My Dream DIY Media Room

Welcome, YouTube viewers! Scroll down to the end of this page for the shopping list for this space. Thanks for visiting!

Then and now...

The transformation of our little-used upstairs bonus room (before, above) into a media room with 100-inch Big Screen TV is complete! I surprised DH with an HGTV-style big "reveal," and from his reaction, I knew he hadn't peeked during the 3 month reno (short video here).

Thanks to "malansmithii" for posting his amazing DIY Chrismark Theater (at right) on Rate My Space, and giving me the inspiration to create my own.

My goal was to do a Candice Olsen-style space for a lot less than she spends. My "buyer's guide" & techie info is at the end of the post. Take a short video tour of the finished space here, or at the end of this post. Rate this space on the Rate My Space website here.

Welcome to my favorite space!

Sherwin Williams' "Toasty" flat paint warmed up the 17 x 19 foot space and made it seem even bigger. The Sopranos and Jack Bauer flank the 100" screen. I did all the work myself with some heavy lifting assistance from several neighbors.

(For you "24" fans, my desk lamp from IKEA was the official lamp of CTU and my techie hero, Chloe.)

A Panasonic LCD projector and Stewart Firehawk screen allow viewing with some ambient light in the room, great if you love daytime sports. But the 1080p picture is simply awesome at night in the dark, when the room truly becomes a theater.

BTW, men and women love this room! American Idol was like being there.

Two colorful club chairs from Rooms To Go really make the room. They tie in all the colors from the custom-framed art from AllPosters.com. They're the perfect size for the space. We don't have room for theater-style recliners, which don't look great in a non-dedicated theater room, IMHO.

I created a snack bar out of 2 IKEA kitchen cabinets and a 15" beverage cooler. A granite remnant forms the countertop. The 3 puck lights above are controlled by Z-wave technology and a Harmony 890 universal remote as is all the lighting in the space. This is a retrofit anyone can DIY.

The microwave comes in handy for movie popcorn. The cabinet on the right conceals a trash and recycling center and more storage.

When we have guests, the four leather cube ottomans separate to turn the sofa and chairs into comfy "recliners." We slide the chairs over on either side of the sofa and set up tray tables for drinks and snacks.

My home office still occupies the back of the room, but it's neater now. Ollie Cat waits in front of the door out to the stairway.

I chose glass to make my workspace less visually dominant in the room. The West Elm sawhorse desk can be easily taken apart and stowed in the adjacent storage room, allowing a second row of seating.

3 IKEA cabinets provide a place for the projector. Hanging them by myself was not easy. Nor was hiding the wires. I added 3 puck lights to spotlight the movie posters on the picture ledge below.

IKEA's Trollsta cabinet conceals the printer, modem, router, and several hard drives connected wirelessly to my computer on the desk.

A full bath comes in handy at intermission time. There's also an 8 x 12 foot storage room. Both were put in when we built the house.

One of the non-obvious advantages of the gray Firehawk screen is it's plasma-like appearance when the projector is off.

Update: I looked at several IKEA media cabinets, but found that none fit the depth of my Denon receiver and they were flimsy looking. I found the BDI cherry home theater cabinet on sale ($600 off ) as an in-store Manager's Special at Best Buy. I knew it was the one, even though $1,200 was a budget buster. I'm so happy I got it because it adds richness to the room and ties in the cherry finish of the speakers. Most importantly, all the interior shelves and the back are louvered for airflow. And I can fit a lot of gadgets in there. LOL.

The bright ambient daylight shown here washes out the screen, so you must have good window coverings to maximize your picture.

BTW, I got a Slingbox Pro HD for when I want to have the TV news on, while working on my Mac. You don't run a projector for background TV while you goof around on your computer. Replacement bulbs are expensive.

My Shopping List

Home Theater System Essentials:
1. Panasonic PT-AE3000U LCD 1080p Projector, $2450 - B&H Photo online
2. Stewart Filmscreen Firehawk G3, 100" diagonal gray screen, $1888 - eBay seller "adroitsales," new, shipped from manufacturer
3. Denon AV-1909 Surround Receiver, $600 - Magnolia Home Theater @ Best Buy
4. Intimus 4T Hybrid SA in Cherry, 7.1 surround system, $1760 - aperionaudio.com
5. Monster PowerCenter HTS 1000 MKIII, $119 - amazon.com
6. 3 Monster 800 Series HDMI cables, $160 - eBay seller "hdmi4less," new in packages
7. Logitech Harmony 890 Universal Remote, refurbished $149 - amazon.com
8. HD DVR - DirecTV, free with subscription (1080i)

9. BDI Avion 8527 cabinet, cherry, $1199 (on sale) - Magnolia Home Theater @ Best Buy

HT Extras:
1. Sony Playstation 3, $399 (for Blu-ray, 1080p) - Best Buy

2. Apple TV, $279 (720p) - apple.com

3. Slingbox Pro HD, $250 - amazon.com
4. VUDU HD Internet Movie Player (1080p), $149 - vudu.com
5. Samsung VR-325 DVD Recorder/VCR (old, 480p) - Circuit City
6. *D-Link 8-port gigabit desktop switch, DGS-2208, $47 - amazon.com
7. Belkin Pure AV 3-port HDMI switch, $100 - amazon.com
8. Five Intermatic HomeSettings Z-Wave Dimmers, $90 - homeseer.com

*connects DVR, Apple TV, Vudu, PS3, and Slingbox to router via cat6 cable.

Snack Bar:
Akuram 24" kitchen cabinets, white - IKEA
Tidaholm 12" oak doors & trim panels, black/brown - IKEA
Lansa Handles - IKEA
Vinotemp VT-32BCSB Beverage Cooler - beveragefactory.com
Gold Brazil granite remnant - fabricated & installed by Continental Granite, Bunnell FL
Lack shelf, black/brown - IKEA
Puck lights, black - Lowe's
GE Microwave - Lowe's

Furnishings:
Leggett & Platt ultrasuede queen sofabed (4 years old) - Furnitureland South
Robertson Accent Chairs - Rooms To Go
Leather cube ottomans in Ponderosa - Ballard Designs
Trollsta Sideboard, black - IKEA
Besta 24" shelf units & doors, white - IKEA
Sawhorse Worktable (desk) - West Elm
Ergonomic desk chair (old) - Relax The Back
Clear floor mat - Sam's Club
Recumbent exercise bike (old) - Vision Fitness

Accessories:
Custom-framed posters - allposters.com
Ribba picture ledge, black - IKEA
Shag rug - Home Depot
Red velour pillows - Target
Red travel pillows - IKEA
Faux fur throw, brown - Homegoods
Husvik Floor Lamp - IKEA
Farja Desk Lamp - IKEA
Knubbig Table Lamp, white - IKEA
Chrome puck lights - Lowe's
Riddell mini football helmets - eBay
Bosch Tassimo Coffeemaker - amazon.com
Plastic popcorn tubs and photo used above - popcornpopper.com
Plastic rectangular tray, black - Target
American Flag bowl, tray tables (Bombay Co.), needlepointc at pillow, plaster columns are old.

Colors:
Walls: Sherwin Williams SW6095 Toasty, flat

Ceiling: Sherwin Williams SW6126 Navaho White, flat
Woodwork: Sherwin Williams SW7008 Alabaster, high gloss

Window Covering:
Plantation Shutters were installed several years ago - Blinds4Less, St. Augustine FL

Extra DIY Savings:

Shop online for the best prices and availability, and save on sales tax too. Many sellers are now offering free shipping. Join Amazon Prime for $79 annually and get 2-day free shipping on many items. Other than the granite slab, I picked up everything I bought in retail stores in my SUV. I saved $200 in delivery fees on the 2 chairs and media cabinet alone.

Love to know what you think of this space! It's now posted for you to rate on Rate My Space here.

Now the Geek Stuff

I did all my research on the web for about 3 weeks before making my first purchase - the projector. This helped me determine if the project was do-able and what size screen to buy.

The carpeted room is 17 feet wide x 19 feet long. The ceiling is 10 feet high.

The Stewart Firehawk screen is 100" diagonal, 55 .6" high x 93.6" wide, 1.78.1 aspect ration (16:9). It's mounted 29" above the floor. I saved $600 by buying from an authorized dealer (adroitsales) on eBay.

The main viewing position on the sofa is 11 feet from the screen. The throw distance from projector to screen is 18 feet. I ran one long Monster HDMI cable from the A/V receiver to the projector on the back wall. I didn't ceiling mount the projector because we use the ceiling fan. If you stand up from the middle of the sofa, your shadow hits the screen by about a foot, but who cares?

The floor is carpeted. There is no acoustic treatment on the walls or ceiling, but the 7.1 surround sound is great. We aren't audiophiles, so this is a fine family room system - it has blown people away. Concerts on Blu-ray are amazing.

At night there is some reflection, in bright scenes, off the wall of white shutters - the slider alone is 80 square feet. For the best picture, ideally you want your entire room to be painted dark, but mine is not meant to be a dedicated theater. So I will eventually make some roman shades and curtains to draw at night, which will enhance the design as well.

The Harmony 890 remote, our third, controls all the A/V components and the lighting, connected via Z-Wave switches and plug-in modules, as seen it the video tour above (For complete information, visit Homeseer.com). I did all the home theater wiring and the accent lighting myself. The six ceiling cans were installed by the builder.

As a Big Screen TV junkie, I had to have 1080p. And that means DirecTV and Blu-Ray. And we use it just about every day. If you're going to invest in a theater, go for it if you can. If you're on a tight budget, there are a lot of great deals on 720p equipment and you will love it. But beware the urge to upgrade at any time!

Are you ready for some football?

Or maybe a Blu-ray movie on the 100-inch BIG screen? 

Click the little screen above for a 2 1/2 minute video tour of our new DIY media room/home theater. Photos, resource list and DIY details are in the next post. And here's the before/work-in-progress video.

8 NFL games. On one big screen. Cool. Is it September yet?

NFL GameMix image courtesy of DirecTV.

Under construction...still!

I've been MIA on the blog for two months, working nonstop to transform our rarely-used bonus room into a media room complete with 100-inch big screen TV.

Long story. But here's the first installment: the "befores" and a bit of the work-in-progress. It's almost done, and as soon as a few final elements are added, I'll post it here and on Rate My Space.

UPDATE: It's done! Complete info in this post. Suffice it to say, this is now my favorite room in the house!

Before & After Video: Our Faux Fireplace

First, the bad news: It looks like the geniuses in the U.S. Congress may postpone the digital TV transition. 

Now, the good news: This allows plenty of time for the man in your life to get his humongous new Big Screen HDTV, and for you to try one of my creative solutions for integrating (camouflaging?) it into your decor!

My new 3-minute high definition video above shows you, before & after, how DH and I turned our 50" Samsung DLP TV into a Faux Fireplace and the focal point of our living room. 

UPDATE: There are some pretty bad (and expensive!) TV solutions out there. I just found this one for $9,200: A plasma TV on a lift that hides in a very fake looking fireplace. Yuck.

Time to embrace the Big TV, Ladies!

To celebrate the digital transition, I've given the blog a facelift - a photo of DH's ManSpace with his 42" Vizio 1080p LCD, perfectly hung on the wall (by him!) It's technoclutter for some women, or worse. But it's ART for geeks like me!

When you have to count twice, you know you have a lot of TVs - we have 9 for 2 people. LOL! 

I've been eagerly awaiting the HD changeover for years, so I already have 7 HDTVs: 17," 20," 2 @ 32," 2 @42," and 50." Two old standard definition TVs (not shown) are stashed in closets and will go to the Salvation Army store soon.

The Magic Mirror TV

Whether you like it or not, Big TVs are here to stay. And designers say treating them is a major challenge. I've come up with a few creative ideas of my own. Above is one of my 2 do-it-yourself Mirror TVs. This one, a 32" Westinghouse LCD, is outside on my lanai. When the TV is off, you just see the mirror. Click to play the video and see it in action.

 At left, the 20" Mirror TV over the tub in my master bath. 

I do believe I did the mirror TV before HGTV's Candice Olson! If you're curious, my DIY Mirror TV how-to is here. Oh, and by the way - men LOVE these TVs!

TV as Faux Fireplace

Here's a video of my great room's 50" Samsung DLP TV disguised as a fireplace, as featured in HGTV Ideas Magazine last summer (We did it ourselves; how-to is here).

If you have a favorite Big TV solution, please email me. I have a few more big screens to hide!

Digital Redecorating

Happy New Year! 

I've been away from the blog while working on 1,200 digital video clips and 1,000 digital photos from our late October Mediterranean cruise. 

So today I gave the blog and my YouTube channel digital makeovers to celebrate 2009 - the year us geeks have been waiting for: The Digital TV Transition!

I've had fun creating short, high quality videos (Barcelona, French Riviera, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, Venice, Malta) with my new Sony HDR-SR12 high definition Handycam (fits in your purse!) and iMovie on my MacBook Pro. We watch these flicks on our cool Apple TV, but you can watch them on YouTube. 

If you're thinking about a future cruise or you'd like to take a "digital" winter vacation, click here. Be sure to click "watch in high quality" just below the video window on the right. You'll get a DVD quality picture on most newer YT videos!

diy geeks! flatwire your home

My friend Patty actually watches more HGTV than I do. She saw this amazing DIY product, Flatwire, on "I Want That!"

Flatwire solves the problem of exposed cords or hard-wiring electrical sconces and A/V components. Especially if you live in a home or apartment with concrete walls. All you need is an accessible electrical outlet.

Here's a very good video...

Flatwire video - powered by Metacafe

From Flatwire's website: With FlatWire, home theater installations are easily completed by professionals and do-it-yourselfers alike! Installing flat wire uses no special tools, because the wire is bendable, paintable, and paper-thin.

Gizmodo and Lifehacker have more details, plus pros & cons from actual users.

Here are photos of actual installations.

Flatwire sells a variety of sconces in kits.

Seamless installations for lighting and home theater

Not exactly the most stylish photos, but you get the idea. Be sure to watch the video, above.

If you're into cool DIY electrical stuff (which you should be if you got to the end of this post), check out my DIY wireless Z-wave lighting system.

Get your photos noticed on Rate My Space, part 2

The Rate My Space website, apart from the design content, is fun to watch, like the dynamics of polling or sports predictions. I like to to guess, early on, which spaces will become big hits. Sometimes I'm right and sometimes I'm wrong. But it's fun to try, like guessing which house will be picked on Househunters.

Here are some of my non-scientific observations...

Never...I mean NOT EVER....never upload your photos in the middle of the night! You want your space to get maximum exposure when it debuts. And that means LOTS of views right away. You want at least 500+ views in the first hour.

If you upload at midnight EST (9 PM in CA) you have fewer viewers online to see your space. Then at 10 AM when more people are online, your space says "Uploaded 10 hours ago, 200 views" (if you're lucky). That doesn't scream out "this is a HOT space, you better view it!"

If you're in CA and you upload at midnight, the thousands of viewers in eastern states have been asleep for about 4 hours and hopefully will be for 4 more. Get the idea?

Upload anytime on Saturday or Sunday afternoon - If you look at the views on the "Most Viewed" spaces on the front page, they seem to skyrocket on Saturday, and on Sunday too. Makes sense, because people are off work. Saturday, I don't think you can go wrong.

Start your own space off with a few nice 5 star ratings! Don't be modest. Get some friends and family to rate it right away. I think some raters are influenced by the existing rating. Kind of like how many voters are influenced by the polls, ie. they care about what others are thinking first. The herd mentality, IOW.

THIS is really tip #1! Select your best lead photo (and thumbnail) and... SURPRISE! It just may not be the most common head-on view of your space!

Example: I took this photo of my kitchen from the door into the garage. It's much more visually dramatic than the normal view from the great room. This photo shows off the high ceiling, tall range hood, and the pine hutch. And, as in decorating, those angles create interest.

But this was NOT my first photo. The first one lasted 15 minutes after I uploaded , until I realized that no one was looking at my space. I replaced it with this view, and by the end of the day, as I recall, my "Small but Efficient Kitchen" space was on the front page, where it stayed for about a month!

In part 3, I'll talk about taking good digital photos and those tiny thumbnails. If you missed part 1, read it here.

Get your photos noticed on Rate My Space, part 1

I enjoy browsing HGTV's Rate My Space website to look for the gems that didn't make it to the front page (or at least the first 5 pages of "today's most viewed"). IOW, wonderful spaces that get high ratings, but not a lot of views or ratings.

There are gazillions of them. I'll be featuring some of my favorites here going forward. (Please bring your "finds" to my attention by leaving a comment!)

Often I find photos like Ally6's "Elegant charcoal gray living room," above. This is the exact size she posted, not much bigger than the RMS thumbnail for her space, at right.

So I got to thinking, with all the decorating talent displayed on Rate My Space, why do some wonderful spaces get lost almost as quickly as they appear?

Of course subject matter is a big factor - kitchens are the most popular spaces. Even bad kitchens get viewed because RMS-ers are very interested in kitchens. And sometimes you see viewing trends. For instance, nurseries and bedrooms seem to be very popular right not.

So here comes the geek stuff, if you're still with me...

Whatever category you're uploading to, you're relying on a small (150 x 115 pixel) thumbnail to entice viewers to click and actually visit your space. Once, there they are going to evaluate it and do one of about 6 things....

1. Enjoy it (or not), hit the back button and go on to the next space
2. Read the text, get drawn in, and actually look at more of your photos
3. Leave a comment and forget to rate
4. Rate but not take the time to comment
5. Rate AND comment - the jackpot!
6. Do #5 and then visit and rate more of your spaces. RMS heaven!

In Ally6's case, her thumbnail drew me in with it's beautiful magazine-like composition, with the chic lamp (I love black shades) and the colors and contrast. On the page, I saw the same photo, but much smaller than usual, 170 x 226. Loving the room, I took off my glasses and squinted up close at the screen, loved it even more, left a comment and a 5 star rating.

But I'm guessing that for some, the small size and lack of detail might diminish their interest in the space. So maybe they never get past #1.

500 x 667 portrait photo posted by ThePickledHutch

(Visit her blog here.)

Rate My Space recommends a maximum pixel width of 500! That means RMS will render your large photo up to to either 500 x 667 (portrait) or 500 x 375 (landscape). Like the photo below (another neat lamp), posted by new RMS-er ThePickledHutch.

Look at the difference in web page "real estate" between Ally's photo at the very top and Pickled Hutch's. So always upload a photo that's at least 500 pixels wide. Portrait will be larger, 667 high, so if your subject lends itself to that orientation, by all means use it!

Many good photos would also benefit from some simple photo editing to enhance them, but that's another post. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements for Windows ($99), 'til I break down and get it for my Mac (iPhoto is worthless).

I'm not a photographer, but I love taking digital photos of interiors. You can view all my RMS photos here, if you want to compare thumbnails, photo size, orientation, etc. (PS...Please don't forget to rate!) Also, please visit Ally6 and ThePickledHutch and rate their spaces too.

If you're still reading this post, I proclaim you an honorary geek!

Happy Sunday!

How to decorate your YouTube channel (Updated)

1/13/2009 - I've digitally redecorated my channel already, a crisp black-and-white zebra theme (touches of blue and red to tie in with the YouTube banner) replaces the glam cheetah pallette, along with a photo of the "real" me. Check it out here!

I've just gotta keep busy. It's after noon on Day 2 of the South Beach Diet and I'm afraid to eat lunch. After seeing a side view of myself (twice!) on HGTV's Rate My Space last Thursday it was good bye, sweet carbs. Hello, turkey bacon.

It's too hot to go to the driving range 'til later, so I've been spending some time on my YouTube channel, uploading more of my video masterpieces (IOW, decluttering 2 hard drives), which I enjoy creating a lot more than my family and friends enjoy watching.

Proud geek that I am, I can't believe I never knew before that you could actually DECORATE your channel. LOL!

How do you like my digital "sample board?" YouTube is one of my favorite online "spaces."

Seemed like it would be a piece of cake (you can tell where my mind's at) to make my page there unique, especially since I've been doing web design since 1996 when it seemed the only women using the web were college students. Nevertheless, I really had to spend some time getting the background, colors, and readability I wanted. Let me know what you think!

Of course I wanted an exotic vibe. Animal print was de riguer because I love furry creatures and my Florida home is filled with animal prints and faux fur. The real fur on the left is my gorgeous hunk of feline love, Ollie...all 20 pounds of him (he claimed that rug in the foyer about 30 seconds after I laid it down a few years ago).

So I found a great free downloadable cheetah pattern created by Stephanie at Obsidian Dawn, a cool Photoshop site. If you want to use any of her work, please be sure to abide by her terms of use.

If just the thought of using Photoshop makes you want to run out for a root canal instead, download my resized-for-YouTube cheetah background here. But again, you must give Obsidian Dawn credit!

In case you're wondering, Spot , my little sweetie above, is the world's most perfect dog. He doesn't eat or poop. And you never have to walk him. But maybe I should... I need some exercise.