Room Treatment compromise.. would this work?

kenshingintoki

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Hi guys.

I'm planning out decor for a new room. I am obviously looking to go PJ but I don't want to aggressively treat a room with velvet as sadly I want the HT to be downstairs and somewhat stylish.

As much as I've love a dedicated room totally blacked out, I also kind of value aesthetics.

As a compromise, I already have a 110'' ALR screen Draper react 3.0 to rock. However, at the same time, I don't want to throw PQ to the wolves.



Would a room treatment something like these guys have done for their library work very well? I REALLY like it at first glance, especially with the dark wood panels on the walls which I'd happily like on the ceiling. Flooring wise, I'm undecided whether to go for a dark stone like granite or wood like they've done for that bit of contrast.

Any thoughts please?
 
Love the room, if you can put a little velvet near the screen, a dark colour similar to the wall would be cool
 
@kenshingintoki I’ve gone for black paint throughout the room I use my projector in, with a black rug which totally eliminates light spill into the floor. It works really well and while I appreciate the improvement I’d get from using black felt, I would be left with a room that everyone but me hated / would not be a selling point if we ever moved house, so I’m quite pleased to make what is probably a pretty minor compromise. Having said that, I doubt black paint is a great seller either! But it was much easier and cheaper to do than all the felt. The rug, which cost under £100, made an enormous difference to black levels. I get barely any light spill onto the ceiling, possibly because it rolls off from where the screen is rather than being like a normal horizontal ceiling, which was a nice side effect!

Good luck with it
 
Thank you guys.

Would black granite flooring work? Might help with the sound of the room too?
 
Thank you guys.

Would black granite flooring work? Might help with the sound of the room too?

I think that while you may well be right on sound, you’ll get a lot of light reflection from that. I’d just put a black rug on top of whatever floor you like the look of, then you can remove it if you don’t need it at any point
 
Thank you guys.

Would black granite flooring work? Might help with the sound of the room too?

No mate, that would be a disaster for both audio and video.

It’s very reflective, so sound with bounce all over the place and you’ll be able to see a reflection of your image on the floor!!

Think of big, thick and fluffy stuff as good for home cinema and hard, shiny and reflective as really bad.
 
@mb3195 Would the sound be a lot worse? Presumably it’s bouncing off all the walls anyway. I’ve no idea, I’m just interested! Cheers
 
@mb3195 Would the sound be a lot worse? Presumably it’s bouncing off all the walls anyway. I’ve no idea, I’m just interested! Cheers

Yes, definitely.

Normally floors aren’t a major issue as they are carpeted in cinema rooms, so people then only worry about ceilings and walls.

My open plan living room for example is tiled floors, bifold doors, etc. Sound is awful in this room, I keep turning the volume up and still can’t hear what’s going on!! 🤣
 
If it has regular full high walls then why not go with full high curtains down either side wall of the screen than you can pull closed when watching a movie and open fully when not. Flooring is as big an issue as ceiling for reflection so think of it the same way, if you are going for a hard floor surface then get a big rug to kill the light and sound reflection, your ceiling paint choice doesn’t have to be black if you have went ALR but of course you will still see the reflective light on the ceiling which picking a darker colour will help dampen the effect.

I think the curtains are the best method for keeping a room as dual purpose and normal looking without compromising on picture performance and you don’t have to go for black curtain material, red, blue, green of darker hues will all service the purpose.
 
I am having the same "discussion" with my better half. A projector in the lounge but it can't be a bat cave. She has relented and says I can have the darkest white!

Hopefully we can find a compromise with something a bit darker, with some colour but acts as a lounge during none film time.

Maybe a thread on.... post your non bat cave pictures. To offer inspiration to others and find out how much you can compromise until you can get 130 inch TV for a grand.
 
No mate, that would be a disaster for both audio and video.

It’s very reflective, so sound with bounce all over the place and you’ll be able to see a reflection of your image on the floor!!

Think of big, thick and fluffy stuff as good for home cinema and hard, shiny and reflective as really bad.


Thanks Mark. So for this room I'll be better off with some Dark brown wooden floor and a black rug for around the projector?

Do you think that'd do?

The wood panelling idea I thought for one side of the room would look quite cool just to add a bit of texture to the entire space.
 
I am having the same "discussion" with my better half. A projector in the lounge but it can't be a bat cave. She has relented and says I can have the darkest white!

Hopefully we can find a compromise with something a bit darker, with some colour but acts as a lounge during none film time.

Maybe a thread on.... post your non bat cave pictures. To offer inspiration to others and find out how much you can compromise until you can get 130 inch TV for a grand.


TBH I have no other half.. I just don't want to dedicate an entire room downstairs to it just being a batcave as I kind of want a bit of flow to the house. It definitely given me food for thought now on how I should proceed...
 
Love the room, if you can put a little velvet near the screen, a dark colour similar to the wall would be cool


i am thinking of legit just copying that room (but a longer version, and have the window on the site) and use the bookcase as a place to put the projector if I can be deep enough.

.. or maybe ditch the book case since I really don't have many books. Argh.. this is so hard!
 
I’d like a book case if it was well designed to hide cables and be rigid I had a really nice one made in another room to hold vinyl records and books, looks great. I’ve always wanted a room that combined dark rich blues and dark brown old leathers
 
i am thinking of legit just copying that room (but a longer version, and have the window on the site) and use the bookcase as a place to put the projector if I can be deep enough.

.. or maybe ditch the book case since I really don't have many books. Argh.. this is so hard!

I watch all these zoom calls with bookcases in the background and "strategically placed" books on show. I dont think putting my single kindle on a shelf has the same effect. I could borrow the missus, maybe a pair of kindles would look better.
 
I watch all these zoom calls with bookcases in the background and "strategically placed" books on show. I dont think putting my single kindle on a shelf has the same effect. I could borrow the missus, maybe a pair of kindles would look better.

I think I'd struggle to even find a book in my house 😂 😂

Okay maybe scrap the book case idea and I'll make it a display shelf... or maybe a fancy equipment shelf. But I do prefer the equipment in the centre of the room so I can see the display for the AVR and play from my PC VR games on the rare occasion I want to.
 
If it has regular full high walls then why not go with full high curtains down either side wall of the screen than you can pull closed when watching a movie and open fully when not. Flooring is as big an issue as ceiling for reflection so think of it the same way, if you are going for a hard floor surface then get a big rug to kill the light and sound reflection, your ceiling paint choice doesn’t have to be black if you have went ALR but of course you will still see the reflective light on the ceiling which picking a darker colour will help dampen the effect.

I think the curtains are the best method for keeping a room as dual purpose and normal looking without compromising on picture performance and you don’t have to go for black curtain material, red, blue, green of darker hues will all service the purpose.


Sorry I missed this post! Excellent idea. Full high curtains are definitely a good shout and something I need to definitely consider.

Do you know of a good looking rug? Does it just need to be black? I don't mind having a rug (or maybe even carpet near the projector and seating area as it makes sense I guess. Maybe I can have the opening to the room wood and when seating starts, just carpet it or better yet, find a nice rug?
 
Sorry I missed this post! Excellent idea. Full high curtains are definitely a good shout and something I need to definitely consider.

Do you know of a good looking rug? Does it just need to be black? I don't mind having a rug (or maybe even carpet near the projector and seating area as it makes sense I guess. Maybe I can have the opening to the room wood and when seating starts, just carpet it or better yet, find a nice rug?

The whole argument for black isn’t as much that it’s the best choice from improving the blacks but it creates a black hole where all you see is the screen rather than reflection that distract you.

Can’t remember who said it to me but that discussion of wall covering came up and the preferred colour apart from black was either dark green or dark blue as both choices work well.
 
A library at the back would work well, because all the books will provide good diffusion.

:facepalm:


ok so I'l have to buy some books ;) :D


The whole argument for black isn’t as much that it’s the best choice from improving the blacks but it creates a black hole where all you see is the screen rather than reflection that distract you.

Can’t remember who said it to me but that discussion of wall covering came up and the preferred colour apart from black was either dark green or dark blue as both choices work well.


Oh wow interesting!! I think I still prefer the colour black TBH to dark green or dark blue for a living room. Do you think the decor shown in that video would work well for a HT Room in terms of improving contrast? Nearer the screen I can do a few more extreme measures (like black rug etc.
 
Do you think the decor shown in that video would work well for a HT Room in terms of improving contrast? Nearer the screen I can do a few more extreme measures (like black rug etc.
That room had some dark decor, so yeah it should be good. The most important will be the few inches around the screen, to give the screen some pop, and then everything you can do towards the screen (ceiling, walls, floor) will help. Curtains down the side wall are an obvious solution, as it can be nice and livingroomy when the curtains are out of the way. Mark has a dedicated room, but he still chooses to use curtains. You can even have the curtains go across the ceiling (there's a good youtube video where people did just that, with curtains on the side and ceiling). A darkish floor and a black rug for just in front of the screen is a decent option.
 
That room had some dark decor, so yeah it should be good. The most important will be the few inches around the screen, to give the screen some pop, and then everything you can do towards the screen (ceiling, walls, floor) will help. Curtains down the side wall are an obvious solution, as it can be nice and livingroomy when the curtains are out of the way. Mark has a dedicated room, but he still chooses to use curtains. You can even have the curtains go across the ceiling (there's a good youtube video where people did just that, with curtains on the side and ceiling). A darkish floor and a black rug for just in front of the screen is a decent option.

Thank you: what colours and treatments should I be looking at around the screen?

this will potentially be the third seating/living room area in the house so I don’t mind compromising the room a little as I do like the dark moody look for one room for a bit of contrast
 

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