[DADnLAD]

Ok guys where do i start
Ive been keeping a close eye on these forums for nearly a year now and there has been some great threads about, great ideas and some awesome final results, this forum is a grat place to get advise, solve problems butbest of all copy ideas

Right back to me, Ive got home cinema in my blood just like u lot, since owning my 1st pioneer laserdisc 2950, moving onto a pioneer 909 dvd combi and people telling me them little cd`s that play movies will never take off, to buying my 1st pro logic amp, speakers then dolby digi amp, 29" tv 36£ widescreen then moving to a 50" plasma, the rest is history, i`d hate to think how much money ive spent over the years but the experience has been worth it, and best of all i still own every bit of kit i bought as i just couldnt get rid of it, my loft is like memory lane
and the same goes for games consoles, u name it ive got the lot from my very 1st atari to 2 360`s and a ps3

its a good job ive got a very understanding wife, i spend hundreds on gadgets, she is happy with a new pair of shoes

after all this time the only thing i didnt have was my very own cinema room

so 2 years ago when our 3rd and final child arrived, the wife says to me i think we should look at extending and put another bedroom on top of the garage
All i could think about was having my own cinema room downstairs and why the fact didnt i think of that,
i mean come on how many people these days actually put their cars away at night in a garage, from my experience all that my garage was used for was storing old paint tins, garden stuff and bikes

so that was that, Cinema room for me and an extra bedroom for the wife and she was told from the start that she could choose the bedroom funiture for the little one as i would be picking a projector for me

the plans for the room were to be 3.5m wide x 5.5m long this was as big as i could go as the width was on my boundry and the length was cut short due to the utility room at the back
the only downside was that where my main screen and plasma will be ill have a door either side, so out goes the idea of a fixed screen, but u cant have everything

This will be the main wall where my pioneer 50" will take place

Rear of the room where ill be keeping all my av gear and htpc set up

and front again but this time with screen down

all colour schemes have now changed as you will see later

after all the plans were approved we started with the knock down

The labourer came cheap at £5 a day

Then it was time for the brick work to start

Damp Course down

Concrete Floor down

as you lot see the thread grow you might notice the time scale
from the picture taken of removing the garage roof was 1st June 08, so nearly a year
the reason being there is no time scale as im doing everything myself, and i mean everything except for the brick work, the roof, plaster, electrics, tiling, flooring, painting everything, only thing is i only get 3hrs a night and weekends, so its taken bloody ages to get through but is saving me a fortune and as im a bit fussy with i try to get everything perfect and at the end of the day i can stand back and say i done that
so here is a pic before and after of the finally brickwork

From this

To this

Inside Cinema room

[DADnLAD]

I had been toying with the ideas for the colour of the walls for weeks, browns, creams, greys it was doing my head in, i wanted to create a room that looked good but also make you feel as though you were in a cinema room

i wanted the room to be as dark as possible and was really looking at having a black ceiling with spots but if it didnt turn out good id have been painting white emulsion for weeks

i loved the concept of floating walls all you guys had pulled off with the rope light even the missus like the final outcomes but it was out of the question for me as i had a door either side of my tv,
then i thought to myself i wonder if i can pull off a floating ceiling or as it is a hanging ceiling with rope light etc etc
i could then have the ceiling black and a different colour around the sides,
so off i went to b&q and stacked up on 3x2
by now i had started on the walls with dot & dab but as the weeks got on and more posts i read i came acroos the idea of having a recess section under the plasma to house my center speaker, as my system consists of 7 kef eggs 1 concrete block was gonna be enough so out it came

doubled boards on the ceiling to help with the acoustics

i fastened a spare piece of MDF to the wall then mounted my plasma backet to this as well as bolts i dont think this baby will be fallen off

[DADnLAD]

Frame for the ceiling started

1st lot of boards going on

Ill be having 3 spots down the side of each wall these will be close to the wall to get the effect of the light on the side wall, under these i will be planning on putting some kind of framed movie poster

then the slots cut out of the ceiling for the screen

The electric screen ive got planned for the room is made by rollfix, it was the only one at the time i could find that had a recessed housing, i didnt want to see the case and with this one being flush with the ceiling was ideal

One last shot of the ceiling frame before i fit the rope light

[bluesilver]

fantastic effort. I'm sure it will look stunning.

why didn't you put a projector on the side wall and beam it onto the other side? Your width is the same as mine and it's absolutely perfect for a 100" screen.......you get the impression of life size with most films and games and even my wife (who hated the idea of a projector and thought it would be way too big) absolutely loves it. She wants to watch tv on it every night!

[Franco50]

Lots of hard work - well done. Looking forward to future updates. I'm also a tad jealous you have a Focus ST sitting in your drive!

I take it that green contraption under your TV mount is not going to be your AV rack as it looks like the pet rabbit has taken up residence.

[SG-22]

Wow looks like this is going to be a great room! Cant wait to see the finished pics

[albriscoe]

Hi

thats an awful lot of work for one bloke but you`ve definatley got top side of it now. Its looking like everythings going to plan as well so should look great when its all done and dusted.

I like the idea of the floating ceiling should look brilliant and looking forward to the pics of that.

I hope you`ve gone for underfloor heating if only to keep the rabbits toes warm

Anyway a big to you and looking forward to the next instalment.

Al

[geo99]

good work and good luck mate!

i'll be watching with interest!

Geo99

[Max Payne]

Now this is one to keep an eye on - looks brilliant mate!

Some great progress so far, look forward to seeing more pics

[Owen824]

nice one, will be keeping an eye on this for any ideas for my places.

[Kenny Glasgow]

Looking good although I think you are a bit generous with the £5 per hour

[DADnLAD]

cheers guys for all the positive comments got another full day ahead to get some finishing touches

bluesilver:

this took some deciding as the original plan was to be sitting width wise, as i had no intention of getting a projector at the start and was really happy with my pio 50", but after reading all these threads on here and seeing the final outcomes i thought damn it i got to get a screen, then came the problem of the speaker set up,i needed to have the speakers set up for
1: everyday use, wathing tv, playing games and movies for the kids on the plasma and
2: big screen down for the full cinema effect
so the option i chose was to design the room where i have my pioneer and a screen to drop down in front

Franco:

cheers mate she is a beaut, just got her up to 270bhp few more mods later this year will take her to 300 but money is a bit tight at the mo

Al:

no underfloor heating im afraid just didnt fit into my budget, i did put 150mm of insulation down before the concrete went down and over the winter period i was quite suprised at how warn the room was,
i might later regret that descision but hopefully not,

as for the rabbits, thats woman for u... over xmas she insisted that we bring them inside as its far to cold outside for them she said....

Kenny:

dont know if u mis read that one but he was on a fiver a day and after reading this last night he tells me i still havnt paid him for it, i should have kept that one quiet

ill get some more pics up later today

cheers guys

[Franco50]

Originally Posted by DADnLAD

Franco: cheers mate she is a beaut, just got her up to 270bhp few more mods later this year will take her to 300 but money is a bit tight at the mo

You lucky guy! Kind a puts my 115bhp Zetec 1.6 in the shade.

[Suggers]

Just adding my encouragement - espec the floating ceiling - gonna be fab.
I guess those are sketch-up drawings at the beginning ? They're terrific. Have seen quite a few pro-looking drawings on this forum. Have only just downloaded the prog, and finding it quite daunting. Am finding inputting dimensions with the tape measure well tricky. Any tips? Is it gonna take me hours to get to your standard?
Cheers, Mark.
ps - just had my 2 nephews over (14 & 17 yrs) - 5 hrs outside jobs - 10 quid each and lunch. Have I been fleeced !!

[DADnLAD]

"the floating ceiling"
any one attempting one of these make sure your frame can withstand the weight i used 4 x 18mm 2400mm x 1220mm MDF boards and couldnt believe the weight of these things
and getting the 4 of them to line up correctly was a nightmare, we had them up and down 4 times but it was worth it in the end

i got some aluminium tape from work and stuck it on the underside of the MDF just to help to refect more light
dont know if it help as i never had the ceiling up without it on

Nice little glow

now on with the filling of all the screw holes and edges
all i used was a product called sheetrock from CCF
its a bit like polyfiller but 100% better, once applied leave 24 hrs and sand down, it does shrink a little so had to do the full job twice but ive never had any cracks, the sheetrock is the same stuff i used to fill the tapered plaster boared, they came out perfect.

then the MDF sealer, dropped a right bollock with this one, looked eveywhere for MDF sealer but the guy from B&Q assured me this was ok, only thing he didnt tell me was that id have to apply 5 coats of matt paint to get it looking good

Final shot of sealed ceiling next is to white matt then matt with crowns little black dress
as i said earlier i wanted a black ceiling but didnt want to spoil the room by painting the whole ceiling black then regretting it later,
we finally chose to do the main wall this colour too with the other 3 surrounding walls crowns crimson kiss

[discuit]

Looking forward to watching this progress. I have my own project coming up in the next 6 months. A Garage Conversion..

[bluesilver]

[QUOTE=DADnLAD;7034176]

cheers guys for all the positive comments got another full day ahead to get some finishing touches

bluesilver:

this took some deciding as the original plan was to be sitting width wise, as i had no intention of getting a projector at the start and was really happy with my pio 50", but after reading all these threads on here and seeing the final outcomes i thought damn it i got to get a screen, then came the problem of the speaker set up,i needed to have the speakers set up for
1: everyday use, wathing tv, playing games and movies for the kids on the plasma and
2: big screen down for the full cinema effect
so the option i chose was to design the room where i have my pioneer and a screen to drop down in front

Yeah, I can see what you mean. We had the same issue when we had the projector in our main lounge - you either have your surround system for your tv OR your projector, not both.
Well either way, I'm sure your room is going to look absolutely stunning and I cannot say how impressed I am at you doing so much yourself. Just keep thinking how great it will look when it's done and how much fun you'll all have in it!

[albriscoe]

My advice when going into B&Q and such stores is only go in for what you need and don`t ask anyone anything regarding DIY

They`re all programmed in a such a way to tell you a load of bunkem if it gets a sale

Anyway matey its looking great but I bet the MDF ceiling boards didn`t weigh half as much as the plaster board with all them dabs on it

Al

[Ruudfood]

Can you tell me where the 2 doors lead to? I mean, couldn't you have sealed one up and put an opening in the other room?

[KobeoneHD]

[quote=albriscoe;7039227]My advice when going into B&Q and such stores is only go in for what you need and don`t ask anyone anything regarding DIY

They`re all programmed in a such a way to tell you a load of bunkem if it gets a sale

Not all of us are programmed that way Al!! Ha Ha I only try and get them to build a home cinema.

No seriously B&Q is a great place to buy all the bits we need for our HC's and its even better with staff discount .

Ill be watching this one closely as its what idream of doing when we move.

Keep up the good work

KobeoneHD

[chelsea.tone]

(thats all really )

Tony

[DADnLAD]

hi guys

al: i think i went a bit OTT with the dabs, i started off with about 15 bags of adhesive and they soon disappeared, will know better next time

Ruud: the 2 doors are

1- entry to my cinema room from my uliity

2- i used this room as a dvd store before i knocked the garage down and decided to keep it the same way
the room if u can call it that measures 1m wide x 3m long,
and since i have over 1000 dvds i just used to have shelfs either side to store them, i also have a pc setup in here for downloads and the kids to mess around on, saves them getting their hands on my HTPC that ill be setting up
the idea for my cinema room was to try to keep it tidy and free from dvds and games all over the place
these pics will give u the idea

Sketch shot on the dvd store

Aerial shot of the utility

DVD Storage

Ulitity 90% finished, check out the tiles. a big thanks to Mr & Mrs Albriscoe for these, saved me hours searching local tile shops for something to keep the missus happy, and more time to spend on the room

right back to the room got alot of progress last week so here we go

90% finished ceiling

The sockets either side of window, im glad i seeked advice from fellow av-holics and decided to run a seperate ring main just for the back of this room, luckly enough i had a spare place in my main circuit board

Sockets to the right of window these will mainly be for pc stuff ie: printer, hard drives, retro games consoles

Sockets to the left where the main bulk of my AV will be housed,

Catch u later..

[shynsingh]

Hi, this looks really good, can't wait to see the end product.

[Franco50]

Impressive stuff - and that is some DVD collection. How many are there? I tried counting one shelf but kept losing track. Glad to see you have them in alphabetical order too!

[albriscoe]

Hi D

its looking great, I like the Dvd storage room as well thats a good idea and I might add that you could well be putting the HTPC in there as well due to fan noise probs, we`ll have to wait and see.

Anyway the photo`s are great and I like the lighting

Al

[fredd500]

Looks good so far and can't wait to see the finished room.

Looks like you have a rack or cabinet of some description in there right? If you have, did you consider the option of running a mains circuit up to a single 16amp or 32amp commando connector and just installing a rack mounted PDU? Seems easier to me, particularly if you ever need more sockets

Not particularly pretty I grant you (being as 240v would always be predominantly blue), but behind a rack it wouldn't have to be noticeable.

[geo99]

Any other updates yet mate?

[DADnLAD]

give me a couple of days to get pics sorted
just adding some finishing touches, had the final coat of paint, floor been tiled and carpeted,
units in place, new sofa coming on july 16th so still a few weeks away

[jolly]

What a transformation, love the colours and the lights shining on the side walls really look the business

[dodfaefife]

Superb thread DADnLAD! Definitely one to watch here. Also very jealous of all that lovely DVD storage space. You planning on ripping all those DVDs onto your HTPC?

I had the 2950 and still have the 909, might even hook it back up (if I ever finish my build).

Looking forward to seeing the kit go in.