Maybe you’ve seen it in a celebrity home feature or on your Pinterest board—home theater design is changing, shifting its focus from dark rooms with an almost cigar lounge-like quality to a more minimal design that feels lighter due to its use of moody neutrals in paint color and modern home theater furniture, and its warm, inviting lighting. Here are the top reasons for the new trend in home theater design, along with some ways you can incorporate it into your existing home theater.
Home Theaters are Becoming More Multipurpose
A recent shift in home theater design is the room becoming more multipurpose than it’s been before. With people wanting to get the most out of their homes, there has been a melding of home theaters with the traditional family or living room. It’s easily noticeable in the popular home theater recliners with high-end leather upholstery that are becoming more modernly designed—no one’s wanting those entertainment room chairs with overstuffed cushions that look frumpy years down the road. Instead, you’re now seeing high-end entertainment room seating that can easily pass for some upscale living room furniture. There will probably be a gargantuan television screen in the room somewhere, and the rest of the room would fit nicely into the description of a living room, complete with built-in bookshelves, a gaming setup, and more.
Dark walls and black leather-upholstered multimedia room recliners can dampen the vibe in what should otherwise be a space for lounging and relaxing with friends or family. Instead, with the blending of the spaces, these hybrid rooms are featuring lighter colors like white or grey entertainment room seating with fabric upholstery along with bright white walls or another, more muted neutral.
Good Lighting Means Less Eye Strain
One of the biggest reasons people are switching up their home theater and introducing light-colored entertainment room chairs that are so comfortable you can sink into them and well-positioned room lighting is simply because the whole cave look just isn’t good for the eyes. While for the longest time, home theaters were touted as rooms that had to have complete and utter darkness to work right and be able to see the screen, people are beginning to wise up.
Have you ever turned your phone or other device on in what would otherwise be considered complete and total darkness and felt like your eyes had just been accosted by the screen? Yeah, it’s kind of a jarring experience to go from 0 to 100 like that, and home theaters aren’t much different. Staring at a brightly-lit screen while everything else around you is pitch black puts a lot of strain on the eyes, and it’s just not worth it anymore.
People are busting out their white microfiber-upholstered media room recliners and investing in some warm, ambient lighting to better showcase their home theater—and the best part is, the extra light doesn’t ruin the experience one bit. On the contrary, it actually allows you to see the details in a darker movie scene that much better. Plus, there’s the whole thing where your eyes aren’t under constant strain for 2+ hours at a time.
Aesthetics and Ambiance
Moody neutrals are a décor style that screams class and luxury. The dark, drab walls and leather entertainment room seating that could belong in a cigar lounge are still a classic style for sure, but pairing some of the best home theater seating on the market with light walls, warm, inviting lighting, and some airy minimalism is sophisticated, inviting, and luxurious all at the same time. Plus, when the movie ends, a room set up like this can easily transition into being used for something else.
How to Get the Look
Thankfully, getting on trend and capturing the effortless look of the moody neutrals for your own home theater room isn’t too difficult. You don’t need to a complete upheaval to turn your room around. Start by examining your furniture. Do you have a ton of dark colors, like reclining entertainment room chairs upholstered in brown leather or black leather seats? If you’re noticing a consistent use of darker colors, think about switching some of them out for more popular home theater recliners upholstered in fabric or leather. Leather is always a timeless material, and fabric lends itself perfectly to that light, airy vibe that everyone’s going for.
Once you’ve done that, take an extra beat to think about the arrangement of your recliners. Are they multiple rows of three home theater recliners stuffed together? Are you using elevated platforms for entertainment room chairs when you don’t really need to? The goal here is to keep things feeling as airy and open as possible. Start by creating a more open seating arrangement—maybe you’ve got a cute entertainment room loveseat off to the left side of the room along with a single multimedia room chair, and on the right side, you’ve got some luxe white home theater recliners that seat three. Any way you decide to do it, break up the seating layout and allow for some movement within the room.
Once you’ve got the seating in check, move on to the walls. We’ll be the first to say it: there’s really nothing wrong with playing it safe and choosing a nice, bright white paint for your walls. You could always opt for more of a light beige or a dove grey color if you’re really going for the moody aspect. Keep it simple, keep it neutral, and save the saturated colors for another room in the house.
With the rise in multifunctional rooms, it’s no wonder we’re seeing a blend of living areas and home theaters, along with an embracement of moody neutrals in family and friend hangout spaces.