Basement Home Theater (Makeover Ideas)
Basement Home Theater (Makeover Ideas)
Are you thinking of creating a basement home theater? If so, then this post is for you. I'll show you how we created our home theater, tell you what you need to know before you get started on your project, and a then step-by-step guide to create an epic space of your own.
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Basement Home Theater Idea
Our family recently decided to makeover our basement into a home theater room and let me just say, best decision ever. We have three kiddos ages 13, 9, and 7 and watching movies is one of our favorite family activities.
So, creating an epic home theater room was a no brainer for us. As my husband began to obsess over what TV and sound system to get, I instantly began to dream about the design of the room. When I began my search for inspiration most of what I found was masculine with not a lot of personality or style.
I had a vision in my mind of a room with a snack area and a bar, comfy theater chairs for the whole family, an awesome custom sign that made a statement in the room, and a wall of our favorite movie theater posters.
Plus, I wanted to create a room that matched the style of our entire house. I set out to create just that.
Basement Home Theater Seating
My husband and I are horrible at making decisions, so we debated on our home theater chairs for months. We went over whether we wanted a straight row of 5 or a row of 3 and 2 or something else that we didn’t even know about.
After searching and getting ideas. We finally found this theater seating from, 4 seating and we found out we could have it all.
We were able to get this set of theater chairs called the Seatcraft Sienna that could be configured into a row of 5 or a set of 3 and a set of 2. That way we can change the entire feel of the room whenever we get the urge.
They also have blue lights that you can turn on or off which gives a cool vibe. They have either electronic or manual recline options. We went with the manual so the kids couldn’t break them. It comes with removable trays for each seat and USB chargers in every chair.
Basement Home Theater Setup
These seats also have some add-ons that you can choose for a little extra money like a wine glass caddy, a tablet holder, reading light, neck pillow, a wireless charging phone mount and a wireless charging table tray.
The blue light glows from the bottom of the chair and the cupholder.
Theater Seating
MOVIE THEATER CHAIRS | FIND THEM HERE
Now I am going to talk about the tech stuff if you just want to see the design of the room you can skip this section. 😊
Projectors Vs. TVs for Basement Home Theater
Next, we had to decide whether to get a TV or get a screen with a projector. Projectors have gotten more affordable and a lot brighter over the last few years and TVs are now bigger, clearer and brighter than ever.
What we figured out is it just depends on what are the most important features for you.
Basement Home Theater Projector
If it is important for you to have a huge screen, then the most cost-effective choice is a projector. Affordable projection screens are about 100 to 120 inches. That size of a TV is going to be very expensive.
When deciding the size, it really depends on your room size. You'll be uncomfortable if you are sitting a foot away from an 85-inch TV. What we did was measured the length from our chairs to the TV and then googled how far to put a 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch TV.
TV for Home Theater
If the picture quality is the most important factor to you then a TV might be the best bet. The more light in a room the more brightness you’ll need so the picture doesn’t look washed out. TVs are great for brightness and contrast of picture.
Projectors are not known for having great brightness but if you go for a higher quality projector the brightness will improve and so will the price. If you don’t have a lot of natural light in your room, then this may not be a factor for you.
TVs are also better for resolution for example you can get an affordable 4K TV but a 4K projector would really cost you.
TV Vs. Projector Our Decision
Our decision was to go with a 75” Sony 4k Ultra HD Smart TV. We chose this one because the picture quality is very important to us, and we really like the brightness, contrast, and resolution of this model for the price.
Basement Home Theater TV
Basement Home Theater Speakers
Once you get your TV or projector next, it’s time for home theater speakers or a sound bar. If you have a TV, you can just use the speakers that came with it but if you really want that home theater experience then a sound system is a must.
It gives you that ultimate movie theater feel. Another trip to Best Buy so yeah, my husband was in heaven. Of course, we had to get a sound demo of all the speakers.
What I learned was it is all about your preference and what you are using it for. They are some that are better for video games, shows with a lot of dialogue or action movies.
Our Sound System Choice
Our choice for a sound bar was the Sony ST5000 7.1.2ch 800W Dolby Atmos Sound Bar with a wireless subwoofer. The ch in the 7.1.2ch stands for the Channel Hi-resolution.
We chose this one because it sounded amazing in the demos, we knew the Sony system would be compatible with our Sony TV and when price shopping the price of this sound bar was good for that high of resolution.
TV and Sound Bar for Home Theater
Below are our choices for TV and Sound Bar
TV & SOUND BAR | WHERE TO FIND
SONY 7.1.2ch 800w Dolby Atmos Sound Bar
Basement Home Theater Sign
Now that we got the electronics out of the way I can talk about the part I love the design. I knew that we needed to have a show stopping custom piece for the room that set it apart as a home theater.
That is when I began searching for the perfect custom sign for our home theater and I found it!
Custom Basement Home Theater Sign
I found this Etsy shop, Toe Fish Art where they create gorgeous custom signs for any room in your house. Side note I do love Etsy because you are supporting small business owners. This sign is printed on canvas but it looks like it is an old weathered metal sign.
This was exactly what I was looking for, so I contacted the shop owner, Jamie and began collaborating with her to create the perfect sign for our room.
Jamie started sending me proofs of what my sign would look like and even gave some new ideas to make it look better. She was so great to work with I highly recommend her shop.
There are several different sizes, and I went with the largest to get the impact that I wanted for the room.
HOME TEATER SIGN | FIND IT HERE
Creating a Basement Bar
I saw some basements on Pinterest with bar tables and chairs behind the couches. I fell in love with the idea of being able to sit at the bar and watch the screen too. So, we ended up creating a bar area behind our movie theater chairs.
This was one of our best ideas for the room and we use it all the time for family dinner and movie nights. It also works great to have friends over to sit and watch a game.
The bar tables were small, so we got two to create one long bar. Check out below the exact bar tables and bar stools that we got to re-create the look in your home theater.
Bar Stools and Bar Table
BAR TABLE & CHAIRS | WHERE TO FIND
BLUE GREEN LOW BACK METAL BAR STOOLS
Snack Bar for Basment Home Theater
This is definitely the kids’ favorite part of the room. I'll warn you; you'll have to have some rules about your snack area, or your kids will just constantly eat all the candy.
But the whole family loves how this turned out and it is perfect for family movie night for everyone to grab their favorite snack and sit down for the show.
Shelves for Snack Bar
We started the snack bar with these gorgeous custom shelves from The Heartland Wood Company. This is another Etsy shop. You can choose the color and the length of your shelves.
We chose grey and 36 inches. What I love about these is they're very easy to install the shop owner put a lot of thought into how to create something sturdy that you can easily install without a hassle.
I also love how thick they are, they look gorgeous in my opinion. If you love them too you can find them here.
Sign for Snack Bar
The snack bar sign is a custom wall decal that I got from Belvedere Designs. This shop has tons of colors and fonts to choose from and you customize what it says too. I ordered the “cutest” font in slate, and I love how it turned out.
You can order your own here. Next, we got little baskets and jars to put all the goodies in and added fun touches like cute popcorn containers.
Below check out where you can get everything to create your own little snack bar.
Snack Bar Accessories
SNACK BAR | WHERE TO FIND
ONE | SNACK BAR WALL DECAL
TWO | CUSTOM FLOATING SHELVES
THREE | METAL BASKET
FOUR | POPCORN CONTAINERS
FIVE | GLASS JARS
SIX | SWEDISH FISH
SEVEN | SOUR PATCH KIDS
EIGHT | PUB MIX
NINE | NUT & CHOCOLATE MIX
TEN | PARTY SIZE M & M’S
Movie Posters for Basement Home Theater
Another fun part of our room was picking out the movie theater posters. We did a family vote to choose which posters to get. Our top posters where all some of our family’s favorites.
You can find posters for any movie you can think of. So, make this part fun and take time to find all the movies you love!
You can see here that we lined the wall to the left of our movie theater chairs with our movie posters.
Movie Theater Posters
Below are some of our favorite movie theater posters and where you can get them.
MOVIE POSTERS | WHERE TO FIND
ONE | EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MOVIE POSTER
TWO | GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY MOVIE POSTER
THREE | ROCKY IV MOVIE POSTER
FOUR | AVENGERS INFINITY WAR POSTER
FIVE | STAR WARS THE RISE OF SKYWALKER POSTER
SIX | JURASSIC WORLD MOVIE POSTER
Accessories for Basement Home Theater
What I love about creating this room is we're always adding fun touches to the room. I found this cool exit sign that we placed pointing to our basement sliding door.
I also found this now showing sign at Hobby Lobby where we change it out to spell out the next movie that the family will be watching. Here is a chalkboard version. We had a lot of fun looking for movie theater accessories.
Basement Home Theater Accessories
Below are some of the best movie theater accessories and where to find them.
MOVIE THEATER FUN TOUCHES | WHERE TO FIND
ONE | NOW SHOWING CHALKBOARD SIGN
TWO | MOVIE CAT PILLOW
THREE | THEATER SIGN
FOUR | RETRO MOVIE THEATER EXIT SIGN
FIVE | MOVIE REEL CUTO OUT WALL DECAL
SIX | CINEMA CLAPBOARD PILLOW
SEVEN | 3 2 1 PRINTABLE ART
EIGHT | METAL MOVIE TICKET WALL DECOR
So, now I've shown you our entire basement home theater makeover. I hope you got some ideas to create an epic home theater in your own home. Feel free to save you favorite ideas to you Pinterest boards. To do that just click on the P on the top right and then choose your board.
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