If you think of your dream home, what do you imagine? You will probably think of a pretty terraced area outside, maybe a garden swimming pool, or a large open-plan kitchen. Do you also dream about a cinema room? Well, you might be happy to hear that this doesn’t have to remain a dream for too long!
If you have a spare room that you are just using for storage at the minute, a movie room is something you should seriously consider creating. When my fiancé first moved in, he put his giant plasma television in the spare bedroom and it felt like a cinema, even though that wasn’t the plan at all
Unfortunately, our ‘cinema room’ was very short-lived and it is now an office (much to my husband-to-be’s dismay!). It’s not hard at all but it would have been better if we bared a few things in mind, and perhaps we’ve still have a cinema room to cuddle up in if we’d thought it through. If you’re thinking about doing the same, you just need to remember these useful points and not make the same mistakes we did:
Keep It Dark
You will want to be able to see your movie in the best possible quality, and that just won’t be possible if there is a lot of sunlight getting into your cinema room. If the room is completely dark, the film will show up a lot better on the TV screen. It seems obvious, right? But you kinda forget when you’re used to watching the telly all the time.
So, how exactly can you completely block out all that light? First of all, think about installing door blanks so that there is no way light can creep in through a window in the door. You should also think about getting some blackout blinds to ensure none comes through the sides of the curtains. These are serious game-changers.
Measure up for a screen
I cannot stress this enough. S will always say the screen wasn’t too big, but I’m telling you – it was crazy! I appreciate a great cinema room depends on a great TV screen, but you will need to measure a wall in the room to figure out how big you can go with the TV screen. You don’t want it to be too big that it dominates the room, remember your viewing distance! Equally, you don’t want to be squinting the entire time.
Ideally, you should get a TV that you can mount on your wall and then it can be as big as the wall is. If you can’t mount it on the wall, for whatever reason, you can still buy a fairly large screen. Just don’t forget that you will also need a suitable TV table to go with it!
Get super comfy
Next, you need to think about the comfort factor of your cinema room. And that means looking into cosy sofas and armchairs! If the room isn’t too large, you might just have to stick to the one sofa. We had a large sofa bed which we always pulled out, so we could cosy up with plenty of blankets.
If you’ve got a bit of room to play with you can try and maximise on your comfort by investing in a recliner sofa. These come with a nifty footstool that you can flick out whenever you want to get super cosy! If you can also squeeze in some armchairs into your new cinema room, you might want to consider recliner ones as well.
Don’t forget snacks!
It wouldn’t be a trip to the cinema without loading up on snacks, and it wouldn’t be worth watching a movie in your home cinema room without supplies for a happy belly. Keep them handy with some storage in your room. You might want to get a mini fridge so that you can keep your beer and soft drinks nice and cool. Ensure there is a small cupboard near your chair so that you don’t have to reach too far for crisps and biscuits! *drools!*
Thought a cinema room would only exist in your wildest dreams? Not anymore now that you have this tips! If all else fails, then go a quick local search and see if you can find a local outdoor cinema, and head to something like this (below). It’s not quite the same as snuggling up at home in a room dedicated to watching movies, but it’s pretty cool anyway.
*My sincerest apologies to all those sharing a house with their other half, you might have just lost your spare bedroom*