Should I paint the media room all black?

Question

I have a dedicated media room with no windows in my home. We are just beginning the design phase of putting this project together and we are considering painting the walls and ceiling all black and using colored acoustic panels and pictures to add some color to the room. My question is, is this a good idea, should I go all black or should I just do the screen wall and ceiling black and leave the side and back walls a lighter color? How would you paint the room?

This is sort of what we had in mind http://www.4seating.com/images/theater_render_13.jpg

Answer 1

For critical or specialty viewing environments, including home theaters, there are several similarities between the applied acoustical and visual design principles. Considering the extreme cases for each of the two major design characteristics any occupant of a room that behaved as a Black Body Radiator would find it nearly as unpleasant and objectionable as a room that behaved as an anechoic chamber. Complete and thorough absorption of light or sound is undesirable within almost any home theater environment.

For simple, yet effective wall treatment I recommend using 25-32 oz (per linear yard) flame retardant (FR) treated cotton velour drapes with no less than 50% fullness. As an inexpensive alternative to velour you have the choice of using FR treated, 100% cotton, Super Commando Cloth drapery. Should you choose to use drapery it should cover the entire back wall, from the ceiling to the floor, and should be hung from a heavy duty ceiling mounted track. A concomitant benefit to using such a design is that could double as acoustical room treatment, although it may prove to be too acoustically absorptive, in which case you could try a lighter fabric or multiple layers of lighter fabrics combined with a FR treated Duvetyn (aka, Duvetyne) backing. If you so desire you could also incorporate a solid side valance or a wall-pocket to hide the drapes when open. Using drapery would provide you the option of dynamically altering the room from a more aesthetically pleasing environment to a more 'critical' viewing environment as needed.

As far as room surfaces, (whether you choose to use drapes or not,) I recommend painting the walls and ceiling with a special light-diffusing paint. These specialized paints and coatings generally contain barium sulfate, magnesium oxide, and occasionally aluminum oxide, each of which are responsible for a coating’s highly beneficial "Lambertian," i.e. spectrally diffuse reflection, properties.

WITHIN THE FIELD OF VIEW it is also very important that the room surfaces, in addition to being spectrally diffuse, must also be spectrally neutral. The most common approach is to use a combination light-diffusing and absorbing, matte gray paint with a range between Munsell N4 and N8 (from darker to lighter - N4 has L*a*b* values of 40, 0, 0 and N8 has L*a*b* values of 80, 0, 0; Note: some prefer to use Kodak 18% gray as a neutral gray reference rather than the Munsell renotation.) Based on empirical testing matte black surfaces for the "surround" of a display or screen were not optimal (not to mention the aesthetic disadvantages) for a critical or ideal viewing environment.

Again, within in the field of view, another beneficial design attribute can be achieved by creating a quasi-random pattern composed of differing shades of neutral gray such as arranging small spectrally diffuse (acoustical) tiles or panels painted in various shades of matte gray; and here is where black would not pose much of a problem if used in moderation. The remaining room surfaces should be painted with a durable matte paint in your choice of Munsell "nearly-neutral" pastel colors (but only for surfaces out of the rear-most viewer's field of view.)

A viewer's chromatic adaptation and ability to discriminate colors is controlled more by the ambient viewing environment than by the color of the display; ideally the chromaticities of both the environment and the display should strongly correlate to CIE Illuminant D65. This necessitates that much attention be given to the proper color of the viewing environment, especially within the viewer's field of view, as well as the illumination used therein.

All illumination within the viewing environment should be indirect and diffuse to minimize glare and should have a correlated color temperature (CCT) specification of 6500 K, which correlates approximately to Illuminant D65. It is also very important that such illumination should also have a specified color rendering index (CRI) of 92 or greater.

The only illumination within the field of view must be placed behind the coincident plane of the display or screen. The maximum level for this background illumination should be no more than 10% of the peak white level of the display or screen and not less than 5%; many refer to this type of lighting as "bias lighting." A dimmable lighting system will likely be required to achieve the optimum illumination level.

One final note: the optimal placement for a display in a well designed viewing environment requires that the display be positioned 1.5-to-2 picture heights (and sometimes as much as 2.5 picture heights,) from the back wall or surface. The reason for this is to help reduce eye fatigue. The only object that should be in focus in the field of view when viewing a movie is the display or screen. If or when eye fatigue begins to set in a viewer can relax his or her vision by re-focusing on the surface behind the display; this is where a pattern will have its greatest effect.

I hope that some of this information proves helpful in your project.
 

 

Answer 2

Media Room Paint Colors

Answer 3

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RE:
Should I paint the media room all black?
I have a dedicated media room with no windows in my home. We are just beginning the design phase of putting this project together and we are considering painting the walls and ceiling all black and using colored acoustic panels and pictures to add some color to the room. My question is, is this a...

Answer 4

It all depends on whether or not you want to sell the house later. Even using 'Kills' it can be hard to cover black paint. However, if that isn't a factor, then painting it black would be fine - a bit claustrophobic - especially with a black ceiling. If you really want to go with a dark color, maybe you could paint the walls half black and another color, or paint a couple of walls black and have the rest of the walls a lighter color. That would open up the space some.
Of course if I had the chance, I'd put murals on the wall - swirling clouds or a star scape with planets and suns to break up the dark colors.

Answer 5

I would paint the ceiling dark blue or indigo to absorb reflections from the screen.I would have a dark colored thick carpet on the floor The wall behind the screen would be black.The side walls could also be painted dark but a better solution would be to hang double fullness dark colored curtains which would also improve the sound.The wall adjacent to the screen could be dark blue or black.All paints should be flat and non-reflective. Hope this has been some help to you,Rob.

Answer 6

I would say gray or a silvery color, but if you are having all that black in there its going to make your brown dresser look terrible. Black and red are too Chinese looking and not very relaxing colors for the bedroom. A shade of chocolate brown might balance off the dresser if you don't want to paint it, and might be the perfect mix you are looking for. Plus I think it would make for nice relaxing bedroom colors. You could always jazz things up with wild printed curtains or a small throw rug next to the bed. Black and brown are two colors that look good together and are easy to match other things with. Good Luck !

Answer 7

Actually this might be harmful for your eyes. If you wish to paint it black don't paint directly behind the TV area, and put a light on, this will reduce eyestrain.

I recently learned this because they're now making TVs with a light at the back that works with the images on the screen, this is to give your eyes something to focus on so they're not constantly adjusting, which causes eyestrain.

Answer 8

It's not necessary to paint the walls black, but it would help to paint them a darker color, and use flat finish paint, to minimize reflections. I thik as long as you stay away from very light colors and glossy finishes, you'll be fine. Of course, alot of home theater designers cover the walls in fabric, which works well too. Good Luck.

Answer 9

definatlly all black. It then focuses the full effect on the media at hand, like the movie or sound system. Nothing to distract you from the full experience. Our basement is all black and it really helps the effect and situations of the movie. Better mood too.

Answer 10

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