I have been working on finishing half of our basement (the part that will be home to my theater area), and I am getting very close to being ready for paint. Yes, paint, no wall treatments... This is going to be a "shared" area in our basement and not dedicated to movies.

Anyway, our upstairs has trim that is "chestnut" colored oak, which is a very slightly red tinted oak color (not cherry color).

We thought about carrying that color through the basement, but maybe not.

My new speakers (M60s, VP150, QS8s) are Cherry colored, and the SVS sub is black. We want something that will be a nice color for every day use, looking good with the cherry speakers, and still be good for light control (not white).

I hope that this makes sense, but I have seen very few pictures of non-dedicated theaters, and even fewer with cherry colored speakers...

Thanks!

I know this will be a shared room, and your limited on what you can do, to make the boss happy Whatever you decide, at least make sure your Front Projection screen has a black border, velvet would be best. Better yet, if at all possible, at least on the back wall, try to go for a darker color behind where the screen will be used. This will make the screen appear to be floating in space if done correctly. Besides, a little contrast is nice...good luck and I am jealous as heck that your ahead of me on the remodeling, however, I have like 1500 Sq Ft. that I'm finishing, so thats my excuse

I can't speak from a decorating standpoint, but I'm always surprised at the number of home theaters that have walls with a strong color. All my edit suites are painted a neutral gray specifically because a viewers' eyesight will adjust to the prominant color in the room and influence the perceived accuracy of the monitor.

Picture your eyes adjusting to a very warm, yellow, sunlit room. When you look at a monitor with a particular color temp, that monitor is going to look "cool" or blue. Let your eyes adjust to a blue room, and the monitors' color will look warmer and redder.

Almost always, you need to make that good compromise in the color to meet the decorating needs...most non-HT theater buffs wouldn't want gray walls. But it might be worth mentioning in case you're looking into any "strong" or intense colors...