When an Ontario cardiologist and his wife decided to build a space in the basement for family movie nights, they envisioned a basic media room—something simple that would mix seamlessly with the rest of the 2,500-square-foot entertainment floor. What they ended up with is a bit more elaborate: a glamorous home theater with design touches that reflect their native country of India.

The bar, just beyond the theater doors, is crafted of mahogany cherry wood and stainless steel. Local interior designer Linda Hilts designed the bar and the balance of the entertainment floor. “Because the space is windowless, we used scarlet and cherry tones to make sure the space is warm and inviting,” she says. The floors are bathed in a durable ceramic finish that can weather the boys’ ruff-and-tumble play.

“The project started off much smaller than what it ultimately evolved into,” admits the cardiologist, whose traditional two-story hillside home fronts a environmentally protected national forest. “But as we learned about all that was possible, ideas started to evolve. It began to take on a life of its own.”

Today, the theater is the highlight of the home. The family uses it for birthday parties, casual get-togethers and formal entertaining. In fact, the cardiologist now calls the basement area—which includes a billiards room, bar, reception area, nanny’s quarters and kitchen—the grown-ups’ section of the home.“Upstairs is very much the kids’ zone,” says the physician and father of three sons, all under the age of 10. “They get the run of the house and are free to tear it apart at will. Upstairs every room is a toy room, but the basement is the adult sanctuary.”

The husband, an avid technophile, wanted the equipment to be prominently displayed. Three Middle Atlantic racks house the theater electronics and whole-house automation system. The installer    incorporated a media jack panel within the rack so the family can surf the Internet on the theater screen and play Xbox games.

The 450-square-foot theater, designed and built by Ho-well & Associates of Burlington, Ontario, revolves around a lush palette of deep cherry red, burgundy and camel. Rich velvets, soft faux suedes, ornate detailing and plenty of twinkling lights add to the ambiance. It’s a warm, elegant space that’s both laid-back and regal.
 
“We wanted the colors and the feel to complement the rest of the basement, but we also wanted to kick it up a level,” says Clinton Howell, president of Howell & Assoc-iates. “It turned out to be a special kind of jewel box.”

The homeowners consider the ornate steel entry doors leading to the theater to be works of art. The design team created texture and dimension by attaching carved wood, Masonite, fiberglass resin and rope to the front and back of each door. Each side is finished with gold- and silver-leaf paint, followed by a glaze. Weighing several hundred pounds each, the doors, which took two weeks to complete, are a reflection of the homeowners’ birth land, East India.
“We visited a giant fortress that was turned into a resort, and there was this massive carved door that opened into a reception hall,” the cardiologist says. “We took some photos of the door and that image just really stayed with us. When people come over and see the doors, they are usually floored by the detail work.”
In another nod to India, the couple named their theater Surya, which means “sun” in Hindi. “We wanted to incorporate a bit of our culture into our home theater without having an overly ethnic feel,” the cardiologist says. “The sun is a symbol of strength, virtue and hope—and that really appealed to us.”

Not surprisingly, images of the sun appear throughout the space. The theater’s entry sign, for example, which ap- pears in the bar and above the theater doors, features a sun logo. However, the family’s favorite element of the theater is the backlit sun mural positioned above the proscenium. Made of Plexiglas, the mural and theater walls are surrounded by elaborate crown molding layered with gold vinyl and glaze paints. Rope lighting inserted within the molding creates a sunshine effect. “It’s as though waves of light are radiating from it,” the cardiologist says.

A semicircular custom rug of burgundy with camel-gold swirls mirrors the mural’s shape. Freestanding matching tor-chères made of poplar wood and Plexiglas panels flank the proscenium and lend a sunset-like glow. Motorized burgundy velvet curtains drape the 120-inch-diagonal Stewart Filmscreen, while a circular soffit infused with fiber-optic lighting creates an observatory effect. “The clients wanted the ceiling to be special,” Howell says. “Almost like a window to the sky.” Walls are textured with a faux-finish process and multiple layers of paint that took two weeks to complete—a lengthy process that made the wife somewhat nervous. “Every time we went down there they were painting the walls a brand-new color,” she laughs. “There was burgundy, gold, silver, gray, blue … We wondered what the walls were going to look like. It got a bit scary,” she says. “But when it was done we were ecstatic. The color flows very well with the rest of the room.”

The two tiers of burgundy and camel-colored Art Deco-style chairs by Acoustic Innovations—five in front and five in back—recline in full. “We set it up with the family in mind,” the cardiologist says, adding that four of the five front-row seats are love seats. “Because the front seats recline, we can watch a movie and cuddle with the kids. And the kids can fall asleep if they want.”

While the aesthetics were certainly important, sound containment was paramount. “It was very important to us that [when] we entertain or watch a movie, the kids not be disturbed,” says the cardiologist.

It took several attempts and torn-down walls to achieve the proper sound insulation. Acoustical improvements in-clude a raised subfloor, lead-lined ceiling and walls, and multilayered drywall. To reduce sound leaks, decorative surface-mounted track lighting is used instead of pot lights. In an effort to maintain sound insulation, the fiber-optic arrangement above the seating area is contained within a separate soffit. The complex sound testing that was conducted to achieve the desired level of insulation added a full month to the construction process. “It was very frustrating for a time,” Howell says, “but it ended up turning out really well. At one point what was one of our most challenging rooms turned out to be a godsend.”

“While the theater became a little more elaborate than we originally had in mind,” the wife says, “we have no regrets. We love it. It’s elegant, dramatic and tasteful. People are totally amazed by this room.”