Last weekend, we spent the day at Harmony with Tommy’s son, playing darts and watching Hunger Games in our large demo home theater. Neither of them had watched a movie on the big screen there before, so we made it extra special and stopped at the grocery to load up on all kinds of movie snacks–popcorn, candies, dips galore–and wore our pajamas. In our defense, it was cold, wet and rainy, so cozy clothes were a must.
His son immediately settled into the Cuddlebag, a giant, super soft bean bag chair that can comfortably hold three people when you pair it with the Cuddlebag ottoman roll. But we let him enjoy the whole thing to himself and sat in the stadium chair smack in the middle of the room that is the optimum place to experience the surround sound. This isn’t your parents’ surround sound with speakers hung up in each corner. As my son said, “I feel like I’m there!” As the planes whooshed over our heads, bombs went off in the left side of the room, and tanks thundered by, seeming to shake the room.
I may be biased, but I think the home theater experience is superior to the movie theater, although I certainly miss going to those for big releases like Star Wars and other action movies. But the home theater sound, intimacy, and shape makes you feel like you are literally a part of the action. We were all ducking and diving more than we do at the regular theater, and we were giddy with how much fun we were having. Plus, pausing for a mid-movie game of darts and to heat up our pizzas was excellent–I’ve always wished movie theaters had intermissions. 2+ hours for a kid to sit still or not needing a bathroom break is impossible.
I know we will be spending a lot more time together at Harmony going forward to catch big games on the big screen and entertain family, friends, and clients post-COVID. We have some more ideas in the works on how to make our showroom even more representative of the amazing AV and lighting systems we have and how they can integrate into and vastly improve your lifestyle and home life. Maybe you’re the pool table/tavern type and want an amazing sound system, lighting, and a projector in your basement. Or, maybe you want to build a sound recording room that’s soundproof for the rest of your household but high quality enough to put out your next album. You might want to have a killer outdoor entertaining space like we have at our showroom complete with built-in-the-ground speakers and a hidden subwoofer next to our woodfired oven.
Honestly, I want all of the above. I’ll trade a dining room that’s barely used for a custom-designed home theater that my family will get far more use out of, and will bring us closer together than a few meals around a grandiose table. I’ll sacrifice square footage in my bedrooms and bathrooms to have space for a tavern downstairs. And having the perfect backyard for entertaining with quality sound that doesn’t blast out the neighbors with lights that dim according to the time of day? Well, that’s just luxury living on a day-to-day basis worth having a smaller garage for or choosing cabinets or countertops that are not the most expensive ones on the market (you wouldn’t believe how many projects get downgraded because of overly expensive cabinets and trimmings that don’t actually improve the quality of anyone’s life, and then our clients come back later and say they wished they’d downgraded on fixtures and invested more into their project with us).
Where can you cut a few corners in order to have entertainment spaces you can enjoy with your family and friends on a daily basis in your home design planning?
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