Cheer up Dark cinema room?

Doctor Smith

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I know due to practicality a dedicated cinema room needs to be dark. But once we've watched a movie we immediately go back downstairs due to the room being so drab. So can any recommend anything to make to room more appealing, which won't affect the projectors black levels? Decorations, knick knacks etc

Here is my room Munchkin Cinema room
 
Put some led strips around sound panels and maybe some black and white prints or minimal coloured prints over sound panels, there's a few places that make them.
 
Immediately watch another film?

I don’t think there is anyway to make a dedicated room a social space not least because you can’t easily talk to each other on a straight row.

That’s why I have a hybrid room so we can lounge about afterwards.

Some people print art on acoustic panels but frankly most of these rooms are too dark to appreciate it.

Either go for a social hybrid room or a total ‘performance is all and damn the ambience’ batcave.
 
I think you can add pictures if they are toward the back of the room, they look great on dark velvet
I also use GIK panels with dispersion covers look nice to my eyes. A friend thought they were funky radiators !

87808126-D602-40B9-941E-57716606AD87.jpeg

Cinema Room Sep21.jpg
 
Paint one or two or more of the walls in a lighter colour and use black curtains insteads
 
You could try fitting a coving around the ceiling and fit down spots and a coloured led strip inside.
A curved sofa if it will fit ,so you can chat.
Then turn it off when using the projector
 

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Regarding your expectations and what to you hope to achieve. Will you still want to view TV, Film on the projector or will you be using the room for other things

As we all know light it the enemy of any projector, but placing warm glow led lighting which also offers a dimmable option at the rear of the room is one easy way to brighten up the room without upsetting the the brightness to much at the front end. You could also increase the brightness of the projector when your done watching the main event.

As for décor, pictures are one way to go, also see if your local cinema has any of the blockbuster billboards which you can obtain, these are always cool to have on the walls and will certainly brighten the experience in the room
 
Hey, when i built my room i wanted it to also be a nice place to spend time in as i also have my gaming setup at the back, i made one of the red panels removable so i can let light in as and when needed. Im really happy with the space and i spend a lot of time in there movies or not.
Colours play a massive part in how the room will feel, i settled on red and it does add warmth.
 

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I know due to practicality a dedicated cinema room needs to be dark. But once we've watched a movie we immediately go back downstairs due to the room being so drab. So can any recommend anything to make to room more appealing, which won't affect the projectors black levels? Decorations, knick knacks etc

Here is my room Munchkin Cinema room
I know due to practicality a dedicated cinema room needs to be dark. But once we've watched a movie we immediately go back downstairs due to the room being so drab. So can any recommend anything to make to room more appealing, which won't affect the projectors black levels? Decorations, knick knacks etc

Here is my room Munchkin Cinema room


This is the front of my theatre. I built both front sky and rear acoustic broadband velocity absorption panels. My poor man’s theatre is always in a state of flux. Marantz receiver, 4 Paradigm subs, a mix of Kef, Polk and Klipsch speakers, 4 HD Sony region-free Blu-ray players .
 

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Paint one or two or more of the walls in a lighter colour and use black curtains insteads
Basically this, but if you've got black curtains, the walls behind can be a bit more fun that just a light colour. Either bolder colours, or nice film posters or nice fun artwork, like pop-art, or abstract art. The sort of thing you'd see on the walls of an Ivy restaurant, that's fun.

You can always project fun artwork onto the screen too.

An alternative would be having TV panels used as poster displays etc. Also ideally behind curtains.

An issue could still be the orientation of the seats, and I'm not sure you've got room to add others.

My room is going to have the same issue, so I plan for us to just retire to adjacent room straight after.
 
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