[skablaw]

I've let color selection become a persistent excuse for not finishing my dedicated home theater room, and I'm willing to concede that I need a little advice on this one so I thought I'd come to the experts for opinions.


If I were choosing paint colors, and had no concern for their impact on a projected image, I would be coating the walls in a very deep, extremely dark burgundy and the ceiling I would paint a burnt golden brown. I have track lighting in an antiqued bronze finish and floors covered in huge oriental rugs with a lot of red and gold in them so I thought I'd maintain a thematic palette throughout.


My primary concern is whether or not these color choices will introduce a noticeable shift in hue on screen due to reflected light from the walls and ceiling. Of course I'll be using flat paint, and my hope is that the red will be so dark as to introduce very little reflection, but I once had a red living room, and I will have to say that with the lights on it gave everything, especially the appearance of a person's skin, a ruddy cast.


Has anyone attempted a similar aesthetic in their room, and what are the general thoughts on such a color scheme? I could go with something more neutral, like varying shades of brown, if dark red would be too disruptive, but I'd love to give the space some real "old world" charm with burgundy and gold. Virtually all of my furniture, including the accent pieces in the theater room, are of the American Empire style, so it would be nice to have a visually cohesive environment. I'm not sure the tables and bookshelves would seem quite as home in a dull-gray room with a black ceiling.

 

[judsonp]

personally I think those colors would be great. The dark red is a popular color for a theater and I have seen it many times on this forum. The ceiling color depending on how dark it is sounds pretty good too. The bigger issue is usally colors that are too light which might cause some reflection off the screen making the image washed out a bit. Some are bothered by this more than others and only you can decide what balance between appearance and performance you require. Have you looked at some of the build threads to see what others are using?


Any pictures so far?

 

[Onewolf]

A think the amount of adverse light reflection would be relative to how close the side walls and ceiling are to the screen. The farther away they are the less problem with reflections. With that being said, I opted for a flat black ceiling and neutral gray walls because the top of my screen is less than 12" below the ceiling and the room isn't very wide and I wanted the BEST possible picture at the expense of 'decor'.


However dark burgundy and an earth tone ceiling would be a nice combo. Much nicer than RED. From your subject I was assuming you were thinking like FIRE ENGINE RED which some people around here have chosen for a theater room. YIKES! I can't imagine ever having a fire engine red room for anything. "Redrum Redrum"