Blackout a drop ceiling without painting?

[robbnj]

Trying to make my TV/movie space a little more theater-like without going whole hog on it.

I have a white drop tile ceiling, and would like to make the display end of the room a "black hole". So far, I've hung blackout curtains covering the entire wall behind the displays, done a black felt covering over the white parts (case, bottom rail etc) of the drop-down screen. The equipment is all black (except for TV stand, which soon will be).

I'd like to black out the ceiling at that end of the room without painting it or removing it. Replacing tiles is not an option b/c the original owner managed to hang it in a way that makes it impossible to even lift and slide a tile, much less remove or replace.

Given my success at making the screen components virtually disappear, I'm thinking about buying large sheets of thin black felt, and suspending it with black neodymium magnets from the ceiling grid.

Not a major project or investment, but I'm wondering before I try if anyone has done something similar, or if there is a better/smarter way to achieve what I am trying to do.

 

[Sonnie]

That's a pretty brilliant idea with the magnets. A strong magnet should make it fairly tight. I can't think of another way if you don't want to spray paint it and can't replace the tiles.

 

[robbnj]

That's a pretty brilliant idea with the magnets. A strong magnet should make it fairly tight. I can't think of another way if you don't want to spray paint it and can't replace the tiles.

I got a reply on a different forum from someone who said he did it. Even referenced the distance I was planning to use, and the magnets I have on order, lol
My sis just messaged me that she has 50% at her favorite fabric store.
Looks like I'm diving in.

 

[Sonnie]

Let us know how it turns out... we love pics.

 

[Gerry Iaria]

I got a reply on a different forum from someone who said he did it. Even referenced the distance I was planning to use, and the magnets I have on order, lol
My sis just messaged me that she has 50% at her favorite fabric store.
Looks like I'm diving in.

I'm sure that would look nice, when done, post some pics please

 

[robbnj]

Minor update on the adventure:
The package finally arrived...and it had a roll of white felt, instead of black.
I got a new roll and jumped right in to at least get some proof of concept until I can devote some time to it.

While the magnets I bought are actually strong enough to hold up the felt, I quickly found out that if a few let loose, the cascade effect would bring the whole thing down. This changed my angle of attack a bit.
I ended up using double-sided carpet tape on the ceiling grid pieces that run back-to-front of room to hold the felt, followed by about a hundred 10mm x 3mm magnets 50 neodymium silver, 50 ferrite black). I have another hundred 15x3mm neodymiums on order (they are stronger than ferrite, and going from 10 to 15mm doubles the strength). I plan to cut matte-black covers for all magnets that I can see when the projector is on.

I only did the front six feet of the ceiling, and covered the remaining screen case with some scraps (I had already done the lower screen "frame" tube and the lower front of the case).
I watched a movie, and I have to say that even this minor change had a major impact on the experience. I was now seeing an image "floating" in darkness, and not ceiling tiles, light reflections, the screen case glowing like a fluorescent tube, etc.

I'm really looking forward to doing the rest of the ceiling. Future changes will include darkening the walls (considering theater-red paint or even cloth covering), new TV stand, dark pillow covers for the couch pillows, and something to eliminate the light reflection on the posters (matte "glass" or maybe posters sublimated on cloth if I can find some).

 

[Gerry Iaria]

Minor update on the adventure:
The package finally arrived...and it had a roll of white felt, instead of black.
I got a new roll and jumped right in to at least get some proof of concept until I can devote some time to it.

While the magnets I bought are actually strong enough to hold up the felt, I quickly found out that if a few let loose, the cascade effect would bring the whole thing down. This changed my angle of attack a bit.
I ended up using double-sided carpet tape on the ceiling grid pieces that run back-to-front of room to hold the felt, followed by about a hundred 10mm x 3mm magnets 50 neodymium silver, 50 ferrite black). I have another hundred 15x3mm neodymiums on order (they are stronger than ferrite, and going from 10 to 15mm doubles the strength). I plan to cut matte-black covers for all magnets that I can see when the projector is on.

I only did the front six feet of the ceiling, and covered the remaining screen case with some scraps (I had already done the lower screen "frame" tube and the lower front of the case).
I watched a movie, and I have to say that even this minor change had a major impact on the experience. I was now seeing an image "floating" in darkness, and not ceiling tiles, light reflections, the screen case glowing like a fluorescent tube, etc.

I'm really looking forward to doing the rest of the ceiling. Future changes will include darkening the walls (considering theater-red paint or even cloth covering), new TV stand, dark pillow covers for the couch pillows, and something to eliminate the light reflection on the posters (matte "glass" or maybe posters sublimated on cloth if I can find some).
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Really made a difference, looks really dark

 

[Sonnie]

Looking good.

 

[VJM]

Looks great, a very creative solution!

 

[Peter Loeser]

Nicely done, that REALLY effectively eliminates reflections on that end of the room. Nice result.

 

[robbnj]

Thanks, guys. I'm back from a trip out of town, and did another six feet yesterday. Will test tonight. Tomorrow night I'll do the final 3 feet and get to see the difference without light bleed from the overhead projector side cooling slots.
Next up will be the wall color and then trying to find movie posters on cloth for less than $300

 

[Gerry Iaria]

Thanks, guys. I'm back from a trip out of town, and did another six feet yesterday. Will test tonight. Tomorrow night I'll do the final 3 feet and get to see the difference without light bleed from the overhead projector side cooling slots.
Next up will be the wall color and then trying to find movie posters on cloth for less than $300

I'm sure it's going to look great when all finished

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Thanks, guys. I'm back from a trip out of town, and did another six feet yesterday. Will test tonight. Tomorrow night I'll do the final 3 feet and get to see the difference without light bleed from the overhead projector side cooling slots.
Next up will be the wall color and then trying to find movie posters on cloth for less than $300

I've had mine printed for about $10ea in the past, but the different fabric printing places come and go faster than I can keep track. Looks like the current favorite is https://realfabric.com/.

 

[Gerry Iaria]

I've had mine printed for about $10ea in the past, but the different fabric printing places come and go faster than I can keep track. Looks like the current favorite is https://realfabric.com/.

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That's really nice, well done

 

[robbnj]

I've had mine printed for about $10ea in the past, but the different fabric printing places come and go faster than I can keep track. Looks like the current favorite is https://realfabric.com/.

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Life got in the way while I was busy making other plans, but I finally got a chance to do some research on your link.
Can you tell me what type of cloth your panels are printed on, and the type of printing process?

Are they like the "portraits on canvas" that have a shiny finish that almost looks like paint, or are they more lie a dye-sublimation, where the material will pass air/fluid freely?

My first goal for them would be to have art that doesn't reflect light like crazy, and then MAYBE for acoustic panel use. I'm actually really happy with the sound right now, and I'm not sure acoustic side panels are even needed, but I'm going to try some just to see if it sounds even better.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

The movie posters in the photos from my last theater were on a jersey type cotton material. Very stretchy but very acoustically transparent. You can see in one of them the scrap linacoustic I filled them with poking against the material.

The current pair, which are the art in the first image, are a cotton blend material with no stretch to it at all. I didn’t want to have to deal with stretch while trying to align artwork across two panels.

The printing is high quality and non-reflective. More of a dye process type result. I’ve been happy with all of them. Pretty simple process.

 

[robbnj]

The ceiling is pretty much done.
The poster-on-linen idea is going nowhere fast, so I'm exploring a tangential idea: poster covers.
I don't want to get rid of the posters, because I like the vibe. But the reflections are too much.
Sooooo...I made some covers out of leftover felt to see how it'll look with the projector on.
Gonna test tonight, but having them on in low light already looks promising.

 

[Gerry Iaria]

looking good