Movie Room Ideas | Make Your Home a Cinema!

Skip the theater! Movie room ideas to make you want to stay home.

What’s the best part of the going to the movies? Seeing a new flick, getting snacks and having the peace and darkness that comes with the cinema. With these movie room ideas, we’ll help you bring that experience right to your house. You’ll cuddle up so cozy in a space dedicated to the movies YOU love.

First step: Find the right location

You want a movie room in your house, but where to put it? Best places are the quietest spots in the house that will also keep the surround sound out of the kitchen and living spaces. Think of your basement, bonus room over the garage or even the guest house in the back of your property! Kids move out to college? Great! Now their old bedroom can be your cinema masterpiece. You get the idea! Anything is possible with a dark, quiet and separate space.

But how to sit?

Oh the possibilities are endless! The wonderful thing about movie watching is that it’s not a one-size-fits-all experience. You could have an air mattress to lay on, beanbags to squish into, a giant sectional or separate leather captain seats with cup holders.

If you have a bigger room like an attic, steel building or bonus room over the garage, tiered seating could be a great option. A bunch of leather recliners in an amphitheater style gives everyone their own space. For the more cuddly family however, a microfiber sectional with a lot of blankets might be the best. Especially for young kids in the family, a few well placed bean bags are great! My family loves a big couch to snug on, that’s our family’s personal preference.

Movie Room Ideas aren’t complete without the television!

Now the big question: Do you go with a projector or a traditional television? Depending on your room, a TV might be the easiest and most convenient way to go. Projector setups can be costly and need enough space to display properly. You’ll also need to account for blackout curtains so no light interferes with the movie. Televisions, however, come in all sorts of sizes, resolutions and smart features at a cost effective price point. A backlit screen makes it so much easier to see TVs in all sorts of lighting situations. It really depends on where you want to put your budget: the decor and the seating or the picture and the sound?

You’ll have a bumping good time with the right sound system

We are so blessed in this day and age to have the option of really expensive, professionally placed surround sound speakers or going on Amazon and picking up a simple sound bar. Either way you slice it, you’ll be hearing Jason Bourne like he’s sitting next to you on the couch.

The professional grade surround sound encompasses the room and accounts for how sound waves move in your specific space. You’re not just paying fo the equipment but the expertise of the company you trust to do the work. They’ll guide you based on size of the room and budget on what to get and where to install them. The system will include multiple speakers as well as a subwoofer to get those really deep tones in blockbuster hits.

If you’re balling on a budget, best option is a sound bar! You never want to stick with the sound directly from your TV; those speakers have no business carrying sound out into your living room. There are some amazing sound bar options on Amazon starting around $60. This small change helps any living room fill with better sound than any television will provide.

Other ways to enhance your listening experience involve installing acoustic foam and taking care of other sound proofing. There are drapes you can hang that will help keep the movie sound in and the outside world sounds out. Submersion at it’s finest!

Make your movie room your own with personalized decor

Are you into old Hollywood, sci-fi or are you watching movies with kids? Your decor can reflect this! These movie room ideas can liven up your space and make your cinema room so much more special.

Old Hollywood decor would include lush and rich textures like red velvet curtains, gold accents and chandeliers. Think of all the grandeur of Marilyn Monroe and all the greats that were around her time. Black and white images grace the walls and big poufs for sitting in the middle of the room.

My family always watches The Lord of the Rings at least once a year, we just got the kids into Doctor Who and we’ve been dying to introduce them to Star Wars. Dark tones are a great way to color drench the walls of a movie room and can be the perfect base for sci-fi decor! Add in some soft, luminescent lighting and movie posters from the original Star Wars releases. There are so many cute funko pop figurines you can line up on shelves too!

The best movie room ideas include snacks!

Snacks are an integral part of any movie watching experience! From chocolate to popcorn to gummies, everyone has a favorite something to munch on while relaxing with family and friends. The first thing to figure out is where to put all the snacks. Real Creative, Real Organized had a great article on how to pick the place in your home to house the snacks! If you build an entire room around your movies, you could include a few cabinets to house a mini fridge, drawers for easy snack selection and glass cabinet doors to display pretty jars of candy! A standalone classic air popcorn popper isn’t just a snack accessory, it’s a room accessory too. It can add so much to the decor.

What will you do with these movie room ideas?

From budget solutions to a full on theater room, there are so many ways to make your movie watching experience special at home! Skip the theaters and start enjoying cinema every night. Cozy couches, big blankets, awesome snacks and drinks, all of it helps make memories with your friends and family.

Need a custom built-in designed for your home theater room? Reach out to us! We built the custom bookcase and equipment cabinets for a sweet family obsessed with movies and books. Each piece had to be meticulously fitted to the shape of the room, and wow, the results were incredible! It’s one of our favorite builds to date.