Building a home projector screen is a simple project anyone can do with limited tools.
The prices on decent quality projectors have been falling significantly lately, and its now more affordable than ever to set up a home theater and get that movie theater experience in the living room.
After getting a projector I hung up a makeshift screen in front of our TV for about 3 months as a trial to see how we liked it. It quickly became evident to me that we wouldn't be using the TV anymore, everyone in my family loved watching movies at 120". So rather than having a ugly hanging screen, I decided to remove the TV from the wall and mount a more permanent and professional finished screen directly on the living room wall. I cant tell you how happy I've been with it. Its been a huge upgrade. The colors look fantastic on the reflective material and the picture still looks great even with plenty of ambient light in the room.
This is a super simple project that really looks like an expensive professional setup.
total cost of the project was about $140 total.
Materials
4 Pieces of 1x4 12" pine lumber
6 Metal T brackets
4 Corner brackets
Staples
1.5 Inch wood screws.
1 Roll of white projector screen material (Amazon)
1 Roll 2" black velvet tape
Tools
Miter Saw
Drill
Stapler
The Build
The first thing I did was project an image from my projector directly on thee wall so I knew roughly how large I'd want the finished screen to be. I then took those measurements and used an online 16:9 aspect ratio calculator to make sure that my screen would be exactly 16:9 aspect ratio. I then added 4 inches to the length and the width of the final dimensions to account for a 2 inch black border all the way around.
Once I had my dimensions, I headed out to the saw and cut down my frame pieces.
to assemble the pieces I used simple butt joints and a few pocket holes to connect them. I added a few cross braces and then used the T-brackets and metal corner brackets to give the whole thing plenty of rigidity.
I decided to use a french cleat for mounting the screen on the wall. Before adding the material to the screen I used the cleat to mount the frame to the wall and make sure it would be level (this is much easier to do BEFORE you add the material to the screen). The french cleat is really a great way to hang a screen like this because it is super sturdy and the screen can just be lifted on and off the cleat if need be. It also has the add benefit of no visible mounting hardware when the screen is placed on the wall.
Once the frame was built I cut the screen material to size making sure to leave plenty of overlap to staple to the back of the frame. When stretching the material on to the frame I started in the center and worked my way out placing a staple about about every 1-2 inches all the way around. I made sure to pull the material tight as I went, and to check for any wrinkles and waves. I did the corners last, wrapping them like a present and stapling them down.
Last but not least, I added the black felt tape around the edge to give it a super finished look.
I love the way this turned out! I hope you try and build your own.
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