Recently Filed in Basement

This Pennsylvania home has music and video everywhere—23 rooms’ worth of distributed audio, plus eight zones featuring video. But the homeowners didn’t want a truly dedicated theater room focused on the best of both to be closed off from the rest of the home. Good thing there was plenty of space to work around. “Once the engineers at Elite Home Technologies saw the drawing of the basement, it was immediately apparent that smack in the middle of the open floorplan, 2,500 square foot space would… View this story
Basement • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Home Theater • Cool Homes

After the owners’ two sump pumps failed, a heavy rainfall deposited several inches of standing water throughout their finished basement. Both the carpeting and the Sheetrock were ruined, according to One Sound Choice, a custom electronics design and installation firm in Pompton Plains, N.J. The owners had contacted One Sound Choice, originally, just to restore the room. It’s only one of the company’s specialties, which also includes the design and installation of audio and video system, outdoor entertainment systems and solar systems. After discovering that… View this story
Basement • Home Theater • Cool Homes

Oh, the joys of adding electronics to a newly remodeled basement. This one’s walls might look sparse, but it’s heavy on entertainment—high-tech and low-tech, like playing poker, ping-pong or table hockey. For starters, there are separate flat-panels and two JBL surround-sound systems—one for high-definition movies and broadcasts and one dedicated just for video games. Custom electronics pro Advanced Media Systems also provided additional screens in the bar area, guest bedroom and bath as well as two in the gym. “Music from any one of multiple… View this story
Basement • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes

Unless you can build your home theater from scratch, it’s likely that you’ll have to jump a few hurdles to get a room into shape. Often, it’s a choice of the lesser of two evils. The owners of this theater had originally planned on converting a lower-level guest bedroom into their media area, but after a chat with the custom electronics pros at Audio Video Interiors in Medina, Ohio, they decided that the larger storage area was a better choice. “The bedroom wasn’t big enough… View this story
Basement • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes

These homeowners and their friends don’t head out to a bar when they want to go have fun—they head downstairs. This family bar and game room is a fantastic place to kick back and have a good time, especially if you want to play cards, billiards or watch TV. Atlanta-area custom electronics pros Digital Interiors integrated the technology, which includes whole-home Crestron control and A/V distribution into this 2008 Atlanta Magazine Dream Home (video link), creating the bar and game room area just outside the… View this story
Basement • Rec/Play Room • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes

Not everyone likes to see their audio and video equipment blinking and buzzing away in the corner. Nor do some people admire speakers set out on the floor. The owners of this renovated basement wanted absolutely nothing but the screen to be seen in their theater, posing an interesting challenge to the home theater designers at Media Rooms Inc. in West Chester, Penn. “One wall was the foundation with very little space between it and the new drywall, while the other three walls abutted living… View this story
Basement • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Basements are a prime spot for home theaters. They’re away from the rest of house so you can decorate them as you like and crank the audio without bothering anyone. They’re also a blank canvas, giving you and your contractor the liberty to build them out however you want. On the flip side, there’s always a possibility that the room could flood, and with few (if any) windows or doorways, it could be difficult to escape the room should you need to leave the house… View this story
Basement • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Home Theater • Cool Homes

Rear-projection TV,  big cabinet loudspeakers, ping-pong table, foosball table, sports memorabilia, wall-to-wall paneling and fireplace: This Ohio basement’s furnishings made for a sweet all-night hangout. Sometimes basements need to grow up, though, and this one was ready to graduate. It wasn’t as simple as plopping a screen on one of the walls and adding seats and surround sound, however. “The owner came by our showroom and fell in love with the idea of putting in a theater,” says Joe Calderaro of Audio Video Interiors (AVI)… View this story
Basement • Rec/Play Room • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes • Slideshows

When Mike McFaul first purchased his home back in 2001, he looked at the 1970s-style basement and instantly thought “home theater.” Mike’s idea of home theater, however isn’t the formal style you find on the pages of many home theater magazines, with theater seats and hidden gear. “I saw a picture of a guy with equipment behind his couch, and used that as an inspiration,” says Mike. “I loved the look of the exposed gear. All those twinkling lights, but I also wanted a family… View this story
Basement • DIY Home Theaters • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Having a special area to watch movies was important to the owner of this entertainment space, but so was a spot to store his collection of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Not willing to compromise on either interest, he split his unfinished 40-by-25-foot basement in half, dedicating each portion to two totally different passions. The homeowner had a clear vision of how each space should function. The entertainment section, for example, would be designed with a bar, poker playing niche and a general sitting area. The designers at… View this story
Basement • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Themed Theaters • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

An unfinished basement is an installer’s dream space for a home theater. Like painting on a blank canvas, he can incorporate just about anything into the room, and build it to the perfect dimensions. For this home theater project, the homeowners had allocated a space 25 feet long by 14 feet wide. “It was the perfect size,” says P.J. Aucoin of Home Concepts in Calgary, Alberta. “We would have enough room for a few tiers of seating and a couple of subwoofers.” Those plans were… View this story
Basement • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Weatherproofing is important to any home in Canada. But to a media room? You bet, says Greg Kraus of London, Ontario. To prevent noise from outside the theater from interfering with the movie presentation, he implemented many of the same weatherproofing techniques used to seal out the cold winter drafts from his home. “The best thing you can do for your theater is to kill the ambient noise,” says Kraus, who in addition to being an A/V enthusiast is a salesperson at London Audio, a… View this story
Basement • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows