I've got the green light to pretty much do whatever I want (as long as it is fairly good taste ) in re-doing our dining room into a home theater.

I'd like to do this right. I will be getting a projector, so would like to paint the walls a darker color, as well as the ceiling. I will control light with a combo of black out cellular shades and some drapes.

I went through the gallery and got some ideas, but would love to get more from you guys. I need specific color combos. THings you've seen/experienced that worked. Happy to get links to other sites for ideas as well.

The room itself is only 11'6" x 14'4" x 7'10". So I really do need to do something about the ceiling which is currently an off white.

Thanks!
Rich

I'm still a long way from the paint stage so I can't help much as we are going to have a tough time deciding ourselves. Luckily, there are some nice darker colors out there without going batcave black. I like many of them but my problem is that darker colors seem harder to match to me if you want to use two colors. I'm always a sucker for blue so I envision a dark blue for most but not for all 6 walls (floor, ceiling included). Can't quiet picture what will blend nicely with a real dark blue.

Whatever the color, common advice tends to be to stay away from gloss and high gloss finishes as they are more reflective, even when a darker shade.

Dark burgandy looks good and matches up well with other colors.

Rich,

A couple of links to some posts relative to my basement project and the paint thing:

The room and the wine/burgundy color

This link discusses the paint, primer and application process.

The key message is to NOT scrimp on the paint. Also, if you are going to choose a darker color, go to a LOCAL store that specializes in paint and talk to them for advice. It is likely that they will have a professional/experienced painter on staff.

Hmm, I had been thinking hard about the dark wine/burgandy thing but now it will seem like I'm conforming.

I don't have the room to build a dedicated theater yet, but I think the way I'd go is pick a theme based on a movie or game I like and do up a dark set of colors based on those. (off the top of my head, I'd probably pick colors based on a WW2 film. maybe a sort of home theater bunker)

Rich, you traitor!!

And where will the family eat, henceforth? Hmmm? I suppose you have an answer for that, mister smarty-projector-pants?

Red is a b!tch. Just no other way to say it. It can be done. It will take longer. You've been counseled.

No, wait, b!tch is the new black according to Tina Fey. Gawd, I am confused. So, maybe you DO want the red.

I think it was newf who had a really nice greenish-thing going on.

Frankly, I think we're going to need to see some pictures before I can consider "helping" you in earnest.

I am a traitor! This deal is almost as complicated as the one that brough Jason Kidd to the Mavericks.

Our main living area has a nice large sectional pointing at a 60" Sony RPTV. There's also a pool table in the room.

At the front of the house is a living area that you walk into when you enter the house, and off of that is the dining room. We use the dining room nightly, but that front room is so unused. OK, I lied, the dog sleeps there when we leave the house.

So here's the deal. We move the dining room table into the space where the pool table is in the main living area. That works because it all opens into the kitchen. I love to cook, and spend a great deal of time in the kitchen. So having our living, dining, and kitchen all flow together makes a lot of sense.

That means we move the pool table into that front room. It's sad, but we just don't use the pool table that much, but I can't part with it. But that room, via an archway, opens into what used to be the dining room, but will now be the Home Theater.

That dining room actually has a beautiful cerulean blue paint below the chair rail, and a very pale peach above, with some sort of off white ceiling. I'd love to keep the blue, but I haven't found any home theaters based on blue that I love.

Yes, red is a b*tch. My son requested that his room be painted red. It is a brilliant red. A red so brilliant that it took 6 coats, and only 1 of the painters offed themselve before they were done. We had good painters.

So where are we? Well, we spent a lot of time looking at paints today. I think that we will keep the chair rail, and below it paint in Sherwin Williams Plantation Brown, and above it paint it Messenger Bag green, and then go back to the brown for the ceiling. There is crown molding which will be an off-white to set it off. Coffee Brown velvet curtains (panels I guess, technically) will cover the windows. I really wanted to do a suede faux paint treatment, but our walls already have some orange peel texture which makes it difficult to do.

Need sleep. Will see if I can take some photos tomorrow so that all of this will make more sense.

Peace.
Rich

Okay, you convinced me. But what about the dog?

It sounds great, Rich. Really. You finally made the pieces fit!

Only one problem - Messenger Bag Green is an endangered color. You're in for a whole heapin' helpin' of EPA mitigation. Ironically, it's not Green to paint that particular green.

I am excited for you!

Dark blue with white trim works for me [img]http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1005497zz4.jpg]

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Rich I saw a very nice color combination over on the Audioholics site of somebody's room that I really like, just a little something to throw at you. Here's the link ... Somebody's Room.

ND-- Very nice room. I remember that bar and the light columns/fixtures very clearly from the first time you posted. I had the blue on the bottom, and I didn't want to turn it all that blue. I think all of your other touches help open that room up. In my 11' x 14' it was going to feel a little claustrophobic.

Rick, that is a nice room. I appreciate the link. And you better believe that my favorite SRV poster will be going into this new room.

I think we're going to stick with the two colors we picked out yesterday: plantation brown and messenger bag (green). We cut out a bunch of the tape on some sad joints, and are teaching ourselves how to tape & float. My wife and I are still married as of 6:40PM this evening. Actually, it's been a great experience, and she has been incredibly awesome in supporting this project.

More later.
Rich

When I try to imagine what kind of a room I could ever imagine having, Rick's setup is the one I lust after. I love everything about that room!

Mark--

It's funny since the room I was referring to was the one that Rick linked to, but I agree about Rick's own room. That is the first one that I picked and showed my wife as the kind of thing we could do. I love the colors and feel of Rick's room. It doesn't suck, like your room.

Rich

LOL!

Makes it awfully windy in Vermont...

Thank God I don't live there, then!

Hay thanks Mark and Rich. Mark believe it or not, your 'Mother Of All Post' thread was *the* one thread that gave me my very first ideas as to what I wanted to do with our room ... I still enjoy reading that post, maybe we should make a sticky from it.

Rich I believe the colors I (yessir that right, wifey gave me the sole go ahead on that project) picked would probably be best suited for a dedicated enclosed room rather than a great room type environment, which, from what I understand is more like what you're dealing with? That's the reason I linked the fellas pictures for you, because I thought maybe his colors could go great in any area of the house.

I've thought about changing the colors in our room several times because the rest of our house is painted in typical south Florida pastel'ish type colors and thought the room was a little strong but fortuneatly it is in a location where it is not visible to the rest of the house and every time I do think about painting it someone sees it for the first time and tells us they really like it and to not paint it.

Oh yea, aren't pictures a requirement here on the boards whenever rooms LIKE YOURS gets finished? I was thinking so.

I need to take some pictures of my room now that I have everything set up...what I ended up doing was painting the walls in a satin finish and then the ceiling in the same color but in flat....not much of an issue since I reversed course and went RPTV instead of a FP. Color we went with is called Sweet Georgia Brown - WAF was the key choice in color since it's "warmer"....I love it.

Time is wasting .... let's get it done!

Rick--

I wish it were a great room. It is our dining room, all 11' x 14' of it! So we're going with dark, but not cavelike, colors to maximize the projector experience, as well as provide a nice relaxing, tranquil place to listen in 2 channels as well.

I took some before photos. It is a mess now, but there's no going back. I think we'll be done by 3/15. I promise to take more photos and post when we're done (or close enough!).

Thanks for everyone's support.

Rich