Colour for home cinema and office - post yours
Discussion
I'm having trouble deciding on a colour for the home cinema / office room.
The challenge I am having is that I can't choose really dark colours or black as they are not SWMBO friendly and they would make the room totally Home Cinema focused whereas I will be using it as an office too. I don't want to go neutral white / cream as that is no good for reflections and blacking out the room when I do want to watch a movie.
The flooring will be engineered oak, which we can stain if we need to, though more likely it will have a rug over it to make the room accoustics a bit better.
Colours I have on my shortlist are "Tuscan Olive" luxury matt emulsion from Crown's Indulgence range, and "Utility Chic" from Wickes' Chalky Flat Matt range which appears to be very thick and non reflective. But my slight concern with these is that the room will end up looking like an army HQ
I've also ordered some velvet wallpaper samples in a couple of shades of grey and brown.
So - what specific colours / paint ranges do you have in your home cinema / home office rooms, and can you post up some pics to give me some inspiration?
The challenge I am having is that I can't choose really dark colours or black as they are not SWMBO friendly and they would make the room totally Home Cinema focused whereas I will be using it as an office too. I don't want to go neutral white / cream as that is no good for reflections and blacking out the room when I do want to watch a movie.
The flooring will be engineered oak, which we can stain if we need to, though more likely it will have a rug over it to make the room accoustics a bit better.
Colours I have on my shortlist are "Tuscan Olive" luxury matt emulsion from Crown's Indulgence range, and "Utility Chic" from Wickes' Chalky Flat Matt range which appears to be very thick and non reflective. But my slight concern with these is that the room will end up looking like an army HQ
I've also ordered some velvet wallpaper samples in a couple of shades of grey and brown.So - what specific colours / paint ranges do you have in your home cinema / home office rooms, and can you post up some pics to give me some inspiration?
Edited by mattdaniels on Monday 24th September 13:44
This makes a refreshing change from being asked to choose between three 'colours' that I genuinely can't tell apart. All of which have the word 'white' and the name of a fruit in their name.
(The answer is mink - dark enough, light enough, professional enough, cool enough, warm enough)
(The answer is mink - dark enough, light enough, professional enough, cool enough, warm enough)
Do you have an option to use drop down curtains?
You could fix a pelmut type affair around the top of the wall that hides black, drop down curtains. That way, you can paint the room whichever colour you like, then you get to black the room out and aid room treatment in terms of diminishing reverberation when it's time to watch a film.
You could fix a pelmut type affair around the top of the wall that hides black, drop down curtains. That way, you can paint the room whichever colour you like, then you get to black the room out and aid room treatment in terms of diminishing reverberation when it's time to watch a film.
daveaphillips said:
I went for a really dark red in mine, but it's a dedicated room so I don't do anything except watch films in there. I wanted it to look like the cinema I used to go to when I was a teenager, kinda old fashioned and traditional!
Hope this helps,
Dave
No, that doesn't help at all based on my OP, but thanks for your input. Hope this helps,
Dave
Frances The Mute said:
Do you have an option to use drop down curtains?
You could fix a pelmut type affair around the top of the wall that hides black, drop down curtains. That way, you can paint the room whichever colour you like, then you get to black the room out and aid room treatment in terms of diminishing reverberation when it's time to watch a film.
I don't think something like that would be a possibility but it's an interesting idea.You could fix a pelmut type affair around the top of the wall that hides black, drop down curtains. That way, you can paint the room whichever colour you like, then you get to black the room out and aid room treatment in terms of diminishing reverberation when it's time to watch a film.
Can't help too much regarding colours, though I would love a proper dedicated room that would be black & dark grey just to max out image quality. What I did try in my living room (Egyptian cotton walls and typical white ceiling 
) was to make a removable 'tent' using a black cloth. It made a huge difference to the picture quality even though my screen has some gain which should make it a little more directional. I measured the ANSI contrast of the 'standard' room at 75:1, but the treated room came out at 230:1 and looked significantly better (this was JVC HD350 projector).
The only issue is that I found it a bit of a pain to set up this 'tent' for viewing (that and it looked a bit silly too if we had unexpected visitors
). So if you go this route, try to make it very easy to use otherwise you'll give up. Even pull round curtains as suggested may make enough difference, though the ceiling seems to be the worst offender in my room. That way you can chose any colour for the room you like.
I'm debating making a border pelmet all round the ceiling so I can fit electrically operated black velvet blinds to cover the side walls and ceiling at the flick of a switch. Until I can work out how to do this, there probably isn't any point getting a newer projector as IMHO the room won't show the improvement in contrast. It makes a change to read from other projector owners that seem to realise how significant the room is to achieving a high quality result, rather than just having a 'big screen'.
) was to make a removable 'tent' using a black cloth. It made a huge difference to the picture quality even though my screen has some gain which should make it a little more directional. I measured the ANSI contrast of the 'standard' room at 75:1, but the treated room came out at 230:1 and looked significantly better (this was JVC HD350 projector).The only issue is that I found it a bit of a pain to set up this 'tent' for viewing (that and it looked a bit silly too if we had unexpected visitors
). So if you go this route, try to make it very easy to use otherwise you'll give up. Even pull round curtains as suggested may make enough difference, though the ceiling seems to be the worst offender in my room. That way you can chose any colour for the room you like.I'm debating making a border pelmet all round the ceiling so I can fit electrically operated black velvet blinds to cover the side walls and ceiling at the flick of a switch. Until I can work out how to do this, there probably isn't any point getting a newer projector as IMHO the room won't show the improvement in contrast. It makes a change to read from other projector owners that seem to realise how significant the room is to achieving a high quality result, rather than just having a 'big screen'.
mattdaniels said:
arun1uk said:
Have a look at Farrow and Ball - Parma Grey (emulsion).
I have this in my living room and it's just right, depending on the colour of your accessories etc.
No pics at the moment I'm afraid, but plenty on google...
Thanks I've requested their colour card.I have this in my living room and it's just right, depending on the colour of your accessories etc.
No pics at the moment I'm afraid, but plenty on google...
mattdaniels said:
Junior Bianno said:
mattdaniels said:
arun1uk said:
Have a look at Farrow and Ball - Parma Grey (emulsion).
I have this in my living room and it's just right, depending on the colour of your accessories etc.
No pics at the moment I'm afraid, but plenty on google...
Thanks I've requested their colour card.I have this in my living room and it's just right, depending on the colour of your accessories etc.
No pics at the moment I'm afraid, but plenty on google...
Edited by mattdaniels on Wednesday 26th September 11:02
We've got Farrow & Ball 'Stone Blue' http://www.farrow-ball.com/stone-blue/colours//fcp...
I have no idea why, that's the woman's department, but it looks nice enough.
I have no idea why, that's the woman's department, but it looks nice enough.
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