Where did all the food stuff go?

I’ve started up a new blog just for cooking and food!  Cooking, cookware, techniques, dining out, etc… all will be covered over there.  This blog will remain focused on photography, travel and personal interests.  The food category has been removed, posts moved over and all further posts of that nature will be made on that other blog.

I made the decision to create the new blog this weekend, when I realized how many different topics I blog about here.  I’d like to devote this space to what it was supposed to be about and leave the cooking stuff on a different site.

EDIT: It’s been about 7-8 months now since the screen was made.  I’ve been using it a lot… we use it at least 2-3 times a week, sometimes more.  I wanted to post here and mention that there has been some warping of the frame (for those who are thinking about building a similar screen) and the lower right corner is coming away from the wall.  Not to worry, though.  Apparently it’s a common issue and, according to answers I got at AVS forum, it can be resolved by attaching the lower left and lower right corners just as I attached the upper left and right.

Another tip I learned in those 8 months – there is pretty much only one way to clean a laminate screen like this that does not leave streaks.  Distilled water, with a tiny drop of dish soap diluted in it.  This “almost-water” can be used to wipe the screen clean and remove any shipping dust/grease/fingerprints.  Using other cleaners will just result in streaks that are noticeable once light is projected onto the laminate.

Now that we are moved in to the new house and things are more or less under control, I was able to complete a “dream project” I’ve had cooking for many years.  Our home theater is (almost) complete!

I had researched quite a few options for buying, painting or making screens for a home theater with a projector and finally resolved to build my own screen from basic materials.  It’s actually cheaper than buying a screen (these suckers are expensive)  and it can have the same or sometimes better performance.  The methods I used have come from various sources including other blogs and the AVS forum (the home theater geek capitol of the internet)

So I built a 120″ diagonal screen.  It turned out to be a bit harder than I expected.  I’m not all that “handy” so for me building a screen might as well have been building a house.  On the other hand, I do tend to have patience and keep trying until I get things right, so I made it through the project.

It’s made out of WilsonArt counter top laminate (for some reason, this works well as a surface for projection according to the DIY research I did) which has been hung on a wooden frame.  The borders are made from MDF base and wrapped with black velvet.  The finished result is a white screen with velvet trim borders.

Here are the materials I used… this is not really a “tutorial” on how to build a screen, as you would still need to get all of your measurements and research the ways you want to attach everything.

Screen

• WilsonArt laminate sheet in Designer White (5′x12′ piece cut to 16:9 ratio.  Lowe’s has this but I found a local Kitchen and Bath distributor who had 25% cheaper prices)
• 3/4″ screws to attach laminate to frame (via pre-drilled holes)

Frame

• 4″ screws
• Poplar 1×4 boards
• L and I brackets
• Hangman 18″ picture hanging system (x2)

Border

• Black velvet (on sale at a scary craft/cloth store)
• MDF base trim with tapered edge from Lowe’s
• Finishing nails

Tools

• Miter box
• Miter saw
• Staple gun
• Hammer
• Power drill/driver
• Measuring tape
• Nail set (to sink finishing nails into velvet)
• Scoring knife (to cut laminate)

I constructed the frame from the poplar boards and screws (using butt joints with 2 screws in each), and used the L and I brackets to further reinforce it on the back of the frame.  I then pre-drilled and screwed the laminate to front of the frame.  Each 45 degree mitered border trim was wrapped with velvet (like canvas if you are a painter) and stapled along the back of each trim piece.  The 4 trim pieces were nailed to the front of the frame, sandwiching the laminate in between the frame and trim.  The nail set was used to sink the nails below the velvet cloth.  The final step was to attach the Hangman cleats to the top of the back of the frame and hang the screen on the wall.

Some photos of the work in progress:

Frame and Unwrapped Trim

Frame and Velvet Wrapped Trim

Detail of Construction and One of the Hangers

I’m projecting on to the screen with a Panasonic AE3000 projector which is an LCD type projector and supports up to 1080p HD resolution.  I use a Playstation 3 for DVD and Blu-ray video.

One more shot:

The Cheap Seats

Next steps are to make a riser so the back seats are raised a bit for a better view, and to touch up and finish paint all around the basement.  Oh, and carefully selected movie posters. ;)

Some things that have been going on lately:

• I’ve been really busy with work and a new web design client trying to get and keep everything going.
• I’ve recently (along with my wife and a friend) painted my basement home theater and am currently trying to figure out how to build a huge screen out of poplar board, kitchen counter laminate, velvet and various odds and ends.
• I can’t wait for warmer weather again.  The more winters I go through, the less I enjoy them.
• We are trying to have a nice paver patio built in the back yard, but it’s really difficult to make a decision on a contractor and design.
• Street Fighter 4 came out (in the USA, anyway) yesterday, February 17th.  This is practically the first all-new game in the series since I was a pre-teenager playing with Super Nintendo.  We’ve all been playing the same game, Street Fighter 2 (come on… no one really played alpha 3) since 1991.
• I am really enjoying the new house we moved into in December.
• I went on a cruise a little while ago and now I miss eating breakfast on the ocean every morning from my room balcony like this:

We moved into our new house on December 13th, 2008.  Today, on February 6th I would say that for the first time, I feel “unpacked.”  There are no more rooms with unpacked boxes, ladders, and bundles of “what do we do with this?”  It’s still a long road to making the house into a comfortable home but it’s good to know we’ve made it this far.

We are back from our high seas adventure (read: relaxing cruise in the Carribean) and I had hoped to start processing and posting photos from the excursion. Unfortunately, one of my first accomplishments back at home was to throw the living hell out of my back so that I was screaming in pain for over an hour, and am still bedridden right now. Lovely… The cruise was, at least, a wonderful experience so look for some photos soon when I am able to get up.