DIY Home Theater
This is how I turned my unfinished basement into a stylish, low-budget home theater.
It started with a piece of carpet from upstairs when we installed hard wood floors. Next were 12 red panel curtains and a huge red couch that needed a home after my wife redecorated the first floor. I hung the curtains on some spare PVC and conduit pipes to cover the bare concrete walls. I had to buy 18 more curtain panels to fully enclose the room.
I used an old 50′ length of rope light to go around the edge of the ceiling. Last was the drop ceiling. I found some 4′ x 8′ panels of press board that are covered in a faux leather print that were on clearance at the local Home Depot. They look better than they sound. To hide some low hanging pipes, I suspended the panels about 5″ below the exposed beams using lots and lots of 2×3 board extensions (around 80). It was hard work screwing all those extensions and panels into place above my head. My neck and arms were quite sore by the time I was finished.
I think the results were well worth it. Not counting the pieces that were repurposed (like the couch, carpet, lights, and original curtains) I spent around $450 to turn an ugly unfinished basement into a beautiful home theater.
The latest change to my home theater was hanging my front speakers from the ceiling using ropes and mounting my rear speakers to the ceiling using home made brackets. I had to drill a hole into each side of the front speakers to attach the screw eyes. I opened up one of the speakers first to make sure I wouldn’t damage anything inside. I made a small cut into the curtains behind the front speakers so I could run the wires up behind the curtains to keep them hidden. For the rear speaker brackets I used aluminum flat bar which is easy to bend and drill.
Visit blu-ray.com to get more ideas for your home theater.
