Man Transforms Unused Space In His Home Into Awesome Home Theatre

Imagine never having to step on sticky floors, wipe off dirty seats, fight for a seat that won’t break your neck, listen to inconsiderate people whisper too loudly, stretch your neck out so you can see past the person in front of you or ask the person behind you to stop kicking your chair.

Steve Gravley never, ever has to do any of those things again because he decided to transform a room in his home that wasn’t being used into something awesome.

For six years, Steve dreamed of building a home theater. He did not have a livable basement in his first home so he had to wait. But when he moved to his new home, he began to make his dream into a reality and started work on his home building project in Mahtomedi, MN, which he called the LEVEL 4 home theater!

“I am an IT guy, so much of this DIY stuff will be a learning process for me,” wrote Steve. “At least I’m good with the AV and technical stuff.”




Steve did the project in phases as “home theaters cost money…loads of it” and he said he had only “one load” to begin with. He developed a project plan and design and set to work. A year and a half later, his theater was finished.

Steve wrote, “I learned a lot…I’m very fortunate to have had the opportunity to do something like this.”

Steve shared the following photos with Reshareworthy.com documenting his work in building his dream home theater.

“The room before any work was done. It was a space that we didn’t use much, plus: I wanted a home theater!”

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“I removed the ceiling tiles and the closet front.”

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“And now the shelves are gone.”

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“Here I’m making the closet space wider so I can put my AV cabinet in there.”

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“Some cabling details.”

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“Installing the AV cabinet.”

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“I built a motorized projector lift using a Firgelli motor.”

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“My son is helping test screen sizes; important measurement for the rest of the room!”

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 “Insulation in the ceiling helps prevent a reverberation effect. It doesn’t do as much as you would think for sound proofing.” Steve also added soffets to help make the room more “theater-y”.

“I added the curved proscenium and lights to the front.”

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“Sheetrock! Mudded, taped and primed. The sanding of the last coat of mud was one of the two steps I paid to have someone else do.”

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“The final colors of the room.”

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“On the front wall, I added specialized insulation to provide some acoustic enhancements. It’s umm…like complicated and stuff.”

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“I added a velvet liner to the front proscenium.”

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“Building the stage!”

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“Aaaand, we’re done. The speakers are on stands at ear level. The front is nearly finished. Here’s the frame for the screen. I attached the fabric and mounted it. And the velvet panels make up the front. They eat any light the spills over.”

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Steve made some velvet panels and put them in the front. “They eat any light that spills over.”

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“The front is finished.”

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Steve inset boxes with crown molding and mounted them in the ceiling space. 

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 “And the ceiling coffering is finished!”

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“The columns are finished!”

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Steve built a panel and then cut the holes for the outlet and the AV jack.

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“Here are the frames for the acoustic panels I added to room.I wrapped them in fabric and added insulation behind them.Here’s one mounted.”

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“Final shots! Thanks for taking the time to look at my build!”

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It looks great! I know I’d be watching movies every night if I had a home theater like that! Steve’s blogged his entire project in detail here.

Photos published on Reshareworthy.com with permission from Steve Gravley.

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