Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

"Cinema rooms" - why?

114 replies

Amethyst24 · 29/04/2015 23:38

A perfectly ordinary modern house on a road near where we live has just come on the market, pimped to within an inch of its life, including a so-called "cinema room". It's on at a hilariously high price given its location, and I'll watch its future progress with considerable interest.

But it makes me think - all these mental oligarch's places in Chelsea have cinema rooms, presumably so the owners don't have to talk to their guests. But otherwise why, unless you worked in the industry or had three teenage kids, would you want one? Will anyone on here admit to having one? All I can think of is my late DM saying, "God, darling, how VULGAR."

OP posts:
Pagwatch · 30/04/2015 08:57

I've got a sitting room for chat and a to room. A cinema room in the basement would make me a vulgar tasteless wag. That would be great.

Pagwatch · 30/04/2015 08:57
  • tv room
Blu · 30/04/2015 09:00

If I had the space and a passion for film I would love a really good and big screen and sound system and comfy seating suitable for sitting still for a couple of hours, and not to monopolise the living room with all that. It's just a lifestyle choice, like having a huge bath if 'pampering' is your thing. Not sure why it attracts all this reverse snobbery.

Blu · 30/04/2015 09:02

Pag, can I come round when it's done?

Apatite1 · 30/04/2015 09:02

I'm making a cinema room in the basement. Surround sound, huge screen, sofas with tables for your popcorn and giant fizzy drinks. Can't wait!

Apatite1 · 30/04/2015 09:04

I completely agree blu.

In fact, this way we avoid having screens in the drawing room and bedrooms altogether.

Pagwatch · 30/04/2015 09:05

God yes.
I've already got big squishy sofas and a chaise down there. I think some throws, a big popcorn machine, a small bar and we're on.
Ok maybe not a small bar. We can walk upstairs. Let's not over egg the pudding.

GerundTheBehemoth · 30/04/2015 09:07

That first house doesn't look suitable for harbouring organic lifeforms. It would make a good house for robots though.

123Jump · 30/04/2015 09:12

There was the most hilarious thread before christmas from someone whose PIL would have loved a cinema room.
They had a media room, which was a tv, two chairs in front of it.
Thats it. Thats the media room.
They also cooked ciabatta in the oven and spent the entire meal commenting on "how lovely it was to have hot bread. Isn't it? Lovely, to have hot bread."
Poor OP was going insane, Grin

Momagain1 · 30/04/2015 09:14

Why do you think a cinema room indicates the owner doesnt want to talk to their guests?

I assume a cinema room is because:

they really like movies,
they really like watching movies on as big a screen and with the most cinema like experience,
they really like not having to actually go out in the weather and pay for parking, crap movie snacks and a ticket and then having to put up with people they don't know interrupting their experience,
they really like watching movies unlikely to ever come to/return to their local cinema,
they like the idea of their kids, especially teens, staying IN rather than going out, or
they just really like the idea of adding the latest over the top feature thinking it will increase value.

echt · 30/04/2015 09:18

Second what glastokitty said about cinema rooms being more common in Australia. Which accounts for the vast houses that look like Swedish open prisons being built covering every inch of the block, no garden, no trees to cool them, no birds, and cost an arm and a leg to heat and cool. Sad

A nicer Aussie cinema memory was last year, watching a film projected onto a sheet hung over the pool fence at a friend's house. Hot summer night, drinks, laughs, and not watching the film attentively. Good one.

BoffinMum · 30/04/2015 09:22

I find them absolutely thrilling and think you can really immerse yourself in the film, if they are done properly.

BoffinMum · 30/04/2015 09:23

I should add I often set our living room up as one for teenage parties by projecting films onto a bedsheets, positioning sofas in parallel facing it, and providing popcorn in paper cups. This always goes down extremely well.

Donatellalymanmoss · 30/04/2015 09:24

I don't really watch films so doesn't float my boat but I can see why someone who loves movies would enjoy having one in the house.

I think you may need to take a deep breath OP, this is really quite an inoffensive thing for other people to want to do in their own homes.

Momagain1 · 30/04/2015 09:26

This is the kind of thing I mean about the oligarchs (except theirs are generally underground). It's so aggressively antisocial. I know I'm sounding a bit ranty but I just don't get it.

Why is it anti-social? If you go OUT to a movie, you have a time when you are not chatting. If you stay IN for a movie, you may or may not, depending on the selection of guests and choice of movie. Or presumably sporting events can be shown too, rarely a lack of chatting with a game on. Why does having a particular room/chairs make that any different, in your mind?

Koalafications · 30/04/2015 09:27

That house leaves me very cold. It's fucking hideous.

A cinema room on the other hand... Now that I would quite like. I wouldn't want actual cinema chairs, though. Just really big comfy sofas.

BoffinMum · 30/04/2015 09:27

When we set up the living room as one loads of people come round to watch films with us. It's fantastic fun.

member · 30/04/2015 09:34

That's not a cinema room! A proper cinema room should be in addition to a living room. It's open to the stairs fgs, acoustics would be awful/not contained & it's too reflective. It's a bizarre thing for a developer to put in as a selling point; I can only imagine he's come by a job-lot of tvs & projectors as anybody with even the slightest interest in AV would want to specify what make/size etc were to be used.

I tend toward liking neutral/clean-looking with pops of colour, strong shapes or textures making it more interesting & can envisage it looking less sterile but can't imagine it feeling homely.

likalixer · 30/04/2015 09:38

They had a media room, which was a tv, two chairs in front of it.

I want one! Grin

PinkSquash · 30/04/2015 09:39

I would love a cinema room, but that house is smaller than mine and it wouldn't work at all. Did no one tell the developers that it's meant to be a separate room?

likalixer · 30/04/2015 09:40

cinema rooms being more common in Australia. Which accounts for the vast houses that look like Swedish open prisons being built covering every inch of the block, no garden, no trees to cool them, no birds, and cost an arm and a leg to heat and cool. sad

A nicer Aussie cinema memory was last year, watching a film projected onto a sheet hung over the pool fence at a friend's house. Hot summer night, drinks, laughs, and not watching the film attentively. Good one.

The second scenario sounds like a LOT more fun and less contrived. Sadly we do not have the weather (or the pools) for it.

scribblegirl · 30/04/2015 09:42

I once saw a house which had a cinema room which I really loved. The living room was quite formal and they had a basement room with no windows - not really practical for a bedroom and the kitchen already had a utility attached. It was gorgeous!

DurhamDurham · 30/04/2015 09:58

I don't watch much tv but if I house big enough to accommodate one I would love a cinema room. If we watch a film on our normal 40" tv we all tend to chat/put the kettle on/ browse the internet. I think if it was a much more 'immersive' experience like at the cinema we would concentrate more and actually watch the film Grin
I have two girls 21 and 17, they would love a cinema room. They would also love a hot tub but I think they look awful when stuck in the middle of some cheap decking in a garden.

PatriciaHolm · 30/04/2015 10:11

A friend lives in an (average 3 bed) house that used to be owned by a footballer, who hadn't done much to the house other than convert the garage into a cinema room...

Friends have one in their enormous Putney terrace - its the basement essentially but it is huge, and watching something like Star Wars on it is quite an experience.

AryaUnderfoot · 30/04/2015 17:01

Here is an example of a cinema room gone very, very wrong....

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48504062.html?premiumA=true

Picture 4