It’s easy to get excited about home theater. Go on the AVS Forum. There certainly is a lot to get your creative juices flowing and your mouth salivating. While seeing the big, beautiful, comfortable rooms might get many to jump into a project, Steve Caesare wanted to take his sweet time.

“I’m genuinely a do-it-yourselfer type of guy. My dad was that way and I grew up that way,” he says. “I’ve always grown up looking at a project with the thought that if at all possible, I’ll try to educate myself on how to do it and try my own hand at it.”

So that’s exactly what Steve did. For three years, he researched how to create his perfect room. He did lots of reading, combed the AVS Forum for suggestions, and talked to people that had been there and done that. 

Not to say that Steve hasn’t jumped the gun before. He had actually attempted theater greatness two years prior. Alas, it was not so great. “After a month, we actually stopped that,” Steve says. He decided to go another route with the framing, for better sound isolation. He also wanted to try something different with the soffit. “So I really don’t count that.”

So Steve waited, researched, added more to the budget and decided to do something better. After all, he had spent enough time thinking about it. When he and wife, Vanessa, looked at houses, he always wanted the theater room. Of course, this basement layout afforded him that dream and much more.

When the entire project was finished, the Caesare household got more than just a theater. Walk down the basement stairs, open a door and you’ll be in theater room, with the screen at the back corner. There’s a large stage built under the screen, which houses storage drawers. To the left and right of the drawers are subwoofers. On either side of the screen are two built-in equipment racks. The cabinets have removable side panels, which provide for easy access. There are also large-diameter conduits to tie both racks together and to allow to cable runs over to the projector. The same room also features a bar area, air hockey and popcorn machine. At the back of the theater room is a gas fireplace, which Steve says comes in handy in the winter.

Behind the bar is a gym/dance studio. There’s also a bathroom and storage closet. Off the theater, through a set of recessed pocket doors is “the lab”—also known as Steve’s work area. “I have a closet for all of the electrical and mechanical connections for the house. It’s where I have a bench and stuff set up for working on electronics projects and computers and all that sort of geeky stuff that I like to do.” Some of that fun also counts as work, though, since Steve is actually a computer geek by profession.

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Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.