Which color to paint my room?

[bigbassdave]

Exciting times! My wife and I are moving out of our condo and buying our first house. It's a 3 bedroom place and I get to turn one of those into a man room. this is where I'll be placing my Mitsu HC5500 projector and screen. Would I be correct in assuming that black would be the best choice? My wife hates the idea of painting the entire room black so we may need to come to some kind of compromise. Is it as simple as the darker the better? Would love suggestions. I really want the best picture quality possible.

 

[its phillip]

How about a nice dark gray? I don't have any specific paint or colors to recommend unfortunately - the only time I ever painted a room was when I was ordered to

 

[BMXTRIX]

Darker is better, but that means everything. Walls, ceiling, floors. Since painting the floors can be pretty messy, I suggest dark carpet.

Color matters, but not really. Flat paint is a REQUIREMENT!

That is, as the room gets darker, the reflections from that room will affect color on screen less and less and less. Deep blues, reds, greens, browns... they all do a great job of simply making the room into a proper theater.

I just finished my basement, and went with a burgundy color. Then dark grey for the ceiling with dark grey carpet. Some trim in the room and and doors behind the screen are a bright white, but have almost no impact on things. The doors are actually a bit distracting, so I may repaint them later (pain in the neck!).

Blackout shades/curtains on the windows (preferably both).

The more audio minded people will tell you that room acoustics is one of the single best investments you can make in a room to improve sound.

I can tell you that as a projector person - a can of dark paint or two is the single best investment you can make in any front projection setup after you get a proper projector and screen.

I would STRONGLY!!! recommend adding a lot of recessed/directional lights to the room. If the room is on a top floor or has retro access, adding 6+ recessed lights only takes about a day of your own labor to do. It is incredibly easy to do with most of the work being done from the room upward. A couple of zones of good lighting go a long way to make a dark room feel far less like a cave.

As to your wife... She gets every othe room in the house to be bright and cheerful in. A theater is purpose driven, and with proper lighting, even though the colors are dark, the room itself can be plenty bright when necessary with proper lighting. Include her in this, but help her to understand that dark colors don't mean depressing. Custom woodwork is often dark and covers entire walls of rooms. It is 'executive' looking, or 'upper class' to have some darker rooms. When you turn lights down, it helps you relax, and feel more comfortable. More homey. This is the type of feeling a dark theater helps to inspire, and they become very relaxing rooms instead of the bright high energy rooms in the rest of the home.

 

[jostenmeat]

Exciting times! My wife and I are moving out of our condo and buying our first house. It's a 3 bedroom place and I get to turn one of those into a man room. this is where I'll be placing my Mitsu HC5500 projector and screen. Would I be correct in assuming that black would be the best choice? My wife hates the idea of painting the entire room black so we may need to come to some kind of compromise. Is it as simple as the darker the better? Would love suggestions. I really want the best picture quality possible.

BMX gave you a very good response. I agree with him that choosing flat paint is more important than the color of paint. That said, yes flat black would be best for performance. But whatever the color, go flat/matte as possible.

I have two large Ikea black carpets at the front, and it was a huge improvement when I did that years ago, on top of the white carpet.

I used Behr Mouse Ears paint (it's a Disney black color). The pros are that it's affordable and very easy to apply and/or touchup.

However, I am led to believe that others will outperform it, including the Benjamin Moore flat black in terms of being flat.

I learned about both of the above when reading a poster just raving about the Rosco Supersaturated Velour #6003. However, this stuff is considerably pricier, and supposedly more of a pain to work with. You get some value back because you are supposed to dilute it before application. He described it as black hole paint.

On one hand I do wish I chose something else besides the Behr because I was a bit disappointed in its reflectivity. On the other hand, I probably already have to do some touch up with my latest renovations, and so I'm glad I got the easy stuff that won't fly everywhere; it's like painting with tar.

If you ever look for light absorbing velvet, I have to recommend the Fidelio for $9 per linear foot from the Seymour AV store. This stuff is nuts. I just finished gluing and stapling my screen frame, and I had a headlamp at max setting, with a tripod flashlight at max setting, with all the ceiling lights at max setting, and I could barely see the cut I was making. 0.3% reflectivity, used on the insides of telescopes. I dry fitted the frame onto a false wall covered in speaker cloth, and then all of a sudden the black speaker cloth looked like a light gray.

 

[gmichael]

Exciting in deed! Enjoy....



I went with a dark burgundy for the walls and curtains (with Blackout shades under the curtains). The floor got a deep blue carpet. The ceiling is the only surface that got an off white, but then I put black acoustic tiles on it.
We went with recessed lighting throughout the house. I switched one bulb with a dark red light that I keep on to read the remote.

 

[billy p]

Deep based colours get my vote...lots of nice shades to choose from. This will make the missus happy and like they say "you gotta pick your battles"... lol.

My 2 cents...

 

[the grunt]

I can tell you that as a projector person - a can of dark paint or two is the single best investment you can make in any front projection setup after you get a proper projector and screen.

In my experience darkening the room also improves the audio by helping you “suspend disbelief” while watching a movie. W/o the visual queues from bright reflected light or light creeping in through windows I find that soundtracks especially the surround sound seems more realistic.

 

[bigbassdave]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I think a dark FLAT gray might do the trick. The carpet is lighter in color and brand new so I don't really see myself replacing it. I liked the idea of a dark rug though. That could work.

 

[billy p]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I think a dark FLAT gray might do the trick. The carpet is lighter in color and brand new so I don't really see myself replacing it. I liked the idea of a dark rug though. That could work.

Grey is in, very trendy with folk now...so, I watch a lot of HGTV.....

Good luck with the painting are you going to do it yourselves or hire someone?

 

[bigbassdave]

We would be doing the painting ourselves.

 

[Luder]

Defiantly go with a dark color....you could do a dark maroon red.

 

[james7266]

Which color to paint my room? Reply to Thread

Try sky blue and light green

 

[bhuskins]

Dark and Flat...also don't forget all the things near the screen area...cabinetry, glass of any sort and just about anything with a sheen like wood trim. These all can be minimized with low reflective finishes.

 

[thomas_Oct17]

Reply

Exciting times! My wife and I are moving out of our condo and buying our first house. It's a 3 bedroom place and I get to turn one of those into a man room. this is where I'll be placing my Mitsu HC5500 projector and screen. Would I be correct in assuming that black would be the best choice? My wife hates the idea of painting the entire room black so we may need to come to some kind of compromise. Is it as simple as the darker the better? Would love suggestions. I really want the best picture quality possible.

Black not looks cool.
THOMAS SMITH

 

[stealthrt]

Go with either dark grey or very dark blue. Both colors look great in light and pretty much match "black" when dark . Like most everyone here has said, just any deep color will do fine. Although i would stay away from dark red... It may look good at first but you will not like it after awhile But then again, its my own 2cents

David

 

[bigbassdave]

I went with a very dark grey (almost looks black) for the walls. Its a Behr paint found at Home depot and the color is called "Dark Cavern." Then I went with a dark red for the ceiling. Both are flat. I am going to be painting the second coats today. Pics to follow. Thanks everyone for advice.

 

[Jaferitis]

Any dark color. Black is too depressing though lol

 

[bigbassdave]

Still putting the room together. but here is what it looks like so far
View attachment 9080

View attachment 9081

 

[just-some-guy]

looks nice.

is that bookshelf in the way of the left speakers ?

 

[bigbassdave]

The bookshelf is not staying. I don't even have the speakers hooked up yet. I'm so ready for the whole moving experience to be done. I had used that shelf for storing my movies at my last place but with the size of this room I think I'm going to have to find a different solution.