waf-tastic's cellar home cinema

[waf-tastic]

Well, there's been some progress on our cellar conversion, so I've put some info up on my site at http://www.stanleyroad.net/homecinema/. There are some before and during shots as well as the room plans and equipment list, plus some screen pics.

The bulk of the construction has been done - lifted the stone slabs and dug down a bit to put in a concrete floor, created a room within a room etc. Plasterers are in on Monday and lights and fittings should be done on Tuesday. I put cabling in for 6.1 sound and made my own component cables and couldn't resist a quick test of everything (albeit on the bare plasterboard) and it already looks and sounds great to me

Once the furnishings are in, will be really good.

I'll update the site as and when more work is done.

Rich.

[Jammyb]

nice work, nice site as well. I'd kill for a cellar! There are so few about these days.

[louishm]

looking good waf-tastic, i see your like me, couldn't wait to get the pj up and give it a try, keep us posted.

pretty much the same as my cellar (link below)

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by Jammyb

nice work, nice site as well. I'd kill for a cellar! There are so few about these days.

Thanks, i is nice to have a cellar - the extra rooms down there are handy too - but constantly doing work on the rest of the old house can be annoying

There's nowhere else in the house I could get away with a dedicated room - the wife insists that all of the family needs bedrooms, so the cellar was the only choice

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by louishm

looking good waf-tastic, i see your like me, couldn't wait to get the pj up and give it a try, keep us posted.

pretty much the same as my cellar (link below)

Yep - I got the PJ just after Christmas with the dvd player and it's been 'set up' in the bedroom until now.

I've seen your cinema before - I can't wait until I'm at the stage where I can be putting in the great finishing touches that you have. Hopefully not too long now!

[inzaman]

Excellent stuff just wait until its all done and you watch your first movie'athon down there

[waf-tastic]

Well, there's not been too much work done recently - still need to box in the central heating pipes, level up the floor in the hallway (stone slabs currently) and then paint the room and get a carpet fitted.

We watched our first full films yesterday - I-Robot and Ice age. The family loved the cinema effect big screen and 5.1 speaker set up - beats our tv by a mile! I have King Kong on pre-order so that will be the first 'new' film.

The 20th Century Fox intro went down really well too (see my site for a pic).

One thing I did notice is that after watching the film, the projector (Infocus screenplay 4805) makes the ceiling quite warm (the exhaust for the airflow is at the front of the projector and points at the ceiling which is only 10cm from the top of the projector. I haven't painted the ceiling yet but was wondering if there's likely to be any issues with this, like discolouration or anything?

Also, I hope to be getting a Sony VTX-8000 freeview box soon - need plenty of testing time before the World cup :-)

[shahedz]

not sure about discolouring the paint, how long do you think till its fully complete ?

[Jon Boy]

yay , i knew i'd find someone who used stud and track sooner or later! sooo much easier and cheaper than using timber! nice job mate

Jon

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by Jon Boy

yay , i knew i'd find someone who used stud and track sooner or later! sooo much easier and cheaper than using timber! nice job mate
Jon

I was surprised that more people don't seem to have used it. Went in very quickly and easily (a lot easier to carry down to the cellar too!)

I'm hoping to be finished by the end of the month, although I thought I'd be finished at the end of last month too

Bought some black Malung chairs from Ikea today. Wasn't convinced when I saw them online, but tried them out and they're really comfortable and recline too - great.

[waf-tastic]

I've finally got around to taking some pictures of the 'completed' cinema. Still got a few things to do (speaker stands for centre and rear speakers and tidying up the cables in the rack) but it's pretty much complete.

Comparing the before and after galleries at my website lets you see the change - pretty huge really!

I'm really pleased with how it turned out (it's not as light as the pics make it look with the flash on!) - DVDs look great, but I'm also impressed with the quality of the TV from the Freeview box. When you watch the in-car shots during an F1 grand prix for instance, you could be there! Car is larger than life size.

Many thanks have to go out to the people on the forum who answered questions along the way

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by waf-tastic

I've finally got around to taking some pictures of the 'completed' cinema

At last

Looks smart, i like the Star Wars poster down to the room, and the side room; the sweet counter should look excellent once its in

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by inzaman

At last

Looks smart, i like the Star Wars poster down to the room, and the side room; the sweet counter should look excellent once its in

Well - you know how it is - you get the cinema usable then you start to use it! It's taken an age to get the little bits finished (like having a curtain up instead of cardboard taped over the window )

I bought the posters ages ago and have just got around to framing them. I actually bought six, but when I realised how big they are, I don't have enough room for them all at once - I'll have to rotate them in the frames I have.

Oh, and in the pic of the star wars poster, it's the top of the wall that's at an angle, not the poster hung incorrectly. These old houses don't do straight walls..

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by waf-tastic

I'll have to rotate them in the frames I have

Thats what i do with mine, i just have three and rotate them every now and again; its actually nice to change the pictures now and again imo.

Originally Posted by waf-tastic

These old houses don't do straight walls..

Tell me about it, i thought it would be the wall. My cinema screen looks as though it is on the wall crooked but it is perfectly straight, it is actually the ceiling which is about 2 inch out

[IronGiant]

Sounds like my brother's house, there's something like 4" extra headroom at one side of his living room. The floor drops and the ceiling goes up so they had a great time deciding how to hang the curtains.

Great job on the cellar waf-tastic. Makes me wish I had one to convert, where's me shovel

Dave