My New Home Theater

Lots of pictures below! 

I've built several home theaters at this point.  Each time I learn something new, I tweak the design a bit, I make it better.  My first "home theater" I put together in 2000 was just a projector on a shelf and it was on the white painted wall.  Then I built what I consider my first nice home theater in my home in Brighton, Michigan in a finished basement.  I built another in my two car garage in a home here in California.  This is my third and the fastest and I think, the nicest I have built.

I love having a home theater so much that every home I have ever lived in had to have a proper room that would work well for a home theater or I just wouldn't consider it.  I generally do all the work and design myself; though I have had help with electrical and flooring and Jodi helps with some of the design.  This home has a very large lower room with french doors leading to the deck and pool area in the back yard.  It has a nice pass through from the kitchen, allowing viewing of the theater from the kitchen.  It also came with a wet bar already built inside what would become the theater room.  

This view looking into the front living room and the kitchen/small dining room.

I first thought about putting the screen on the wall opposite the door.  This would allow me to leave the wood fireplace usable and available.  The problem was that it fails to take advantage of the awesome passthrough.  I loved the idea of being able to view the theater screen from our kitchen, this means covering the fireplace.  Also, the room is so long that putting it over the fireplace would mean we would have plenty of room for a craft/play area behind the theater couch.

I had about two weeks to build the theater in time for our move in date.  I decided I would cover up the fireplace because we have a firepit in the backyard and weren't likely to use the fireplace anyway.  I was also not particularly fond of the fireplace styling.  I took advantage of this in that I mounted the screen from the ceiling in front of the fireplace and left space behind the curtains for shelving and storage.  

I was able to reuse a couple of the black valances I made for my last theater.  I bought new hdmi cables to convert to the higher speed cables and prepare for a future 3D projector.  I used the same 120" fixed cinema grey screen, black out theater curtains, audio equipment, etc. from my last theater.  I purchased a thicker curtain rod with a modern look that curves to the wall so that the curtains would hug the wall and keep out the light.  Jodi added storage around the theater couch for art supplies and Ryan's toys.  

Jodi chose the colors of the walls in the theater.  The walls went from peach to a medium brown with a darker brown accent wall.  The wet bar received a face lift with an addition of a back shelf, black can light bevel, black faucet handles and light switch cover.  Thanks to my brother-in-law, contractor, Tim Hronis who really has an eye for colors.  Jodi and I added some color with green pillows and planters to wrap in the color of the wet bar.

The low sitting front entertainment center and Klipsch speakers blend into the curtains which gives the room a much cleaner feel.

I think the only thing I plan to do still is add a large 16 x 12 dark brown wool rug under the theater couch to give the room a more cozy, warm feel.

I'm really happy about how it turned out.  The final pictures.

The view below is from the small dining room table area.

Craft Area, looking into kitchen/dining area