Home cinema lighting decides how a cinema room feels long before the film starts. It has to let people find their seats and slip out in the dark without a stumble, and it has to frame the picture without washing it out. The cinema in these photos, taken in March 2020, shows three layers of light that work well together: on the steps, behind the seats and around the screen.
Layer one: the steps
The back row sits on a raised, carpeted platform, and a slim LED strip follows the edge of each step. It marks every change of level without throwing light towards the screen, so a latecomer can reach a seat while the film plays.
Layer two: the wall behind the seats
Light rises up the textured wall from behind the recliners, with small wall lights higher up. The colour can change, white in one photo and green in another, so the room can match the film or just the mood of the evening. Because the light lands on the back wall, it lifts the room without reaching the screen.
Layer three: around the screen
A green LED frame surrounds the screen, with another line of light at floor level beneath it. This is a form of bias lighting: a soft glow around a screen reduces the jump in brightness between a bright picture and a dark wall, which many people find easier on the eyes during a long film. The projector is mounted up near the ceiling at the back, and when we took the photos the screen was showing a film library.
Comfortable seats in a dark room
The recliners have diamond quilted cushions in a dark fabric that suits the walls and the carpet, and the pale light behind them picks out their outline without drawing the eye away from the picture.
Planning home cinema lighting in Dublin and Cork
Plan the lighting with the room, not after it. LED strips, wall lights and their cables go in before the plastering, the carpet and the seats, so decide at the design stage where the steps and the screen need light. Choose fittings that dim smoothly and, if you want colour, ones that can change it, then give each scene its own button: arriving, watching and leaving. Wikipedia's page on bias lighting explains the idea behind the screen glow.
Our home cinema and lighting control pages cover the options, our home cinema in Dublin page covers the city, and our home cinema room build follows a cinema from a bare room to the finished space.
The cinema lighting in photos
More finished rooms are in our Gallery.
Planning a cinema room?
Tell us about the room you have in mind, and we will plan the screen, the sound and the lighting together. Get in touch, or ring 01 906 9326 in Dublin or 021 202 8107 in Cork.
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