Build Your Own Home Movie Theater

 

When I was in high school, I took a film studies course that made a big impression on me.  It was fascinating learning about cinematography and all the work that goes in to movie making.  

Ever since that time, I wanted to have a movie theater in my home.

Some dreams do come true!  My hubby and I now have a 90+ inch movie screen in our basement.  Yes you read that right–90 inches!

We built it ourselves at a fraction of the cost of most home movie theaters.

Our family loves our home movie theater because:

• we can snuggle and watch movies from the comfort of our own home
• there’s no worries of germs from the public theater (yes we’re germophobes!)
• the kids can be as loud as they want since I don’t have to worry about ruining the movie for others
• we can pause the movie anytime 
• I don’t have to hire a babysitter to watch the kids since we get to stay home!

We built our home movie theater about 8 years ago.  I wasn’t blogging when we did the project, so I don’t have great before photos or the exact equipment we used.  The good news is I enlisted my tech-loving hubby to do some research and he complied a list of what you’ll need to do this project today!  This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.  See my full disclosure here.

Build Your Own Home Movie Theater Materials:

Affordable Projector  

We’ve found that using office projectors work really well for home theaters and they’re a lot less expensive than media projectors! Here are some great projector options on the market now:  the best value, the least expensive option, an affordable quality one.  This 1080p high contrast ratio option would be great for those that want the highest quality on a budget.

Receiver

Using a receiver will greatly increase the sound quality of your home theater by sending the sound to speakers.  We bought this audio receiver a couple of weeks ago and have had great results with it!  It’s the #1 best seller on Amazon and has great reviews so we can highly recommend it.

Speakers

In-wall speakers are great because they don’t use any floor space and won’t sacrifice on sound quality, either!  These speakers use the wall as it’s own “subwoofer” box to create the sound quality of a theater!    If you’re looking for white speakers, these may be a good option as well.  

In-wall speakers have a surprising amount of bass.

Speaking of bass…

Although not necessary, a powered subwoofer might be an option if you like a lot of powerful sound to go along with those action movies.  This powered subwoofer is the best selling one on Amazon, probably because of the good price.  

As of right now we aren’t using our powered subwoofer because we’re pretty satisfied with the sound of just the in wall speakers.  Again, I’m a huge fan of those in-wall speakers!

While you’re ordering, don’t forget the HDMI cables and speaker wires to coordinate with your equipment.

For the movie screen:

You’ll only need two things.  Yep you read that right–two things!

• White paint in a flat finish
• Trim painted black

How to build a movie screen:

After installing the projector, turn it on and adjust the screen to your desired location and size.  Take a pencil and trace the screen edge on to the wall.  Next, paint on the screen using flat white paint.  There are special paints made just for movie screens but we had great results using flat white paint and it’s more budget friendly.

Install the black trim around the perimeter of your white screen.  Why black trim?  The black on the trim helps bring more contrast between the wall and the screen.

I hope you enjoy your home theater as much as we’ve enjoyed ours!  There’s nothing better than snuggling up with the family and watching a movie!

This DIY project was shared at: Tutorials and Tips, Project Inspire{d}, Skip The Housework, Inspiration Monday,  Weekend Wind Down, Work It Wednesday, and DIY Like A Boss.

What movie will you watch in your home theater?