing samples. Their service is awfully slow and their shipping is too expensive, but they agreed to let me arrange pickup at my own expense. Being in Europe, I didn't have affordable options for triple black velvet. My velvet does a very good job against reflections from all angles, but unfortunately it's not opaque (more on this later).
![3082214]()
![3082213]()
I wanted all the hardware to be as cheap as possible (yes, I know the risks), so I bought 2 pieces of aluminum hollow rods 6,5 meters long each, then I cut them to 4 pieces about 2,5 meters each and stored the rest for a future project. The rods already had a pristine white finish, which was perfect for the room.
![3082228]()
Installing the metal rods:
To hold the rods in place, I bolted to the walls 6 L shaped metal parts with rounded edges, and used 6 curved metal "braces" the same radius as the rods to lock the rods in. At the middle of the room, each pair of rods his held together by a wood cylinder that goes inside the ends of the rods. At the corners of the room, the rods are held by the "braces" directly.
So, here's the process: decide the height to hang the curtains from, find the middle point of the wall, bolt an L piece to the wall, lock the wood piece in place. Then, lock an L piece to the far end of each rod, place the other end over the wood piece, use a level ruler to level the rod on each side of the wall and bolt the corresponding L piece in place. It's recommended you use some scotch tape around the rods and the piece of wood to make sure they make a tight contact.
![3082233]()
![3082234]()
Installing the curtains:
The velvet came in 2 rolls of 15 meters, which had to be divided into 4 pieces 7,5 meter each. To have a good grip of the fabric, I used this inexpensive method:
![3082244]()
1 bolt, 2 washer shims, 1 nut. As you'll see in the next image, I replaced 1 metal shim with 1 rounded metal plaque with 2 holes (to hold the wires).
The polyester fabric is impressively strong and won't rip despite the severe pressure from the tight metal around it.
After much trial and error (because I was worried about finding a balance between fabric tension and sagging), I figured out that the best way to hang the velvet is to just to spread it on the floor and install each grip according to the ideal measurements you want it to have, and then hang it using pieces of string to adjust tension the way it feels right. To make this kind of hanging easier, I replaced one of the metal shims with a metal. As for spacing between each grip, I used about 31cm. Regardless of the measurements you use, It's very important to be rigorous and consistent, otherwise the tensions of the fabric will be all over the place and it won't be easily moved along the rods. Start this process from the middle of the room, so that the remainder of the fabric can be used to cover the front wall around the screen (and the back wall too, if suits your space).
![3082246]()
To make sure the curtains go over the ceiling lamp, I installed aluminum bars and bolted the fabric to them. You don't need to do this unless you also have a lamp in the way.
![3082353]()
Each side of the curtain system has 2 pieces of velvet 7,5 meters each, and they're held together by more bolts and nuts, and some foldback clips too, on the ceiling area, and adhesive velcro on the wall area. I had a lot of velcro strips that came with the screen I installed on the bedroom, so I was lucky with that. I used a stapler to quickly attach the velcro strips to the edges of the velvet. I couldn't get black staples, so I painted them with a black marker.
![3082247]()
To ease the weight on the whole curtain system and make it easier to move, I installed a wire from one end of the room to the other, and then used the bolt grips to hang the fabric to it.
![3082351]()
![3082350]()
You may now have noticed that this whole curtain system does not require any sewing and it's completely assembled from the back side of the velvet, which means no hardware will be seen from the inside of the curtain system.
![3082671]()
More adhesive velcro and staples were used to attach the end of the velvet to the screen metal box. To close the velvet around the edges of the screen, I used foldback clips right on the metal box.
![3082352]()
The string system:
If this were a perfect system, I would be able to use a single string to open all curtains at the same time, and another string to close all curtains at the same time. Unfortunately, that would require pulleys and all sorts of expensive parts to ease and distribute the tension on the strings (believe me, the tension does add up). Therefore, I decided to have strings to pull the curtains towards the middle of the room, and then more strings at the ends of the room to pull the curtains back to folded position. It works pretty well. I was lucky that my screen wall is not perfectly flat, and so I could pass a string behind the screen's metal box, and I always make sure to keep the string tightly against the wall while pulling.
Here's a scheme that shows the string system on 1 half (the other half is exactly the same):
![3082675]()
Red closes the curtains, green opens them. Red strings should be pulled both sides at the same time.
There are still many rough edges to improve, but I'm using this curtain system on a daily basis and it's very much worth it. The cost of the velvet + all the hardware was around $350; not bad for a room with about 12 square meters.
As for the fact that the velvet is not opaque, one possible solution is to add a layer of a cheaper and lightweight black fabric over the back side of the velvet.
![3082685]()
Actually, I'm considering a large sheet of thin black plastic, which is very cheap and lightweight compared to adding more fabric, but I still need to figure out how opaque it is, and how long it can last. As it is, it's difficult to understand how much light goes through the velvet a second time, after bouncing on the walls, and actually hits the screen. But, for now, I'll leave it be, because I'm very pleased with the results.
![3082672]()
![3082673]()
![3082674]()
If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave a comment.
P.S.: The photos didn't come out great, I had to over-expose most of them so that the velvet can be seen. I guess my old phone is not up to the task.
I've adapted my small living room/studio to be convertible into a dedicated home theater space, and I wanted to share a summary of the building process hoping that it might help those who, like me, can't afford an expensive dedicated home theater and want to keep their living room usable. The main idea for this build came from @Javs curtain system.
The previous room setup:
Before I installed the curtain system for the whole room, I had only about half the room covered in black.
The main goal was to stop nearby light reflections with something that could have some decorative value for the room. That's why I chose the hexagon panels for the ceiling. I used magnets glued to the ceiling to hold the panels, which were covered with cotton velvet.
The first panels were 3mm MDF, but they kept falling because the glue could not hold the weight (the magnets could hold as long they were not disturbed). Then I replaced the panels with a honeycomb structure cardboard. It was much better, but some magnets kept falling whenever the ceiling paint peeled a bit. Also, the pieces of velvet on the sides kept falling too on warmer days.
So, I decided to replace all this with a curtain system for the whole room: darker and sturdier, barely any maintenance required.
The current room setup:
I ordered 30 meters of polyester velvet from FabricLand.co.uk, after comparing samples. Their service is awfully slow and their shipping is too expensive, but they agreed to let me arrange pickup at my own expense. Being in Europe, I didn't have affordable options for triple black velvet. My velvet does a very good job against reflections from all angles, but unfortunately it's not opaque (more on this later).
I wanted all the hardware to be as cheap as possible (yes, I know the risks), so I bought 2 pieces of aluminum hollow rods 6,5 meters long each, then I cut them to 4 pieces about 2,5 meters each and stored the rest for a future project. The rods already had a pristine white finish, which was perfect for the room.
Installing the metal rods:
To hold the rods in place, I bolted to the walls 6 L shaped metal parts with rounded edges, and used 6 curved metal "braces" the same radius as the rods to lock the rods in. At the middle of the room, each pair of rods his held together by a wood cylinder that goes inside the ends of the rods. At the corners of the room, the rods are held by the "braces" directly.
So, here's the process: decide the height to hang the curtains from, find the middle point of the wall, bolt an L piece to the wall, lock the wood piece in place. Then, lock an L piece to the far end of each rod, place the other end over the wood piece, use a level ruler to level the rod on each side of the wall and bolt the corresponding L piece in place. It's recommended you use some scotch tape around the rods and the piece of wood to make sure they make a tight contact.
Installing the curtains:
The velvet came in 2 rolls of 15 meters, which had to be divided into 4 pieces 7,5 meter each. To have a good grip of the fabric, I used this inexpensive method:
1 bolt, 2 washer shims, 1 nut. As you'll see in the next image, I replaced 1 metal shim with 1 rounded metal plaque with 2 holes (to hold the wires).
The polyester fabric is impressively strong and won't rip despite the severe pressure from the tight metal around it.
After much trial and error (because I was worried about finding a balance between fabric tension and sagging), I figured out that the best way to hang the velvet is to just to spread it on the floor and install each grip according to the ideal measurements you want it to have, and then hang it using pieces of string to adjust tension the way it feels right. To make this kind of hanging easier, I replaced one of the metal shims with a metal. As for spacing between each grip, I used about 31cm. Regardless of the measurements you use, It's very important to be rigorous and consistent, otherwise the tensions of the fabric will be all over the place and it won't be easily moved along the rods. Start this process from the middle of the room, so that the remainder of the fabric can be used to cover the front wall around the screen (and the back wall too, if suits your space).
To make sure the curtains go over the ceiling lamp, I installed aluminum bars and bolted the fabric to them. You don't need to do this unless you also have a lamp in the way.
Each side of the curtain system has 2 pieces of velvet 7,5 meters each, and they're held together by more bolts and nuts, and some foldback clips too, on the ceiling area, and adhesive velcro on the wall area. I had a lot of velcro strips that came with the screen I installed on the bedroom, so I was lucky with that. I used a stapler to quickly attach the velcro strips to the edges of the velvet. I couldn't get black staples, so I painted them with a black marker.
To ease the weight on the whole curtain system and make it easier to move, I installed a wire from one end of the room to the other, and then used the bolt grips to hang the fabric to it.
You may now have noticed that this whole curtain system does not require any sewing and it's completely assembled from the back side of the velvet, which means no hardware will be seen from the inside of the curtain system.
More adhesive velcro and staples were used to attach the end of the velvet to the screen metal box. To close the velvet around the edges of the screen, I used foldback clips right on the metal box.
The string system:
If this were a perfect system, I would be able to use a single string to open all curtains at the same time, and another string to close all curtains at the same time. Unfortunately, that would require pulleys and all sorts of expensive parts to ease and distribute the tension on the strings (believe me, the tension does add up). Therefore, I decided to have strings to pull the curtains towards the middle of the room, and then more strings at the ends of the room to pull the curtains back to folded position. It works pretty well. I was lucky that my screen wall is not perfectly flat, and so I could pass a string behind the screen's metal box, and I always make sure to keep the string tightly against the wall while pulling.
Here's a scheme that shows the string system on 1 half (the other half is exactly the same):
Red closes the curtains, green opens them. Red strings should be pulled both sides at the same time.
There are still many rough edges to improve, but I'm using this curtain system on a daily basis and it's very much worth it. The cost of the velvet + all the hardware was around $350; not bad for a room with about 12 square meters.
As for the fact that the velvet is not opaque, one possible solution is to add a layer of a cheaper and lightweight black fabric over the back side of the velvet.
Actually, I'm considering a large sheet of thin black plastic, which is very cheap and lightweight compared to adding more fabric, but I still need to figure out how opaque it is, and how long it can last. As it is, it's difficult to understand how much light goes through the velvet a second time, after bouncing on the walls, and actually hits the screen. But, for now, I'll leave it be, because I'm very pleased with the results.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave a comment.
P.S.: The photos didn't come out great, I had to over-expose most of them so that the velvet can be seen. I guess my old phone is not up to the task.
