Basement Theater No Sweat for DIY Couple
How's this for teamwork? While Paul Hayes mounted the projector, his wife Cindy built the 104-inch screen from scratch.
Hailing from Manchester, sadly enough Paul Hayes had to replace his entire DVD collection with Region 1 discs when he moved to the states. I guess that is what you get when you are a die-hard movie fan. Luckily, if he ever moves back overseas he no longer has to worry about such problems thanks to Blu-ray disc’s regionless functionality. But a move isn’t likely, as Paul has the perfect wife and the perfect home theater to keep her happy. In fact, Cindy Hayes is as much into movies as Paul is, and that shared interest is one of the main reasons that the couple hit it off in the first place. Paul likes movie so much, he makes it his day job: He’s the editor of a movie-review website, Ascully.com.
A few years ago, Paul purchased his first home in Jefferson City, Missouri, and one of the main criteria was that it have a large basement that they could convert into a theater. Fortunately, the basement was already somewhat finished, so construction was not as intense as it can sometimes be on these basement-to-theater remodels. “We did absolutely everything by ourselves. We had to build the screen and mount the projector, plus decorate the room with the various movie memorabilia,” says Paul. Of course, no do-it-yourself theater would be complete without a little help from one’s friends, and Paul’s is no exception: He had a friend make some custom DVD shelves and install them in the room.
These small tasks still managed to pose big challenges for the Hayes, who had never designed a room like this before. “The most challenging part of the job was mounting the Sony VPL-AW10 Bravia projector inside the suspended ceiling,” says Paul. “Mounting the projector to the joists was easy enough, but the Sony does not feature lens shift and the mount we bought was fairly cheap and hard to get level. It drove us mad for a few weeks as it was never square or straight on the screen, but eventually it ended up working out.” Overall, he couldn’t be happier with the picture quality from the Sony. “This projector retails at under $1000, and to my eye is pretty amazing for the price, project onto our homemade 104-inch fixed frame screen,” says Paul.
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[Link: electronichouse.com]View slideshow
[Link: electronichouse.com]
