Lights, Camera, Color Choice: Picking the Perfect Hue for Your Home Theater Chairs

There’s a lot that goes into designing a home theater. You’ve got to pick out the actual equipment, figure out how you’re going to soundproof the room (hello, cute acoustic paneling), find furniture pieces for media rooms that fit your style, and so much more. And then there’s the question of the number of entertainment room seating, and—of course—the color of the seating itself.

Colors play a huge role in how we perceive our environments and can even affect our moods slightly, so when you’re trying to create a relaxing environment with some seriously comfortable home theater seats, it’s vital to pick the color that’s going to work best for you. Thankfully, as some of the leaders in the media room recliner industry, we’re kind of experts on this and can pass on some of our top tips.

Color Sets the Mood

Color has long been believed to affect our behavior and mood, and having certain colors in your home space can set the tone for how you feel while you’re at home—and the same goes for your home theater. For example, if you’re thinking about some slick black reclining home theater chairs for the room, it’s going to evoke a classic and sophisticated cinematic feel. Black has long been a color associated with luxury—just think of all the luxury sports cars that come in black. 

If you go with stark white leather-upholstered theater room recliners, it’s going to feel light, airy, and modern. White seating is also fantastic for smaller rooms, because it keeps things feeling open and spacious while darker colors will weigh the room down, making it feel even smaller. 

Brighter colors, like entertainment room seating with red upholstery, can really pop in a room and make you more alert and awake—think of stoplights or stop signs. There’s a reason red is the chosen color, and it’s to make them more noticeable. Red, sort of like black, also has the added bonus of giving off classic movie theater vibes of those plush red chairs you could sink right into.

If you’re having a hard time making up your mind, media room chairs with two colors do exist. For example, if you don’t want to fully commit to a bright and bold color, you could always get a chair that has red and black striping down it, or you could keep things earthy and try out dark green and brown seating—there are tons of options out there.

The Practicality of It All 

It’s easy to make design decisions based on, well, design and what you find attractive and appealing, but there’s also a practicality element to that reclining entertainment room sofa you’ve been eyeing. In home theaters, it’s all about creating as dark of an environment as you can to enhance the quality of the picture and keep any light interference out. Your media room sectional seating also plays a role in this. Dark colors absorb light and minimize reflections, resulting in a clearer image quality on the big screen—those dark brown reclining theater room couches are suddenly looking a lot more appealing.

There’s also the stain factor. Maybe you’ve got some younger kids running around, or maybe you yourself are prone to spills. Either way, lighter-colored chairs—especially home theater chairs with fabric upholstery—are going to show those stains and spills way easier than a black chair would. If you think stains might be an issue in your theater room, it’s best to stick with something that’s not going to shine a bright spotlight on them for the world to see and play it safe. That way, those impossibly luxurious theater room seats are going to stay looking luxurious longer. 

If you’re ever thinking about upgrading your chairs down the line and want to resell the ones you’ve already purchased, neutral colors like grey entertainment room seating—or even black or white—tend to sell quicker and for higher prices than bold colors like reds, greens, or blues. It mostly comes down to neutrals being more palatable for most people and easier to work into any existing design plans, but it’s something to keep in mind if you like to refresh your furniture once in a while.

Tips from the Pros

When you’re shopping around for seating, whether you’re just looking to pick out a single chair or a full row of six theater room recliners for the whole family, consider ordering same sample swatches of the fabric or leather upholstery in different colors. That way, you can see how each of those colors stack up against one another in your unique home theater. It’s hard to get a gauge for color online, and swatches allow you to see how your existing lighting and décor would work with the color you’re looking at.

One of our other favorite tips for when you’re looking at home theater seating for sale is to mostly ignore the trends. That cherry red recliner might be en vogue currently, and it might make your theater room look fashionable and just like those photos you saw in a publication, but it will fall out of style eventually. When you’re shopping for furniture, buy it because you like it, not because some other source told you to. Timeless colors—like all of those greys, browns, blacks, and even whites—are going to be way easier to work with, and they never go out of style. 

At the end of the day, the choice is yours. By following these tips, you’ll be one step closer to picking out the best color for your recliners.