According to a recent poll by Ipsos for the Associated Press and AOL News, 73% of Americans prefer to watch movies at home, with only 22% preferring to see a movie in a movie theatre.

If there is any room in your house to paint a dark color, this is the one. If you have existing furniture that you will be using, pick a color that works with your furniture, but from the dark end of the paint sample card. There are also wallpaper borders available that depict movie motifs. Home Theatre Interiors (www.hometheatreinteriors.com) has a nice selection.

Do you have windows in this room? You will need room darkening window treatments, whether shades, drapes or a combination of the two. Many custom drapery and shade fabricators offer blackout lining as an option. You can find a wide selection of blackout lined curtain sizes at HTmarket.com, with over 30 fabric colors to choose from.

There are several types of lighting you can use to enhance your home theatre experience. For “raising the house lights,” recessed lighting on a dimmer switch will allow you to have overhead lighting where you can control the brightness. If you set up a counter/bar area (or for the purposes of this article a “concession” stand) you can use a couple of pendant lights on a separate switch, so at “intermission”, people can see what they are eating and drinking. Sconces spaced along the walls will add that theatrical touch. Cinema Shop (www.cinemashop.com) has wall sconces with movie themes, as well as other lighting, that is functional while enhancing the décor.

Movie posters can be found at many sites on the internet. You may be able to get some for free at your local movie theatre; ask if they have any they are going to throw away. Poster frames can also be found on the internet, at very reasonable prices. Frames-Direct (www.frames-direct.com) has a large selection to choose from.

You can also find movie reels at online auction sites that you can either hang on the walls with your posters, or use them to make other home theatre accessories. For example, a couple put together can become a wine rack; one laid down on a coffee table or counter area could hold small bowls of nuts, candy or dip. Several of the websites listed have signs, lighted and unlighted, that you can personalize for your theatre or place in your “concession” advertising your favorite drink. To really bring the drama home, you can put up velvet drapes on either side of the television.

If you do need furniture, many stores and warehouse clubs offer theatre seating. Cinema Shop, amongst all the other items it carries, also offers theatre seats, as well as cinema loungers. La-Z-Boy (www.la-z-boy.com) offers a line called “Matinee”, which has a wealth of choices in fabric and leather. From Home Theater Mart (www.htmart.com) you can find studio chairs, which are the height of a bar stool, for your concession/bar area. These chairs can also be used as extra seating, and can be folded up and stored when not in use. There are coffee tables, side tables and DVD storage shelves that have a movie reel look to them.

You can also find those little finishing touches at many of the businesses listed in this article, such as pillows, throws and area rugs keeping with the home theatre theme. The possibilities are endless.

Finally, pop some popcorn, pour yourself a soda and get comfortable – it’s show time!

Kathy Passarette is a Certified Interior Decorator and Affiliate member of the Interior Design Society. She is the owner of Creative Home Expressions located on Long Island, New York. You can contact Kathy through her website at http://www.creativehomeexpressions.com

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Home theatre systems have come a long way from the days of placing two huge speakers on either side of your television and listening to records while watching Saturday Night Fever on your VCR and television. These days there are as many ways to design a home theatre system as there are customers to buy them.

“The basics of the home entertainment system haven’t changed much in the last 15 years or so. What have changed are people’s tastes and priorities,” explains Adam Bowden of Bose Home Theatre. “Fifteen to 20 years ago a home entertainment system meant music. People would spend hours in stores and bring in a variety of music and listen to the various speakers before selecting a unit to buy. Today a home entertainment system is a visual experience focused on movies, and people make decisions based on aesthetics, under the assumption (and rightly so) that the sound will be exceptional. They will purchase a home theatre system that is visually appealing and assume that the sound will be appealing as well.”

“Prices are falling on flat panel televisions and the quality is going up so more people are incorporating bigger flat panels and surround sound into their home theatre system design,” says Joe Strang, President of Show Case Home Theatres in Alberta. “The other big thing is the all-in-one touch pad controls.”

The price of a home theatre system depends on how seriously you take your entertainment needs. According to Strang, you can buy a “big box” system for $5,000. But to really get the whole experience, he recommends having a custom system installed.

“You have to start with speakers, remote control, and flat panel all installed and you can do that for about $9, 000,” he says.

But if money’s no object then there’s no end of fun to be had. “We’ve done media rooms that are $500,000 for one room. For that you get projectors that have better than movie theatre quality, sound so good that when someone’s whispering on screen it feels like they’re whispering in your ear.”

Some homeowners go for the total theatre experience and have custom theatre seating installed in their media rooms, with one-touch remote controls in the arm of each chair, massage units and heated seats.

“We’ve even put motion in the seats so that when there’s motion in the movie you feel it in your seat,” he says. “And I don’t mean it just vibrates…it actually moves.”

Other options for your home theatre system include custom draperies, acoustic paint, and sound-proofing. This may seem like overkill but Strang says that most homes over $700,000 now come with a media room or dedicated home theatre room.

“I find that we usually install home theatre systems that are about 10 per cent of the value of the home, not just in the home theatre room but throughout the house, multi-room sound, lighting, automation and such. So for a $1.5 million home, you’re looking at $150,000 worth of home entertainment equipment.”

Amy Bostock is the Editor of newinhomes.com. This site boasts one of the most power and easy-to-use real estate search engines in Ontario and also houses an extensive library of articles covering everything you need to know about home ownership.

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