Creating Your Home Movie Theater

With everyone shut up indoors and at home, our daily lives and routines have shifted. Where we used to look forward to new releases in the theaters every Friday, now we might get a new release dropping on Netflix over the weekend.  This time on the Budget Blinds Blog, how to create your own movie theater at home!

Your Home Movie Theater

There are plenty of guides out there to walk you through actually building your own theater, and while those are great, it’s a bit outside our scope. We’re not looking at building new rooms, framing walls, and running new wiring, no! This is a stripped-down, simple approach, only the absolute necessities to make any room into a home theater.

What You Need

• Somewhere to sit

• Something to watch

• Someplace dark!

Somewhere to Sit

No doubt you already have a great couch or sectional to use and, unless you’re looking at some of the higher-end theaters, it likely already worlds more comfortable than traditional seats. If you want to upgrade, look at getting automated reclining sofas, just make sure they have a cupholder!

Something to Watch

TVs are becoming more and more impressive (and cheaper to produce!) every year so getting a great setup has never been easier. Here’s a handy guide to find the right size TV for your room. For the true theater experience though, you gotta go big! That means only one thing: a projector! For the same cost (or less) than most big screen, 4k TVs you can get a projector to turn your entire wall into the screen. Here are a few guides on the best projectors depending on budget and purpose.

Don’t forget the right sound set up! Half the theater experience is feeling the rumble in your chair! This is especially critical if you’re using a projector. You can go as simple or extreme as you like using a soundbar or a full 7.1 surround sound setup.

Making it Theater Dark

Alright, now we’re talking. This happens to be our area of expertise. Unless you already have a specially made room in the middle of your house just for this purpose, chances are you have a few windows you’ll need to address. For that, we recommend one of two options: roller blinds or cellular shades.

Roller Blinds for Theaters

Roller blind with side channels and even a bottom channel are the ultimate in blackout if that’s what you’re looking for! Without the side and bottom channels, the roller blinds would have a gap that would let in light, so the channels are a necessary upgrade. Of course, that can be an expensive addition to the home. There are more affordable solutions out there.

Cellular Shades

Cellular shades are a great affordable solution for making your theater room the dark sanctuary you need for movie optimal movie viewing. Cellular shades do a great job filtering out the light,  and they don’t have the large gaps on the sides like roller blinds so they can do a pretty good job at a more affordable price.

Upgrade the Shades

No matter which option you go with, both of these shades can be installed in their standard manual control or upgraded to the ultimate in convenience and luxury and automated with Lutron!

We still haven’t cracked the recipe for that perfect buttery popcorn, however. Hope these suggestions help you navigate the time at home a little bit easier. Soon enough we’ll be back in theaters for the next big blockbuster!

Need help getting your shades just right? Give us a call! We’re still working and ready to help our neighbors throughout Scottsdale to install the best window coverings, whether to beat the heat or to create the ultimate home theater.