We have this large rectangle room upstairs in our house that we have struggled with how to use since we have moved in. I bought 3 cabinets from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and created a long desk and crafting space that came in very handy for online school. We also had some cubbies and some extra furniture that we threw up here because it was where the girls would go to watch tv and play video games. None of this really ever worked though. There is an office is right off of the big open room, and there’s also a bathroom. For the longest time, we tried to use this space as an office and a guest bedroom. One problem…
With the Pandemi Moore, we really didn’t have a lot of guests coming over, and it just was a bunch of unused space.
For John’s birthday, we decided to do a little remodeling/rearranging and turn this space into a home movie theatre – and not just any home movie theatre… one with a giant screen. Read on to learn how we created this theatre on a somewhat small DIY budget…
We’ll start with the projector itself. It is a BenQ. I have it linked on my Amazon Favorites page. It is definitely a high quality projector and totally worth every penny. We have it mounted from the ceiling – which was kind of a chore getting all the wires tucked away… but it looks pretty good!
After we got the projector mounted, we started on the frame. We framed out a giant square and brace through the middle…
This is how we hung it. A cleave joint. Never knew about those, but it hangs very nicely and is pretty secure!
We tested it out hanging it on the wall before we took it back to wrap the canvas around it. You can see how we used a pocket hole jig to attach the boards together.
For the screen, we used a large special canvas that we ordered from ________. It is made from the same stuff they use to make PVC pipe and it supposed to be pretty durable. PLUS the website says that if something were to stain in, that we can just wipe it off. We’ll see about that! It came in a giant tube – imagine how a poster would come in a cardboard tube, except thyis was super long! After we had the frame ready, we rolled out the canvas with the white side down, put the frame on top, and set to work at pulling it tight and stapling all in place.
I’m not sure if you can tell from the pictures or video, but we worked in somewhat of a star pattern to try and minimize sagging.
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It took forever to fold over and staple everything… but it seemed nice and secure, so we were ready to lift it up and attach it on the cleave joint that we had previously put on the wall.
Before we hung it, we wanted it to have somewhat of a framed feel to it, so ordered some felt tape from Amazon and carefully lined the edges…
After we had the screen all ready to go, it certainly started to feel like a movie theatre…. so OF COURSE we had to have a popcorn and candy station!
Complete with movie posters!! I ordered a bundle of large movie poster frames from Amazon and each family member picked 2 of their favorite movies to decorate the walls! It’s fun asking our friends when they come over which poster they think goes with which person! Here are the cabinets that I got from the ReStore. We just cut and stained some plywood and attached it to the top. These were on the side of the wall where the screen is now and was where our girls did online school through the personal pan pizza.
And here she is all finished! We’re hoping to get some better movie theatre furniture… but we’re sure enjoying having our very own movie theatre!
One of our favorite things to watch on it is Planet Earth. The quality, clarity, and brightness of the projection is amazing.
