Article by Karl Kennedy, ProjectorTop.com
Many homeowners decide to renovate their current home instead of moving to a new one. If you are satisfied with your current neighborhood and/or school system, why not put the expense of relocation into your home by creating the ultimate media room. After all, you can change your home’s features, but not its location. And upgrading or updating will increase your home’s value and appeal when it comes time to sell.
When you make the decision to purchase a different home, you end up spending money well beyond the home’s purchase price. This extra money is spent on things like application fees, title insurance, appraisal fees, recording fees, and other various closing costs. You receive no return on investment on this money; they are part of the costs associated with closing on a new home. These additional costs could have included in your media room renovation budget
Media Room Design
If you are like most people, your “media” room consists of older furniture, a flat screen TV, a cable box, and a few hundred feet of unsightly cables and wires. The furniture pieces are often cast offs from other rooms. The four important design elements that need to be considered during the planning stage of your new media room are equipment, furniture, arrangement, and storage.
Arrangement
First off, the TV or projector screen needs to be easily viewable from any seating in the room. Every seating area needs to have reachable access to surfaces where snacks or drinks can be placed. Wiring to speakers and all devices should be contained and concealed to improve the room’s eye appeal. Furniture should be arranged in a manner to make conversation between different seating groups convenient.
Furniture
Don’t necessarily feel like your seating should be of a theater style. Comfortably soft chairs or recliners may be a better choice, along with a sofa or love seat. Include a game table and chairs and possibly a beverage or bar area. You are not creating a home theater only. Media rooms are much more than a space in which to watch movies. Also consider how easy it may be to clean your media room furniture. Excitement, mixed with food and drinks, can often lead to accidental spills. So ease of furniture cleaning will be important. And don’t forget lots of throw pillows and blankets, for getting comfortable and cozy.
Equipment
This is where the rubber meets the road so to speak. A media room should at least include a wall-mounted TV, a projector and screen, or better yet a 3D projector for viewing streaming videos or video gaming. A high-quality sound system is necessary, so that not only movies, but music can also be enjoyed. Adding an A/V receiver can make switching between your different devices easier and much less confusing.
Storage
Multiple storage options keeps everything out of sight and organized. Custom designed cabinets can make storage easy and give your media room that more expensive designer look. These cabinets make for convenient places to store remote controls, video games, and any other types of media that you have accumulated over the years, like older CDs and DVDs that you are not ready to part with. They also can be used to keep some of your electronic components tucked away and hidden from view.
In the End
A media room is a multipurpose gathering space. Friends and family can congregate there to enjoy the big game, watch movies, listen to music, play board or video games, or just carry on a friendly conversation about the topics of the day. A decked-out media room should no longer be just a dark space crowded into the corner of your basement.
Article by Karl Kennedy, ProjectorTop.com
