Hi Capn Pickard:
So we painted our basement theater room a dark purplish color on all the walls, with a lighter purple color on the ceiling, and then an even lighter purple color on the walls of the stairs leading down to the room (the stairs are behind all the seating). I basically got paint cards and found the first dark color I liked and just went up the progression from dark to light on the card. The colors look really nice and rich and it makes a huge difference when we watch a movie (we have a 100" Elite screen - 1.1. gain I think, with a Panny PTAX200U). Previous to this color everything was white and the glare was quite harsh. Now the image just pops off the screen. Painting the ceiling helped a lot too, but we deliberately didn't go as dark for fear of making the room seem way too small (our room is 21.5' x 12.5' x 7').
On the type of paint - we chose Benjamin Moore Aura after seeing some good reviews, including one off of a person's post here at the forums. No joke, one coat did it, no primer, that's it. And it goes on so beautifully and the odor is very minimal - we loved using the paint. I'm sure if we had to go over a darker color then a primer and/or multiple coats may have been warranted.
Hope this helps.
