Need some help picking wall color

[M.Roberts8]

I am almost finished remodeling my living room and dining room into one large living room. As soon as I recoupe some of the remodeling costs I am looking to go front projection.
I need some advice with what color to paint the walls/ceiling. I was thinking a deep red possibly drybrushed? I want a pleasing living room enviroment while maintaining the best picture quality as possible. I realize this might be asking allot.
I plan on getting a panny 900u unless there is some thing better for the money by the time I am ready to buy. 96" high contrast screen is all the bigger I will be able to go and still fit between my fronts.

[JonMarsh]

Having your projector in your main living room can be a cause of compromises- either with respect to esthetics or performance for your HT. Still, we don't often have a choice about that, do we?

OK, here's the problem- the color you paint the walls affects your visual perception of color on the screen- in more than one way. Besides the psycho-visual affect, the light reflected back on the screen will color shift your gray balance near black.

The best colors for performance are neutral dark grays or black. At lease in the first 6-10 feet from the screen if possible. This will reduce the reflection back on the screen and help your contrast and color accuracy.

~Jon

[M.Roberts8]

Having your projector in your main living room can be a cause of compromises- either with respect to esthetics or performance for your HT. Still, we don't often have a choice about that, do we?

Yeah I know what you mean. A dedicated theater is out of the question for right now at my present house. My brother and I built a dedicated theater in his basement and painted it sherwin williams "hermatite" it is very flat and almost black his 65" RPTV looks awesome down there.
My only real problem is wall coloring. I will be able to get the room almost pitch black as far as light control goes.
I hadn't really thought of gray before. Anyone have pics of rooms that are a gray? I might be able to sell her on the gray if I have a good exaple to show her. When I asked the gf what color to paint the room she jokingly replied " I think flat black would look really nice". She puts up with all my A/V nonsense pretty well.

[KeithM]

here's a grey one and another

I'd do grey if the gf lets you, but the owner of my house says it has to be a color, so I'm going with a grey-blue. And as said, don't get a pure color. It will make the image look different, but whatever you don't don't stay white. Right now I have white floors, ceiling, and walls and the blacks are really washed out.

[M.Roberts8]

Thanks for the responses so far!
KiethM,
Do you happen to know what color the first one is,brand and name?
I got a that's not too bad from the gf so its not out of the question. I have been working the whole "we can always repaint it before we sell the house" angle.
I was also planning on building some acoustic panels like these
I figure I can convince her to do some black ones since they are movable.

Keep the ideas coming :T I really appreciate it!
-Mark

[KeithM]

Sorry, I'm not sure of the name, but I remember it's behr paint. Check out this color selector for a match ( click "start colorsmart")

[George Bellefontaine]

I was able to go with a neutral grey on my walls because it is a dedicated room. I used Benjamin Moore ( mix color is #1602 ) as this was recommended by video guru Joe Kane. The number above was for a very dark grey but you can have them mixed to even lighter neutral greys. BM has color charts you can look at if there is a dealer in your area.

[aud19]

Obviously a flat black would be best for performance but not the most desirable colour for esthetics. I used the following for the wall behind my RPTV with great sucess;

Kodak 18% Grey formula for HD Behr Premium Plus Interior Flat Latex (1 Gallon) from the Kodak color card matched at Home Depot.

Accent Base (1600)
4 columns on label:
------------------------------------------
COLORANT OZ 48 96
------------------------------------------
D Thalo Green 0 36 0
E Thalo Blue 3 14 0
F Red Oxide 1 11 0

I don't have a pic but I will say that it looks phenomenal with the display and even nicer with some white baseboard and crown molding (they really POP off the darker grey) It might be a bit overwhelming to use it for an entire room but if you can manage it for the front 1/3 -1/2 of the room your room might just look and perform well :T

[M.Roberts8]

George and Aud19,
Thanks for the detailed info! I am not sure if there is a Benjiman Moore in my area I will have to check.There is a Home Depot about a hour away which is no big deal since I go up there to see movies anyway.
The only concern about using it for just the front portion of the room is how well it will blend with the rest of the room.
The area where the screen will be is roughly 12' wide about 12'long then the room widens to about 14' for another 14'feet. There is a beam just before the room widens. I had to remove a suppoting wall to do this.
Would it be possible to paint the front half of the room a shade or two darker than the back half? Or would this be too noticeable.

[aud19]

Sounds like it might work quite well to split the colours at the beam :T Something like the grey I posted for the front portion and a complimentary colour for the rest

[M.Roberts8]

Now that I am home I am not sure I can go two seperate colors at least not on the wall.The ceiling shouldn't be a problem since the beam is there. Here are a few pics if it helps. The ceiling is 8'5" except where the beam is.
Since the beam is recessed into the wall on the one side I'm not sure how I would "switch" colors so it didn't look wierd.
Sorry for the crooked pics I'm a little "off" lately

[aud19]

You could use simple trim, acoustic treatments, make "columns" that could hold speakers and break up the room etc... lot's of options :T

[DelRay]

Blue is cool

[George Bellefontaine]

I agree with Jason. A column would be a nice way to break between the two shades.

[M.Roberts8]

Anybody know where I can find some colums reasonably priced? I did a search at home depot and turned up some nice ones but they were about 180-300.00 each! I believe they were for fireplace mantels.

[aud19]

Try lumber/carpentry places :T

[RobP]

Anybody know where I can find some colums reasonably priced? I did a search at home depot and turned up some nice ones but they were about 180-300.00 each! I believe they were for fireplace mantels.

Are you just wanting round style columns?
If you could go with square you can build them yourself for a fraction of what the pre-made units cost. Using MDF you can build whatever you want. Here is a pic of some columns I made in my kitchen, basically just boxes with stock trim added to them. If you look in the back ground there are some large columns that I built and topped them with some pre-made capitols, I painted them to look like wood. The possibilities are endless for you.

[aud19]

Nice work again Robert :T If you're ever in the Vancouver area I've got lot's of work you could do around my house! :rofl:

[RobP]

Thanks Jason, just wait until you see what I have in store for my HT. Buwahhhhh Haaaaa :twisted:

[Chris D]

Holy crap, Robert, you did those yourself? Awesome, dude.

I agree, make your own columns out of MDF. That's what I did. (and MDF is the stuff you want to use, it's thick and heavy and will do well for room acoustics, too. Here's a picture of my room with the MDF columns, walls and columns wrapped in acoustical material, ceiling painted. Blue and grey color scheme.

[RobP]

Thanks for the compliments Chris. What type of lighting did you use in the top of your columns?

[Chris D]

Actually, that's one the cheapest things I've done in the room. All it is, is a $2.00 porch light fixture with a light bulb that I attached to the wall. Then I built the columns around the fixtures, and stopped them short of the ceiling, so the lights shine upwards onto the ceiling to provide indirect lighting. I wanted to go with something reminiscent of streetlights at night.

[draganm]

maybe this will help?

it's a web-site with a section dedicted to color matching

http://www.theatrontheaters.com/special.php?page=showcases&pageTitle=Showcases

[M.Roberts8]

draqanm,
Thanks for the link. I am leaning towards a gray as the others have recommended. The gf said I could paint the ceiling where the projector goes black. So I think that is a big bonus. I also got her to sign off on a fairly dark gray for the walls. The only catch is white trim/crown moulding. I think I can live with that

[draganm]

draqanm,
Thanks for the link. I am leaning towards a gray as the others have recommended. The gf said I could paint the ceiling where the projector goes black. So I think that is a big bonus. I also got her to sign off on a fairly dark gray for the walls. The only catch is white trim/crown moulding. I think I can live with that

the best solutions always require a compromise. Gray with white trim should look pretty cool. Some guys aren't even allowed to have a HT, so a girl that allows HT type rooms AND dark paint is a keeper. :B

[aud19]

draqanm,
Thanks for the link. I am leaning towards a gray as the others have recommended. The gf said I could paint the ceiling where the projector goes black. So I think that is a big bonus. I also got her to sign off on a fairly dark gray for the walls. The only catch is white trim/crown moulding. I think I can live with that

As I mentioned earlier the grey with white trim looks FANTASTIC. The trim really POPS off the grey :T Whichever grey you pick, light dark etc, MAKE SURE it's colour neutral like the formula I posted above, especially important the lighter you go! :yesnod:

Good news on the GF though :T