My LOTR Themed Theater Room

Good afternoon guys!
First off I wanted to thank everyone in this forum. I have spent countless hours browsing through these forums getting all kinds of ideas for this room and for future props! I have always wanted a home theater in my house. And I have always loved immersive locations like Universal Studios, Disney, Halloween at Cedar Point, how they incorporate the set into the line making you feel a part of the experience! So I began to design my themed theater.

My wife and I are massive Lord of the Rings fans so it seemed the best idea to theme my theater in LOTR! I began planning the spring/summer of 2014. And began construction the beginning of November of 2014. I Had quite a few pictures of that winter, but lost them all after a failed windows 10 update...Basically I tore out all the drop ceiling. I moved duct work and wiring to allow me to drywall. Ran all my speaker wire, hdmi, etc.Built my soffits to hide said duct work and the projector. And wrapped up the winter with drywall.

So fast forward to this last November, 2015. Here is where I have pictures for my work. I figure I will post some photos with a brief description and if anyone has any further questions, I'd be happy to answer them! And finally critiques, please feel free to give me any advice criticism, whatever! I love this community and I feel privileged to be able to post here! Thanks!


So this was the first project I tackled, an Argonath for each corner surrounding my screen. This was my visualization.


Next I took the Weta bookends I had and photographed them on a white background so I could scale them up to size.


Next I laid a graph of 1"x1" over the photos and decided on a final statue size. I wanted to maximize the room size and make these guys as large as possible! So I decided on a final height of 90" from the tip of the crown to the floor. I then laid a grid over 4'x8' sheets of eps foam.


I then roughly cut out the shape and traced it onto 4 more sheets of eps. I then cut 4 sheets for the arm and ax buildup and glued the entire thing together into one massive block.


And in no particular order, I began to carve the statue bit by bit. I realized quickly that minor details were much harder to replicate in the foam exactly as the Weta pieces, so I adapted my own interpretation of how I felt these guys would look! I also had to turn the hand up closer to a 90 then a 45 to accommodate my space.

Wow, can't wait to see how this comes out!

When I finished every detail to my satisfaction I then had to mount the guy.
I named him Calvin in honor of my sister's son being born the same day I finished carving!
I needed to carve slots in the back to slide him over the built in shelves I made to display
some of my prop collection. That was way tougher than I had anticipated! took me around 2
hours to get it right!


Meanwhile I was lucky enough to
land this guy, major thanks to my amazing wife
for going along with this!! I have plans for a
"Gollum's Cave" under my concession area
I will be detailing that construction later!


The second statue was much easier then the first both because of
experience under my belt, and the considerably less detail that went
into him. Maybe should have started with him...


So here is a messy shot of what my screen
wall is looking like with both Calvin, and
no name installed.


Next I began the hard coating process. I decided to
go with HWFF Foam coat both because of ease
of use, and affordability! It can be mixed to almost any
consistency and troweled or painted on. I chose
to lay a thick coat with their additive, Boost, for my
first coat, and mixed some paint into it for my second.
It's not as rock hard as I had hoped, but it shouldn't be a
major concern.

This is a view of the soffit I built to look
like the second floor of a building. It houses
a ton of wiring. And will house the projector.


Here is another shot with the upper soffit
mainly finished, and the beginning of the lower
part of the building. The window will hold
one of my speakers for the surround sound
with a faux window made from speaker
cloth covering it.


Another shot with a bit more carving
completed. The section to the right
is the upper part of the concession
area, holding the popcorn machine
and the hidden barrel cupboard.


Here is a shot looking up at the detail of
the carvings under the soffits.


A little better view of the
concession area. Under
this will be a mini fridge,
multi tiered candy shelves,
and Gollums Cave...

I have quite a few more things to post but I will need to take more pictures of them tomorrow. So thanks for looking, I'll keep this updated as often as I can.

Great job!

Looks awesome! I definitely will be following along.

I to have a LOTR theater, but not to the extent as yours.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskc9QZNo

As a huge LOTR fan this is amazing, can't wait to see more!!

really nice idea! looks awsome

Thanks for the kind words guys I appreciate it! Stivie, your room is amazing! I've looked at your pictures quite a few times, your collection is second to none! I love the coffee table shadow box! It looks so natural, like you pulled it directly from Bag End!?! Everything you have set up has been very inspiring! So a compliment from you is very appreciated!

Cannot get enough of themed home theaters!

Wow that looks awesome !!

Sharken Beard said:

Thanks for the kind words guys I appreciate it! Stivie, your room is amazing! I've looked at your pictures quite a few times, your collection is second to none! I love the coffee table shadow box! It looks so natural, like you pulled it directly from Bag End!?! Everything you have set up has been very inspiring! So a compliment from you is very appreciated!

Click to expand...

So many people on this amazing forum have inspired me to make what I have and I'm glad it can in turn inspire others. Keep up the good work as there can't be enough LOTR in the world!

Very nice collection Stivie and displayed well too, thank you for posting your photos. Good luck with your LOTR theater Sharken Beard...looks really good so far.

Ok here are a few more shots of the room


Here is a view of Both the left and right statues
after they've been coated a final time. They just
need details and weathering applied and they're
finished!


And this shot with my
beautiful wife shows
just how large they are
in person


Here is another shot of both statues with
the base coat of paint on the entire wall.
Tomorrow I will begin a second coat, then
weathering the statues and rock walls.


Here is another shot of the concession area
cupboard closed and open. I designed the labels
for both of the barrels just to fit within the theme.
This area is supposed to be roughly designed to look
like the Prancing Pony. I hope to find a nice sign
to hang here someday!


Here is the completed wall
with 3 coats of hard coating.
Just need to weather this now.
This is supposed to be a
building from Bree.


This will be where I build the
platforms for the seating area.
The entire corner area is
going to be modeled after
the ruins of Osgiliath. Stone
walls, with a little Star Wars
easter egg hidden among
the ruins, more on that later...


Here is a view of the underside of the corner
soffit. The holes will be for my rear speakers.


Another view of the soffit. And the other
side speaker. The trim at the top is installed
a half inch from the ceiling allowing the rope
light I installed to shine through.

That's about everything caught up now. Tomorrow I will be working on the room again. In the meantime, does anyone have any advice on weathering the statues? I've never really done any weathering before, I have various shades of gray, and I want to wash it in some blacks, I think at least? I also have some moss colors to dry brush onto the stones. But all in all, I don't know what I'm doing :confused

Hmmm, any ideas why the photos are not displaying properly?

Amazing work!

Great job! I really like the barrels in the concession stand area - very clever!

Great work! enjoying the progress and theming!

Thank you everyone! It's very motivating to hear all your comments! I did get a second coat of paint on the statue/screen wall. And more importantly I got my first coat of hard coat on the wall and soffit in the concession area. Not a whole lot to see so I didn't take many pictures. If I can convince my wife, tomorrow we will weather the statues, and that will be some noticeable progress.
Meanwhile, does anyone know a good clear coat with a matte finish I can apply to the shelves? I used flat paint and it shows scuffs pretty easily. Since that will be my prop display, and I like handling the props, I am worried it'll look bad quickly.

Rustoleum makes a polyurethane in matte that works really well and can be found at Lowe's. Do a test as any clear coat will change the hue of the paint.