My $100 Home Theater
I built this over a year ago, but just haven’t gotten around to posting this. So I’ll just come out and say that I’m fibbing a bit. I already had a lot of the material to do the job including; wiring, a little drywall, a projector, computer, sound system, and screen material. The room already had drywall and carpet, but it was just one big unfinished room with a fluorescent light in the middle. What I did was fish a lot of new wires, Changed the lighting design, brought new power in to effectively triple the amount of power capacity available. Route cat 6 ethernet throughout. I also milled my own base, made my own shelving and desk. Mixed my own paint color and glaze. I also repaired all the drywall cuts I had to make, textured the walls, painted, stained, and lacquered all finish work. Cut and seamed the carpet where needed. I also made my own doors (I think the small inline one is especially cool).
So what did I have to buy from the store? Pretty much only the drywall mud, lacquer, and hardware for the doors. Again, I did already have a lot of stuff, but even that you can still get pretty cheap off sites like craigslist. I also did my fair share of asking people if they had anything they weren’t going to use. It became a challenge to complete the project for as little money as possible.
The room is pretty small and was long and narrow. When designing, I also didn’t want to sacrifice storage, just maximize it. I basically figured out where the projector had to be and then built the new wall there to accommodate the throw of the projector. So I took one room and split it into three. One room for the theater/office, one for floor to ceiling storage with a small refrigerator and a microwave, and one small storage room under the stairs where we store bean bags, blankets and books.
Below is a picture of the storage shelving built on the theater side. The door goes to our full-height storage room, and I have the desk set up so I can work. This is where I spend most my days.
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Below you should clearly see the outline of the small inline door.
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Below, the doors are open
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Below I’ve removed the add on desk space to maximize space.
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Here’s the theater screen. I made the small table, the stand for the center channel and the screen frame. The screen itself I made from fabric from a screen I made years ago.
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With the desk removed, a couch can then be pushed back farther to accommodate more bean bags up front. Eventually, I want to get a more compact couch without arms.
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Below are a couple pics of the projector in use. Pictures looks better in person and even more so with the lights out, but this gives an idea.
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Great day until…
Boom – I wish my car hadn’t gotten hit.
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