I've been interested in audio and video since I was a kid. I
had dreamed of having a dedicated home theater for
about 10 years. We finally
took the plunge in 2002. With young children and my wife staying at home to
care for them, spending a fortune on a home theater and getting ‘the best of
everything’ was not an option for us. We set out to see if we could
create a high quality, complete home theater for the price of a cheap used
car (or a D-ILA projector alone). I think we succeeded.
The entire theater project came in well below our budget
target and we had a great time putting it together. Now when the kids go
to bed, we escape to The Oasis for a night at the movies!
how we got started
The project started in April 2002 with the conversion of my basement
home office into a dedicated home theater space. The room was ideal for
it. It’s located below a formal living room and has no windows. A contractor
completed the room for us shortly after our builder finished our home in
August 1997. The contractor structured it as a ‘room within a room’ since
we knew it was going to be a home theater someday. The room was painted a
dark tobacco color with a sisal textured beige carpet. The decorating
style is in keeping with the rest of the home. By keeping the same style,
it allowed us to move furniture in from other parts of the house to
furnish the theater. The theater feels like an extension of the rest of
the home. The room is a small 11.5’ x 14’, so it feels like a personal and
intimate space. This theater is really a personal cinema.
