From basement to home theater
A couple of years ago, we bought a fixer-upper of a house with a basement we (okay, I) deemed ideal for a home theater installation. The basement is mostly below ground, with only two small windows to let in sunlight. As empty-nesters, we do most of our living on the main level, so I got the go-ahead to do anything I wanted with the basement, within reason, taste, and budget.

With about five or six years? experience as a carpenter and over eleven in the consumer electronics industry, I had few fears about the task at hand. I consider myself pretty well-equipped to tear down a few walls, put up some new ones, design a basic home theater system, and run the necessary wiring.

Low-hanging duct work and a steel post were immovable obstacles that had to be incorporated into the room's design.

There were a few obstacles I had to overcome. The existing duct work is very low-hanging, and it couldn?t be raised. There was a suspended ceiling, and various previous owners had upgraded some systems by running wiring between the ceiling and floor joists with reckless abandon. The room would require a great deal of retro-wiring to get the electrical, telephone, cable TV, and security system wires where they needed to be. And there is a steel post right in the middle of the proposed viewing area.

High- and low-voltage wires were run willy-nilly between the floor joists and suspended ceiling. Aside from being inconvenient to work around, it was a safety hazard.

Floor Plan
The first thing I did was come up with a sketch of what I wanted to do. Nothing detailed — I just had to decide if any walls needed to come down or be moved, what kind of floor we wanted to have, what kind of lighting to design for, etc. I decided to remove all of the existing circa 1972 wood veneer paneling, take down the suspended ceiling, remove the carpeting, and strip everything down to wall studs. This task was pretty simple and safe — the only hazards I?d warn about are the nails that remain behind when stripping the wall, and the debris you can expect to find above 20-year old ceiling tiles. It can get quite dusty, so please wear a dust mask. Once we had all of the demolished materials moved out, I gave the room a thorough once-over with a Shop Vac.

Aside from the duct work and beam/post, the "before" design gave us a nice blank slate to work with.

Then, it was time to design the theater. The room isn?t huge. It?s L-shaped. The ceiling is low. And there?s that steel post right in the middle. This would take some planning. Plus we have a large leather sectional that needed to fit in the room, and we wanted the basement to be friendly for activities not related to the theater. The deeper I got into the project, the more factors there were to consider! I decided to place the viewing area in the short end of the ?L.?

Empty space transformed into multi-purpose living space. The front main speakers are orange, surrounds are green, and rear surrounds (mounted on the ceiling) are purple. The sub is in the right front corner.

Fortunately, the sectional fit perfectly, with its back against the steel post. The low-hanging duct work is directly above the seating, minimizing its impact on the room?s design (though anybody taller than 6'3" needs to duck to walk between the wall and the sofa). Behind the sectional, we wanted a bar/counter, where we could fit about four bar stools. With just the sectional and the stools, the seating capacity for the theater is 10-12, which is ample. To the left of the sectional, I installed a built-in cabinet for all of the system components (except the TV), and CD racks to house my little "CD addiction" problem. Fortunately, the wall with the built-ins needed to be entirely re-built, so that made both jobs a lot easier.

Finally, we made allowances to have a viewing area at the top of the ?L,? which would seat about four and employ a second TV (which will receive the same video signal as the primary TV). We may need the extra seating on the Sunday of the Big Game!