# Gregavi's Home Theater...finally



## Gregavi (Sep 22, 2009)

Before I begin, I would like to thank all of the people on this and other HT forums who have given me so much information, inspiration and have answered all of my questions about every aspect of this project. I couldn’t have done it without you.

I have been planning this Garage to Home Theater conversion for about 10 years. I finally had the time, knowledge and money to make it happen. I have been working days, nights and weekends on and off (between jobs) for about the past year. I am a General Contractor so I have the resources to build this for relatively less than the average person. I took many photos along the way but my computer crashed a few months ago and I lost a lot of early photos. (My backup drive also crashed before I could get all my photos copied over to my new backup drive.) Other than that, the project went very smoothly.

In order to get the go ahead from my wife, I needed to include my home office into the available space so she could take my existing office and convert it to a Hair Salon/Guest Bedroom/Her Office. So part of my garage space includes my office/closet area. The theater area is about 21’ deep by 14’ on the screen side and about 13’ across the back wall.

I made a significant change halfway through the project. An idea I got from a photo in one of my HT magazines or from a photo from one of the HT forums (can’t remember where). My original plan was to have a front and back row of seating with an 8-10” platform for the back row. I changed my mind and went with a long narrow bar (8 ½’ long 18” deep) with 4 barstools behind the front row seating. The bar stools are very high and they easily allow viewing over the front row. I am very happy I made the change because it is rare that I will have more than 3 people watching a movie, game or whatever, at the same time. This way I have a place to eat and drink (wine) while watching, or listening to music. It eliminated the clumsy platform as well. 

It was important to find comfortable bar stools because the length of time someone might be sitting in them could reach over three hours. I found the perfect bar stools on Craig’s List a few weeks ago. They are made by a small, high end woodworking company in So. Cal. that specializes in bars, stools and game tables etc. The name of the company is Mikhail Darafeev. They are magnificent, beautiful stools (Photos attached). I bought them for a little more than 10 cents on the dollar vs. retail ($1400 ea. retail). A screaming deal. Thank God for CL.

The base of the bar was made by my employee and me. He has the ultimate set of tools (Jeff Spicoli) er, wood shop, and the bar top is a custom made granite piece that my fabricator made for me. I had the fabricator add a 2” high piece along the back edge to prevent spillage onto the recliners in front. I’m very happy with the final results, bar and stools.

About 8 or 9 years ago I helped some friends demo some offices at the nearby University (UCSB) and they had lots of fabric covered, 1” fiberglass acoustic panels headin’ for the dump. I snagged about 25 of the 2’X9’ panels and stored them on the side of my house covered by a canvas tarp for, well, 8 or 9 years. I can’t count the times my wife said “when are you gonna get rid of those stupid things”. I was starting to agree with her that they would probably look pretty ugly, likely covered with mold or whatever. Well, when I finally uncovered them, they looked almost perfect. Now that they’re installed on my theater walls, my wife (and I) is amazed at how great they look. She even likes the color. What a difference in sound quality too. What I noticed most with the acoustic treatment is how you can hear the individual speakers as opposed to a bunch of sound in the room. I can crank the volume up pretty high and you can still hold a conversation in the room. Pre acoustic panels, forget talking during music sessions. I installed the panels from the floor up to about 45”, 2X chair rail with rabbit to capture the panels. ½” X 2 ½” battens at the seams. Drywall from chair rail up. At the back where the barstools are, the panels go up to about the 65” point. The back wall has the acoustic panels from floor to ceiling. Looks great, sounds great.


I have three separate recliners in the front row that I will eventually replace with a 3-seat theater recliner type setup.
I went back and forth and round and round on choosing a screen. I finally decided, at least temporarily, on a DIY screen. I painted the “Black Widow” mixture directly on the new drywall (primed first) added 2” velvet flocking tape around the edge and the results are excellent.

For the equipment room, I built an enclosure outside the exterior wall out to the end of the eave and have an access door to the back of the equipment, with the front of the equipment exposed to the room. I also have my wine cooler and PC server set up the same way. Accessible from the back, exposed into the room. I used a couple of doors leftover from a kitchen remodel that hide the server from the room side.

I built a 4” high curved stage where the front 3 speakers sit for appearance and to lift the speakers off the ground a little.
I built a soffit ceiling with the soffit height at 8’ and the raised area about 8” higher. 4” can lights throughout with remote switches.
I used Berber type carpet from the stage to the bar area and vinyl wood plank on the stage and in the bar area. The walls are painted a deep burgundy color and the ceilings off white. I’m considering doing some kind of starry night sky for the upper ceiling area in the future.

Equipment List:

Earthquake Cinenova 5 X 300 W/Ch Power Amp
Parasound AVC 2500u PrePro
Panasonic PT AE 4000 LCD Projector
Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR w/ 1TB Additional HD
Klipsch La Scala Main Front Speakers
Klipsch Heresy Center Speaker
Def Tech Dipole Surrounds
Earthquake MKV-12 Supernova Subwoofer
Samsung BD C6500 3D Blu Ray Player
DVDO Edge Audio /Video Processor
SageTV HD Theater 200 Media Center
SlimDevice Squeezebox Music Player
Old School Sony 5 Disc CD Changer
DIY 106” Screen Black Widow Mix
Hauppauge HD PVR

Anyway, here it is.


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## Gregavi (Sep 22, 2009)

Screen Shot


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

Very nice! I love the bar idea as a second row. I considered doing a (shorter) counter behind the front 3 seats so the people in the back row have somewhere to put drinks/food.

How does the wife feel about the project now? I know my wife thought I was a little crazy for all the time I spent doing my basement build but once she saw a movie down there she was hooked. She's even telling me that we need to get a third cable box so we can watch TV down there (and this is the same girl that though I was nuts for wanting a second cable box just so we can get HD programming on our bedroom).

Good job. I'm sure you and your family will enjoy it for many years.

Regards,
sga2


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## Gregavi (Sep 22, 2009)

Thanks sga2.
Why would you use a shorter counter height where by using bar height you are elevated to above the front row seats?

The wife loves the man cave.


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## Gregavi (Sep 22, 2009)

More Screen Shots


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

My back row's going to be on a raised platform with regular height seating instead of bar stools, so I wouldn't need the counter to be as tall.

Regards,
sga2


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## Gregavi (Sep 22, 2009)

Got it. 

My first plan was to have a platform with regular seating behind the first row but I changed my mind during construction. Both ways have their pros and cons. 

Looking forward to some photos of your project.


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## Gregavi (Sep 22, 2009)

More Photos can be seen here:

http://s1116.photobucket.com/albums/k568/Gregavi/


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