Accessorizing Your Home Theater
For home theater owners, the main attraction to developing the room is usually the ability to bring the local multiplex right down the hall. But going to the movies isn’t just about watching the movie, is it? To get the real experience, you must push down your theater seat, place your drink in a cup holder, and wait with anticipation as the curtains pull-away to reveal the screen. Never fear, AMC Theatres won’t have anything on you once you learn to accessorize your room with a few extras. From implementing full-scale themed motifs to adding low-key amenities, the small things really do make the difference.
Dream a Little Theme
Themed home theaters are growing in popularity. Whether you’re a fan of old westerns or old Hollywood, your home theater can make a statement about your personality. “[A themed theater room] makes the home more memorable. Whenever we do one for a client or a builder’s model, it always seems the theater gets lots of attention whether they like the style or not,” says Mike Novak, President of Designer Audio.
When selecting the style of your home theater, the theme can be custom or pre-designed. Acoustic Innovations, a home theater installation company, offers twelve stock choices ranging from Modern Metro to Nostalgic Renaissance, as well as custom designs (www.acousticinnovations.com). When developing a custom theater, creativity and originality come first. Acoustic Innovations recently developed a custom Caribbean-themed room featuring palm trees and a green-stained glass ceiling. To top it off, two statuette monkeys greet visitors as they enter the tropical movie paradise.
Working with Walls
The walls of your home theater give an easy, inexpensive space for theme development. Adding framed posters from your favorite movie classics will add a fun spirit to your room. The Home Theater Marketplace (www.HTMarket.com) offers low priced movie posters ranging from vintage classics to recent favorites from as little as $16.00 to more than $250. To enhance a simple movie poster, you can also purchase illuminated frames and cases, which range in price from $450 to $900. HTMarket also offers movie paintings and celebrity charcoal art.
Another wall accessory sure to add authenticity to your home theater is signage. Home Theater DÃ?©cor offers several unusual options for your room including “Tonight’s Feature” marquees with changeable letters. They also offer sound system identification signage customized with your family’s name.
Walls can provide more than decoration for your theater, though. By adding acoustical paneling to your theater, available from Acoustic Innovations and First Impressions, you can more carefully control and deliver top-quality sound. This is particularly important in rooms with many hard reflective surfaces; acoustic paneling keeps sound from bouncing around the room and coming out muddy.
Bring up the Lights!
Just as a candlelit table creates ambiance for dinner, creative lighting adds tremendously to the effect of your home theater. The Hollywood stars don’t have to just be on your movie screen. With the fiber-optic Star Kit available from HTMarket.com, you can turn your ceiling into a dramatic, starry universe with ease of installation and minimum cost. Another way to add atmosphere to your room is with accent sconces and floor lamps. Wall sconces illuminate light in various patterns of color, and not only add interesting lighting effects, they can also add artistic style to the room. From star shapes to colorful abstract designs, each light fixture should contribute your overall theme. Floor lamps including spotlight stage equipment and full-size celebrity cutouts can enhance your theme, too.
All your lighting elements can be incorporated in an automated lighting system. Lutron and Vantage both manufacture single-room lighting systems that can allow you to create a sophisticated lighting design with the press of one button.
Have a Seat
Home theater furniture greatly affects the overall theme and comfort of your room. Seating can make or break the theater experience. With four types of home theater seating-conventional furniture, cinema-style theatre seating, home theatre seating, and custom seating-you have several options to fit your needs and budget.
If your home theater doubles as a family room, conventional living room seating like sofas and standard recliners will probably be your best and most affordable choice. You can still arrange the furniture to be suitable for home theatre purposes without limiting your daily activities in the room. For movie theatre buffs, cinema-style seating gives the closest look and feel of the real experience. These thick-cushioned seats are bolted to the floor and come in rows and usually feature the “push-down” effect. The average cost for cinema-style seating ranges from about $400-$1,200 per seat.
Home theatre seating, although more expensive, is especially designed for home installation. Leather and wood finishes, as well as remote and electronic devices built into the armrests, combine beauty and practicality into the ultimate home theatre seating experience. Prices average around $2,000 per seat. Of course, if you can’t find just what you’re looking for in stock models, you can opt for the most expensive route, which is total custom seating. If you choose seats without recliners, ottomans give you extra comfort without a large investment, as well as feature a movie theme. For about $500, you can purchase velour-covered ottoman from Home Theater Accessories in several colors and styles.
Completely Floored!
Just as the red carpet welcomes starlets to award ceremonies, home theater flooring can treat your feet to Hollywood style and can play up your overall theme. For instance, popular room designs such as star, film strip, and comedy/tragedy theme, all have matching carpets and rugs available from Home Theater Decor in several color schemes and designs for as little as $139.00. Carpeting also helps with your room’s acoustics, so it’s important to choose appropriately. A cost-effective alternative to expensive acoustical paneling is installing carpeting on the walls and ceilings of a room to minimize reflection.
Drive-In Sound
One of the first things you develop in a home theater is a sound system. Audio and video equipment are the backbone of a great movie room. But have you considered enhancing your room with a nostalgic taste of the drive-in? Home Theater D�©cor offers three types of drive-in speakers ranging from artistic to functional. You can choose from car door art that features a speaker on the side, freestanding speakers or wall-mounted speakers. Whichever you select, the look and feel of the drive-in can be yours!
Food for Thought
What movie experience would be complete without popcorn, soda, and candy? Don’t forget the concessions when creating your movie den. From popcorn machines to antique soda fountains, food can be fun! Most theater accessory stores offer wheeled popcorn carts and tabletop machines which cost anywhere from $400.00 to $1,500.00.
However, you can’t eat popcorn without soda, so why not install an antique soda fountain or Coke machine? Your only drawback may be price. A freestanding soda fountain costs around $2,000 while an antique Coke machine sells for as much as $6,000.00. Finally, you may want to store candy in your home theater room for easy access. Lighted candy cases with multiple shelves with plenty of room for all your favorite movie snacks are available through Home Theater Accessories for about $1,700.00.
To give kids an extra fun movie experience, opening-night snack trays are available from Home Theater Express (www.HTExpress.com). These cardboard trays feature children’s movies like Harry Potter, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Pokeman. With matching kid’s cups and popcorn pails, a package for six to twelve people costs about $14.95. (These packages don’t include food.)
Over the Top
To really go over the top with your movie theme, novelty items will do the trick. How would you like to go to the movies with Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe? With full-size celebrity stand-up cutouts and statuettes, you can pack the house with all your Hollywood favorites. Expecting a crowd for the evening? Rope them in with freestanding or wall-mounted velour ropes just like those used in real theaters. Home Theater DÃ?©cor even offers ropes with Oscar-style cutout stands at each end. Furthermore, with a film reel clock you’ll be sure your nightly feature starts on time, while a filmstrip DVD tower will keep your movies in a stylish, accessible haven.
From wall sconces to leather recliners to popcorn machines, when it comes to creating a true movie-going experience, the accessories make all the difference. Whether you prefer Hollywood glitz or understated charm, a few little extras can turn your room into a statement of your personality.
