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

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathy_Passarette

Many people think that setting up your own movie system is expensive and only rich people can afford it. But that’s not true at all. Let’s have a closer look at two types of home theatre systems. This will help you to make a decision on which is best fro you.

A typical system has only 3 basic components.

1) Television to view the movies

2) DVD player to run the DVD/VCD

3) Speakers to create a good real theatre like effect.

When it comes to locating these three in a home there are two straightforward options available.

1) Locate them in a separate room

2) Locate them in an existing room with other things occupied

If you go with the first option then one great recommendation is that you hire a home theatre designer to do the job for you. This will ensure that you get the best possible design ideas to generate that dramatic effect.

A professional designer will help you on every aspect of the design process, including design ideas to which electronic equipment to buy (or not to buy). A professional designer will also help you on certain interior design aspects such as flooring patterns, acoustic treatments using acoustic panels on interior walls, placements of speakers, TV unit etc for better viewing, seating arrangements and their design. So it becomes a fairly good experience and you get the best quality theatre, the way you want it to be.

However if you are tight on budget, then you can always convert a space in an existing room into a mini home theatre. Living room or a family room is good choice for this. In such type of setup you do however have certain limitations such as placement of speakers to create a “surround sound effect”. This will have some limitation because design wise the living room is a part of the entire home plan and has it’s own functional demands.

For a mini theatre a TV with 27-inch screen, a DVD player and at least 3 speakers is fair enough for creating a good effect. Now in most cases you probably already own the TV and DVD player, so the only thing that remains is a nice speaker system that is compatible with the output of your TV and DVD player is necessary. Always remember that when you buy speakers make it a point to test the speakers in your home. Ask the store owner to play the speakers in your home because sometimes some speakers only sound good at the store but when you play then in your home, you may get a different effect because of the surrounding furniture pieces in the living or family room. There is an acoustic component attached to this whole experience, which must be taken into consideration.

All in all home theatres are easy to set up when you know how are you willing to spend and what kind of effect you are looking for. Many options are available today in the market. A little research can easily save you time and money when it comes to home theatre design ideas.

Want to read the best selling home theatre reviews and ratings? Visit http://www.hometheatrereviews.net to grab the insider secrets to selecting the best home theatre system of your dreams. Read real reviews by real people and save money.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shrinivas_Vaidya

Now with the advancement of technology it is possible for anyone to set up their own “home movie theatre” easily with little knowledge. Most people think that it is an expensive affair. But I am going to show you how easy it is to set up your own system even if you are tight on budget.

The secret behind this is simple! All you have to find out that what are the elements of a real theatre that create that dramatic effect and replicate them in your home on a smaller scale or at least on a scale that your budget will allow.

So what makes the difference?

1) The picture quality

2) The sound system

Let’s have a closer look

1) The picture quality – The TV that you use for a home theatre decides the picture quality of you theatre. In a real theatre this creates big impact. Imagine Spiderman flying around on New York streets! with larger than life images. It feels real and thrilling. So picture size is important here.

Now obviously this does not mean that you must go out and buy the largest TV in the market. Big is not always the best for a home theatre.

Why is that? Because in a real theatre the size of the theatre room itself is bigger too. A real theatre is designed in a way to accommodate a large group of people easily, so that must have a big projection screen. A home theatre is a private affair and you don’t have a big TV to get that experience. However as a recommendation a minimum of 27inch TV is fair enough for your own system.

2) The sound system

This is the second factor that decides the thrilling environment in a real theatre. A home theater system will come with 3-4 speakers to create the same effect. If the room is bigger then even 6 speakers that contain a subwoofer for finer effects can be used. These speakers are detachable and are arranged in all corners of the room for creating a “surround sound” effect.

So from users point of view if you are looking for some help on setting up a home movie theatre, than always remember that spending more money is not always the best option. If you want to at all spend some money on then investing in good quality sound systems is a great option.

Alternatively also consider enhancing the effect from “interior design” point of view. If you have a separate room, then decorating this room for some extra mood creation goes a long way as far as final experience is concerned.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Want to read the best selling home theatre reviews and ratings? Visit http://www.hometheatrereviews.net to grab the insider secrets to selecting the best home theatre system of your dreams. Read real reviews by real people and save money.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shrinivas_Vaidya

The idea of watching movie in home is getting huge popularity in the UK market. People now want to have a theatre experience in their home itself. The system has many attractive features which gives a thrilling experience to the users. You can enjoy the amazing sound quality and picture resolution of home theatre. It gives a real experience of watching a better size pictures sitting in your home. It is a fun to watch your favourite stars on home theatre which provides an unmatchable enjoyment.

We all have been watching a movie in the theatre by spending money for buying tickets. The cinema hall is designed in a way that it makes to realise that you are too a part of the characters of the movie. Now, this opportunity comes in your home after invention of Home theatres. You can watch your favourite movie without paying cash everyday. All you have to do to go a megastore and book one for you. You can also browse different websites and select the best one for you. There are certain points that should be taken care of when you decide to purchase a theatre system.

* First of all, the picture quality must be of high standard as it gives the real impact. Suppose you are watching the Spiderman movie, so the scenes like flying or throwing enemies should give a real experience of watching. A Home theatre is more than a TV. So, it should be placed in a bigger hall so that it can accommodate more people to watch.

* The sound system should be brilliant so that it can give you the similar sound quality of a theatre. It comes with 3-4 speakers but you can use 6 speakers too depending on the size of the hall. These speakers should be placed to all corners of the hall.

* The interior design of the theatre room should also influence the experience of watching a movie on your system. The factors such as colour schemes, lighting, the seats, air conditioning and many other things should be adequate.

Therefore, it is better to spend some more money to get a system since the quality is very significant in this case. Also you should invest money to find a better quality sound system in order to convert your theatre room to a cinema hall. Basically, there are four equipments generally found in a Home theatre system. These are as follows.

1) A DVD player capable of scanning process

2) A television with the measurement of 40 inches

3) A receiver with multi-channel facility. The number of channel should be at least 5.1

4) Minimum 6 large speakers capable of producing a digital sound quality.

There are many online options which provide you a good quality Home theatre system at a reasonable price. You can also take benefit of different offers and deals there. The market share of Home theatre system is rising in the consumer durable goods industry. The lowering price has also helped in this direction. The manufacturing companies are raring to go to capture the undiscovered markets. Hence, it is going to be a win-win situation for both the manufacturers and the consumers.

Jayson Pablo, a dedicated writer of Rupizcompare.co.uk which provide information on consumer electronics as home audio systems.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jayson_Pablo

If you are planning to design a home theatre, then there are many factors that need to be considered before you start out. The first and the primary aspect of any home theatre is it’s location in your home.

The answer to this question will entirely decide how you will go about designing a home theatre. This is nothing but whether you will utilize a part of an existing room such as living room/family room as a home theatre or will have a completely different room in your home to be converted into a home
theater.

Both these have their own advantages and disadvantages. No matter which way you choose to plan a home theatre there are two parts of the entire theatre project.

1) The audio and video equipment

2) Interior design of the theatre room

Let’s have a quick look at these two

1) The audio and video equipment

Truly speaking you don’t have much control over how these perform in a home theatre. The only control you have over these is to which models to buy. Since you can not design the electronic equipment yourself, you will have to carefully do a market study of various audio and video kits available in the market that goes well with your budget as well as the size of the room you will be fitting them in.

2) Interior design of the theatre room

Yes, you have 100% control over this aspect of the theatre room. The interior design part includes many things such as

* Acoustic paneling (if required)

* Color schemes

* Theatre room lighting (for mood creation)

* Home theatre seats for comfortable body positions

* Overall theme of the design

* Home theatre furniture for holding electronic equipment

* Air conditioning (if required)

If you have a look at the above list it is quite sure that you have total control over every aspect of the interior design part of a theatre room. You can easily cut down any part of the list if it doesn’t fit in your budget.

So plan accordingly by writing down every aspect of the home theatre before you start out actually building the room. Careful planning will save your lots of time and money.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of http://www.homedesigndatabase.com Visit today to get more free home theatre design tips to design a creative home theatre of your wildest dreams.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shrinivas_Vaidya