Painting A Media Room Breaks Traditional Decorating Rules™

It used to be that you had to have a mansion to have a media room in your home; however as people get more plugged in to everything, a media room just makes sense. It is the perfect spot for a family to enjoy movies, the Internet and electronic games. While we spend so much of our decorating energy trying to find ways to bring light into a room and reflect it as much as possible, in a media room you want the exact opposite effect. You want as little light as possible, because you do not want to detract from the movie screen. When we try to minimize light reflection in a media room it is not enough to simply close the curtains, because the movie itself is a light source. So when there is a particularly bright scene in a movie you do not want the light bouncing around the room and distracting the audience. Our eye naturally sees movie detail better in a dark room, and the colors on the screen look more vibrant when viewed in dim light. So now we need to basically think of what we normally do when designing a room and do the opposite. Since light neutral colors reflect light, then it only makes sense that darker shades would absorb the light. You also want to avoid bold dark colors like blue, green or red as these colors can actually reflect tinted light back to the TV screen and alter the color of the picture. The best colors to use on your media room walls are dark colors that really absorb light like charcoal grey and chocolate brown. While black would also work, you do want to remember that you may want to use your media room with the lights on, and black walls are a little bleak. So by sticking with dark neutrals, your media room will function well and look great. If your room is large enough to have a screening section of the room as well as other areas, you may only want to paint the walls in the immediate vicinity of the TV screen in dark neutrals. Then choose medium to lighter neutrals throughout the rest of the media room. Remember the ceiling as you are deciding your painting scheme. It should be dark also. Keep in mind that with all of this darkness it is important to install good lighting to use when you are not enjoying a movie. While it is great to paint your media room a dark neutral, you do not want to have any shine or reflection in your paint finish either. Keep your paint finish flat, and never use high gloss or semi gloss paint finishes. You also want to consider shine and reflection in your water based color pigments accessories and make sure that you stay away from glass and metal, or any shiny surface for that matter, to keep light reflection to a minimum.