Color suggestions for dedicated HT walls. What colors did others use? (1 Viewer)

[Curt Luther]

I am just about to the painting stage of my dedicated HT. Does anyone have suggestions? I will have a front projector and a fixed screen. I would like a color that would make the screen stand out and look nice and I am going to have a black suspended ceiling. Thanks for any suggestions.

Curt

 

[Kevin Magee]

I used a Ralph Laren Polo paint called Kilm Red. It's a deep red/burgundy. My wife and mother-in-law picked it out. My ceilings are a dark charcoal gray, Behr Evening Hush. Everyone loves the deep rich color of the Kilm Red which is also a dark color. The room is very dark and reflects almost no light. Even with the lights on in the rest of th house and the doors open, you can not see the screen at the back of the room when the lights are out in that room.

 

[ChadLB]

Most people seem to use a Burgandy/Dark Brown/Grays. I ended up with a bluish Gray and I just got done 2 weekends ago painting it.

 

[TonyGricar]

as an fyi, especially for you red paint users (4+ coats is typical), homedepot's behr paint can be mixed to any of the ralph lauren colors. saves you quite a bit of money. i never knew this, but i asked my hd paint guy for a red ralph lauren and he in turn asked if i want that in rl or behr.

i've consistently found behr to outperform any other brand. (wife's a chronic room painter... and repainter, and...) especially for deeper, richer colors which we've painted approx. 12 rooms with over the last few years.
stoopid "trading spaces"....

also, i painted my ht walls behr "dark ashe" and trim, "evening hush". the dark ashe is not too dark for general room purposes, in fact it looks terrific, especially if you add some color in the way of art or furniture as we did. be sure to have your paint person tint your primer with the wall color. that helps immensely and i only needed 2 coats of wall color, on top of the primer, for newly hung drywall.

-tony

 

[Chris Hovanic]

We used a color from Miller Paint called Plumit. It is a deep purple. With the blind open and the lights on it is brighter but as the room gets dark it gets darker too.

Took us 3 or 4 coats to get a good coverage. You can see pics by click the link in my signature.

For thoes in the Northwest you can get Devine Paint at Miller Paint. If I could have got Plumit in the Devine I would have. I painted my living room/dinning room dark green with one coat. I painted my sons room a dark blue with one coat. The paint is pretty spendy but worth every extra dollar for the time saved doing second/third coats.

Good luck on your color choice!

 

[Curt Luther]

Hey Tony,

Those are the exact colors that my wife and I picked out yesterday! Do you have any pics that you could post or send me? Do you have a fixed screen and if so does it look nice against the dark ash? Good idea about the primer, I will be buying it tomorrow.

Curt

 

[Erik Farstad]

Cranberry Red on the upper walls, lower walls are blue/black fabric. Ceiling is Tornado Grey...all Behr paint! ;-)

You can see pics by following link below!

 

[TonyGricar]

carl, i haven't taken pictures yet as i haven't finished the ceiling (going to use fabric), and to try to get the lighting right for good pics will take a bit 'o work, given the deep colors. our lightening is very minimal and impossible to get bright without bringing in work lights. for grins, i'll go take a couple and see how they come out and shoot you a note.

as for the screen, i have a 55" rptv toshiba, model year 2000 P.S. (Pre-Silver...). it's charcoal grey, so when my sconces (3 pair) are merely dimmed a notch, the tv box disappears completely.

being a graphic designer in a former career-life, i would say that just about any color you pick will look good with grey, so your screen will be no problem. we are doing some home-made pop art type pieces for the walls, and are having fun using ultra-bright colors, such as cobalt blue, a screaming bright yellow, and red lacquer. even lime green would look great (skys the limit with a rich grey wall). my equipment rack is flush to the wall (built a closet for rear access), and the equip is flush-mounted with a 1/2" piece of mdf that i cut into some curving lines. since we've had people over, i've actually had some people (myself now included) that really liked the unfinished tan color of the mdf up against the grey. this piece will be red lacquered, btw.

tony

 

[gregstaten]

Carl - mine has dark green fabric on the upper half of the walls, a medium green patterned fabric on the lower half of the walls, and wood painted a dark redish-brown both as a railing dividing the upper and lower halves and on the bottom of the columns.

I really think dividing the room horizontally makes the room look so much better than an undivided single-color would. Give it a try.

-greg

 

[TonyGricar]

okay, curt... 2 sec exposure cures all lighting woes.
here's a shot showing the behr evening hush and dark ashe.

http://www.digitalniche.com/ht/ht.htm

as an aside, the carpet is lowes install yourself "kanga" brand, with padding pre-attached. installs with double-sided tape, and no seams due to my basement being less than 12' wide.

the walls are not light enough to cause woes from my rptv, yet with lights on, not dark enough to make the room to dim for general basement use. first baby was born mid-construction, so the dedicated theater became an expanded use room (read: playroom) due to a small, cottage style house.

-tony

 

[Curt Luther]

Very Sharp Tony....you sold me on that color combo. After seeing your pics...it makes our decision easy. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

Curt

 

[TonyGricar]

no problem. i'll be getting the rest up in the near future.

-tony

 

[Roger_C]

I keep reading recommendations for a neutral gray, but most don't seem to be doing this. Is it not that important?

 

[Dave Milne]

A neutral gray is supposed to keep the light that bounces off of the walls back onto the screen from altering the color balance. There is some sort of standard... Kodak 13% gray or something like that. I just picked what appeared to be a neutral medium gray.

 

[Gary TP]

Kevin,

You sure its called Kilm Red?

Not on their website...
argh :frowning:

 

[Sean_avnut]

I used currant red and black for mine. Check it out below!

 

[MikeWh]

Gary-- It's called "Kilim Red."
RL Number: TH53
http://rlhome.polo.com/rlhome/produc...&start=48&pg=4

I used it, too. You can see it in the virtual tour on my HT webpage (although the lighting isn't terribly even throughout the image). I had about 20-30 swatches of various reds that I showed to my wife and my sister-in-law, who are both very good with interior design.... In 2 completely separate "trials", they each picked the Kilim Red swatch. I don't think I've ever had a decision made for me that was easier than that!

 

[WojtekZ]

I used a brown/tan color called Wilmington Tan. I would decribe it a a light milk chocholate. I have a RPTV and wanted something that faded to black very nicely.

 

[Jonas Pearson]

We used two shades of what are technically purples but have heavy gray tones. One was a Martha Stewart (hee hee) and one was Ashley Clark I think. I can get the exact names from the fiancee if anyone's interested, see my sig for pics.

 

[RonnieT]

I used a color called CURRANT JAM / ICC-83 from Behr paint. It's a dark red and can be seen below. It took 3 coats plus primer to get it dark enough.

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