My LOTR Themed Theater Room
- Thread starter Sharken Beard
- Start date
Sharken Beard
Active Member
Ok I think I figured it out, let me know if the pictures show for everyone now.
N2darkness
Sr Member
Pictures showing up for me now. Awesome work and look forward to seeing the finished door.
timelordjedi777
Sr Member
You should paint the letters with glow in the dark paint and aim a black light at the door. Looks great.
Sharken Beard
Active Member
Thank you everyone! I am getting antsy for the arrival of the two doors. Hopefully they will be here within a week? That will be the next big update I believe. Once I finish that section of the room, I will be moving on to the seating area, the last big build of the room. I have been designing and redesigning that entire section in my head and on paper for the past year or so, I'm driving myself crazy with the redesigns... Time to just build it already. I'm sure I'll like however it comes out!
Sharken Beard
Active Member
Ok small progress report. I have installed the double doors for the Doors of Durin. That was nerve wracking, making 2 doors fit perfectly in a frame intended for a single, hollow core door! Needless to say I had to reinforce the frame substantially to accept the 2 solid wood doors! So here are some pictures to show the progress thus far!
Here is the doors with the stone panels already attached. I also began attaching the door pieces, here is the crown and topmost star.
Here is the hammer and anvil
Pretty much the rest of the door pieces except the trees! Hard to see but I attached the symbols in the upper corners of the wall as well.
Close up view of the attached pieces.
I also bought some sky blue glow in the dark powder to mix my own paint to outline the various parts of the door that glow when opened!
Next up is building the tops and bottoms of the columns, cut out the trees, then hardcoat and paint the entire area! Definitely getting excited with the progress! I only have a month and a half left of my "real" job before I can focus all my time and energy on finishing this project, cannot wait!
Here is the doors with the stone panels already attached. I also began attaching the door pieces, here is the crown and topmost star.
Here is the hammer and anvil
Pretty much the rest of the door pieces except the trees! Hard to see but I attached the symbols in the upper corners of the wall as well.
Close up view of the attached pieces.
I also bought some sky blue glow in the dark powder to mix my own paint to outline the various parts of the door that glow when opened!
Next up is building the tops and bottoms of the columns, cut out the trees, then hardcoat and paint the entire area! Definitely getting excited with the progress! I only have a month and a half left of my "real" job before I can focus all my time and energy on finishing this project, cannot wait!
Sharken Beard
Active Member
cavx
Master Member
You get echos in a room like that when you have flat, parallel surfaces - ie side walls, end and screen wall and floor and ceiling. Sound waves bounce around the room like billiard balls. Room modes can be worked out because they are essentially the speed of sound divided by the distance between any two surfaces, You add odd shapes (like your statues) and you start to break these up. The more solid these shapes are, the better they work, so if the statues were made of foam, they would not be as efficient as statues made from wood or even plaster/concrete.
You still need to treat the surfaces of the room as well. In my room (pictured), I treated using both absorption and diffusion. The absorption panels are floor to ceiling for the first 1/3rd of the room, then the bottom half for the other 2/3rds. At the front of the room, there are no echoes at all and that is what I wanted. You clap your hands and all you hear is a dull thud. Basically the only echoes I want hear at that end of the room are what are coming out of the speakers. This make dialogue really easy to understand and it is not that hard to do. The rest of the room is half live so there is ambience with the surrounds.
The first diffusion tile I added can be seen between the two back surrounds. It has been move up slightly (and shelf removed) since this photo was taken, so it is in direct line with the centre speaker. I want a about 7 more to place around the room next to the other drivers of the surrounds.
Attachments
Sharken Beard
Active Member
cavx very nice looking room! I'd love to see more of it, you don't happen to have a build thread or anything on it do you?
In regards to the sound dispersion, that was incredibly informative, I appreciate you taking the time to share!
On a side note, I am stumped at the moment about what to do for a window/door treatment, and have it fit within the theme? I originally thought about purchasing the ultra high resolution map of middle earth and having it printed onto fabric, then having my wife make light blocking curtains. Then I thought of a buying a tapestry and doing the same kind of idea. Nothing is really grabbing me though, any one have any thoughts on the matter?
In regards to the sound dispersion, that was incredibly informative, I appreciate you taking the time to share!
On a side note, I am stumped at the moment about what to do for a window/door treatment, and have it fit within the theme? I originally thought about purchasing the ultra high resolution map of middle earth and having it printed onto fabric, then having my wife make light blocking curtains. Then I thought of a buying a tapestry and doing the same kind of idea. Nothing is really grabbing me though, any one have any thoughts on the matter?
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cavx
Master Member
I don't think I have done a build thread on my room, just my BLOG. The room is 6 years old now and I love it. It is starting to rattle now, but still gives me hours of "escape". I love my movies and music. It is now where all my props reside.
Your room.
Windows always pose a problem in HT design. In some areas, the law states that a room (a HT used to be able to classified as a "non-dwelling area" and be exempt) must have X amount of natural light (this always bugged me as the purpose of the room was to control light) and have natural, non mechanically assisted ventilation. You will need to check your local laws on this, but if the window is not required in the room (but is by law), you can build a "plug" for it. Basically a wood frame that sits into the window frame and this is sheeted to match the rest of the wall. Total light block out and a much better sound isolation. Glass is odd because low bass will pass through it like it is not even there. Even those expensive double glass panels (with a supposed vacuum cavity between them) only filter sound down to low hundreds of Hz. I challenged one company to place a sub-woofer in their special test box. They declined.
Doors are a worry. You need them for two purposes, 1 to enter/exit the room, and 2 air exchange. Avoid cavity or sliding doors if you can. You are best to have solid core hinged doors. I actually have two at 750mm wide each. One is locked, but can be opened and other is the main point of entry. If you already have cavity doors, you could add mass to the wall by creating more sculpted parts, just not as deep.
I think I will start adding mass to my walls. When I first built the room, I designed to be pulled apart like a display stand at an expo. It ain't going anywhere, not I might as well max it out. Maybe I can fix some of the rattles
Sharken Beard
Active Member
Ok quick update, I have finished and installed all of the door parts. I still need to build the upper and lower column parts, hard coat, paint and outline. Then this section is finished! I know the handles are not from the original image but seeing as I had to make it functional these felt right. They look dwarven, hand forged steel rings, I really like them! As always, any ideas, please let me know!
cavx the section of the room I need curtains for is a set of sliding doors leading out to the backyard, not an ideal set up but I will figure it out! Anyone have any unique ideas to fit within the Middle Earth universe? Any one perhaps a professional tapestry weaver??
No idea why these are flipped sideways...
cavx the section of the room I need curtains for is a set of sliding doors leading out to the backyard, not an ideal set up but I will figure it out! Anyone have any unique ideas to fit within the Middle Earth universe? Any one perhaps a professional tapestry weaver??
No idea why these are flipped sideways...
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cavx
Master Member
In that case, get block out curtains. The heavier the better. The thing is, having curtains on just one side unbalances the acoustics of the room. Curtains absorb HFs so unless you have mock curtains on the other side, your room will have more HFs on one side. A friend of mine discovered this. He only ever used the ready made curtains you buy ready to hang, but be bought two sets extra to balance out the room after hearing the effects himself.
Mark Roman
New Member
This is looking really neat so far, cant wait to see it completed.
timelordjedi777
Sr Member
As for your window. I'd look at the art of Ted Nasmith and have a poster made. He does beautiful depictions of middle earth.
Yes, very cool. Makes me want to do something like that.
