# Increasing the sense of height in a vertically challenged HT:)



## Tristanc1 (Jul 5, 2006)

Hi,

I'm about to build a theater in my basement, and was wondering if anyone had any ideas for increasing the perceived height of the space? I have lots of width, and length(13X24) but only a few inches over 7 feet in height. I won't be using the whole length of the room either, probably only 18 feet or so. I'm still reading over information about the 'optimum' size on Ethan's sight, so the ultimate length is still being determined.

Any ideas? I really like the look of dark ceilings, and have been in a few theaters with dark, or completely black ceilings and if anything it made the room look higher which I wasn't expecting at all. I also like the benefits of a darker ceiling in regards to reflected light from a projector. Which could be an issue for my theater aswell, seeing as the projector will be firing closer to the ceiling than in most theaters with 8+ feet right? However i've only seen the black ceilings in theaters that are gargantuan to begin with, so i'm not sure if it would be a good idea in the space that I have....

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated
Tristan


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## Ethan Winer (Jul 21, 2006)

Tristanc1 said:


> was wondering if anyone had any ideas for increasing the perceived height of the space?


Black will make the room look higher, but what really matters is making the ceiling higher _acoustically_. This is done with absorption.

--Ethan


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## Tristanc1 (Jul 5, 2006)

The absorption thing is good to hear actually, thanks Ethan. What I had thought of doing (bare with me it's difficult to explain) is having drywall on the sides of the ceiling, maybe coming 1 or 2' into the room on either side, then running AT black fabric down the center of the room covering a gigantic absorber. Maybe even in some kind of pattern aswell, perhaps running straight for a few feet and then connecting to a circle or some other wider shape to catch the first reflection points on the ceiling from the front 3 speakers... Just throwing ideas around, not sure if this would be advisable or not. If I did that i'd be sacrificing sound proofing though, although in my situation i'm already aware i'm not going to achieve something ideal, so it's just a matter of balancing the trade offs I suppose 

Tristan


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## Tristanc1 (Jul 5, 2006)

Here's what I have right now, and kind of what I was thinking of doing again for the ceiling. It doesn't quite work to make the room look much bigger, thinking I might need more black down the center and perhaps a better lighting arrangement..... It's also partially demo'd at the moment so that's why it looks like [email protected]%


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## Ethan Winer (Jul 21, 2006)

Tristanc1 said:


> drywall on the sides of the ceiling, maybe coming 1 or 2' into the room on either side, then running AT black fabric down the center of the room covering a gigantic absorber.


The best place for bass traps, which all rooms need, is in corners. So I'd skip the drywall and use insulation in a thin wood or metal stud frame covered with fabric. You can make any shape you'd like for appearance, but avoid sheet rock.

--Ethan


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## gary thomas (Dec 6, 2007)

Our basement started with a 9' ceiling, but we wanted to add insulation & a bit more mass to separate the basement from the main level. We had our contractor build a new 8' ceiling, but not attach it to the old ceiling. We insulated the gap between the new & old ceiling. To maintain some of the height, we added a tray w/ hidden rope lighting. It's on a dimmer along with a DIY lighted movie poster box. The room is painted midnight blue & the tray is a lighter beige. We feel it really helped maintain the impression of height.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

Tristanc1 said:


> Here's what I have right now, and kind of what I was thinking of doing again for the ceiling. It doesn't quite work to make the room look much bigger, thinking I might need more black down the center and perhaps a better lighting arrangement..... It's also partially demo'd at the moment so that's why it looks like [email protected]%


Anything you put on the ceiling will only emphasize how low height the ceiling is..
If you want to give the illusion of the ceiling being higher than it is, you need long vertical items on the side walls..
For example, floor to ceiling curtains or long narrow acoustic panels down the side walls and across the back..

I had a similar problem with my 7'6" ceilings, so I hung grey suede curtains floor to ceiling, from the screenwall back about 7' along the side walls..and a floor to ceiling curtain on the back wall.
The ceiling was painted a very dark grey..

It really lifted the perceived height..


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

The Prof is right. You've probably heard that tall women shouldn't wear vertical stripes or over weight people shouldn't wear horizontal stripes. Thin vertical stripes will make something look taller. I'd avoid chair rail or wainscoting. 6" pillars or buttresses and/or a series of 1'x6' foot acoustical treatments might make the room look taller.

I think you've done a great job with your ceiling with the faux recessed area in the middle. That actually makes it look like a void. I hope you don't mind but I'm going to copy that idea in my current construction (my ceiling is only 7¾ feet). 

If I had the time and money I'd do a fiber optic night sky.


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