Does anybody have home theatres anymore?

[Anonymous]

Just closed on a house built in the 90s that has a full on home theatre in the basement with multi-levels, giant chairs, a screen with red curtains and a popcorn machine. We probably won’t get much use out of it but it also seems very dated to me. Does anyone building a new house today include a home theatre? We’re trying to decide if we should keep it. We already have a gym.

[Anonymous]

we have one but it became a storage room

[Anonymous]

Most of my friends have homes from late 90’s and early 2000’s so home theaters were a thing but most were turned into offices during covid as if both spouses needed to work from home. Few were transformed into guest suits as grown kids and their families visit or elderly parents moved in. One turned it into a pickleball court, we all use.

[Anonymous]

No, I have a full size cinema, of course.

[Anonymous]

If you’ll use it, modernize it. Modern home theaters can be amazing - new projectors, update the decor and lighting, possibly replace the speakers and other equipment.

[Anonymous]

I think it sounds like a lot of fun to have one, especially if you have kids.

[Anonymous]

They got popular in the late 90s and started to wane in the mid/late 2000s. Its probably been a good 10 years since I've worked on a project that included a purposely built one.

[Anonymous]

People mostly watch tv on their tablets or phones and movies in theaters. Actual tv watching at home is at all time low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it sounds like a lot of fun to have one, especially if you have kids.

Definitely. Heck, DH and I would use the heck out of one.

[Anonymous]

My teens often have friends over to watch movies/play video games in our "home theater". Ours is just a sectional with a big screen and surround sound, so not very fancy, but the kids like it.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends where you live and the size/style of your house. If you have a large finished basement, they are a good solution to the room/area away from the windows/walk out door on the other side. Assuming you don’t have water or critter issues in a walk out basement, I can see kids enjoying it. It also is good if the rest of the house is not a transitional, modern, mid century etc style. If you have more formal spaces..ie Victorian or 90s I don’t know what to call it but ornate etc,

I don’t see many now that were in CA but we have large great rooms with lots of comfortable seating and large screen flat panel TVs.

[Anonymous]

Surround sound is amazing!

[Anonymous]

My firm put one in the new wing's basement off a 13th century monastery in the UK in 2014. My guess is, the local village doesn't have a movie theater.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My firm put one in the new wing's basement off a 13th century monastery in the UK in 2014. My guess is, the local village doesn't have a movie theater.

Follow up to above -
But in a CA golf and beach home, we just put in an automatic screen in the Living Room. The projector was about 60K - something about its cooling technology made it cost that much. Automatic blackout roller shades in the room too.