DIYer Delivers 212" Screen with Seating for 22
By Rachel Cericola
Joon Lee's impressive room provides the main event for every movie night, with a giant screen, ample seating, starfield ceiling, rich fabrics and more.

House Beautiful isn’t just a magazine; it’s a way of life for Joon Lee. His stunning Silicon Valley home has an equally stunning home theater. It did cost him a pretty penny—a lot of them, actually. Despite a few hired hands and a lot of free advice, Joon was able to tackle much of this massive project by himself.

When it came to construction, Joon called in a pro. His contractor built the semicircular 16-foot-wide stage, the soffits and the columns. After all, Joon needed to sleep at some point. By day, he was busy launching a vineyard and his business, Cora Vina Wine. Most of the work would need to be done night and on the weekends, and that wasn’t all that easy, since he and wife Claire were dealing with a newborn.



Yes, his screen, seats, receiver, and the rest of the lot weren’t the only new bundles of joy in his life. Cora was a new addition to the family—and as far as we know, she had no knowledge of running wire, calibrating equipment, or installing acoustic treatments.

Thankfully, Joon does. At times, he did need advice and a bit of nudging, so he would post questions and progress reports in his lengthy, heavily watched AVS Forum build thread (and his own thread there goes on for dozens of pages). It made sense that he would need help here and there. This wasn’t just a huge financial investment; it also took up a lot of his time and living space.

Joon actually started work on this room back in 2003, when the home was first being built. He worked with an architect to make sure that the theater room was designed perfectly. In the end, the room was built about 1.5 feet lower than the other rooms on his home’s second level. Also, the way the space was designed created natural theater seating risers. By the screen, the ceiling is 12 feet high; at the back, it’s 10 feet.

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