Pro-Install

While some crave a dedicated cinema room far removed from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the house, others want to integrate largescreen AV thrills with their more regular living space. This professional install is a case of the latter, although it's true that 'regular living space' is stretching it a bit...

While it's not unusual to see loft spaces repurposed as dedicated home cinemas – why use your attic to store a legacy VHS collection when you can be watching Blu-rays in there instead? – this professional install is actually located in the roof space of a double garage. Designed by London's Automated Smart Homes, it finds space for six luxurious Fortress recliners and a discreet 7.2-channel speaker system.

This elegant media room was designed by Essex company Simply Cinemas, for a movie fan who wanted a space that could quickly switch between bigscreen projection and regular living area. More importantly, inquisitive young children meant that nothing was to be 'on show' when the system was not in use. With that in mind, the finished room features wall-hung speakers, a drop-down projector screen, AV components tucked out of sight in a low-slung cabinet and even two 'invisible' subwoofers.

A finalist in this year's CEDIA Awards in the home cinema £40,000-£100,000 category, this below-stairs theatre saw custom installer Finite Solutions given a somewhat unusual brief. The owners had recently moved into the house, and one reason for choosing it was that it came with its own cinema room. Yet, while happy with the performance, researching the world of personal AV playrooms led them to realise they could make it even better, and have it re-styled to their own tastes.