Living Room Home Cinema in North London

A Luxury Home Cinema System installed in a Living Room

This is the ultimate living room cinema. A tricky window layout made integration of a fixed screen difficult — but as home cinema design specialists we had a solution. By utilising a huge motorised drop-down projector screen we were able to deliver the same cinematic experience as a fixed screen without the need to build a false wall for the front channel speakers. For this project we designed the whole room: seating, lighting, colour choices and carpet — everything working together to create a space that functions as a family living room by day and a cinema by night.

The Home Cinema System

This room packs a serious punch. It shares its DNA with our larger cinema rooms, utilising an Artcoustic 7.1.2 surround sound system powered by an Audio Control AVR:

• Front Left, Centre, Right — 3x Artcoustic SL Evolve 8-4 speakers
• Rear and Surrounds — 4x Artcoustic SL Evolve 8-4 speakers
• Height Channels — 2x Artcoustic SL Architect 4-2 in-ceiling speakers
• Subwoofer — 1x Artcoustic Sub2

Using the same speaker throughout the surround sound system ensures a completely coherent soundstage. The front speakers sit behind the screen when the cinema is in use, creating a seamless cohesion between sound and picture. The screen itself is a 150″ Screen Excellence acoustically transparent drop-down, paired with a Sony 4K projector delivering 2,200 lumens — bright enough to watch without obsessing over a completely dark room.

Our Home Cinema Services

The AV Cabinet and Control

The custom AV cabinet, supplied by Hayden Furniture, contains four compartments: two for storage, one with a rack housing the Audio Control AVR, Apple TV, Sky Q and Crestron control system, and one housing the Artcoustic subwoofer. The 5U rack compartment includes a smart fan system ensuring ventilation when required. Crestron allows easy room control via iPad — managing lighting, blinds and the full AV system from a single interface.

Room Layout and Seating

The room layout lends itself perfectly to a wrap-around sofa, with occasional seating handled by bean bags — a staple of our less formal cinema rooms. The speaker layout ensures a fully immersive soundstage, while the lighting design adds drama and cinematic atmosphere. Blackout blinds on the windows allow daytime viewing and work in harmony with the Crestron lighting control system for precise dimming and scene control.

Designing Around Constraints

The window layout in this North London living room made a fixed projector screen impossible — a constraint that would have stopped a less experienced designer from achieving projection cinema in the space at all. The motorised drop-down screen solves it cleanly: it descends from a ceiling cassette when required, avoiding the window openings entirely. When the screen is retracted, the room reads as a contemporary living room with no visible evidence of a cinema system.

For North London clients with challenging room layouts — bay windows, irregular ceiling heights, chimney breasts — this installation demonstrates that projection cinema is achievable in almost any space with the right design approach.

Frequently Asked Questions — Living Room Cinema, North London

Can a projector screen work in a room with difficult window placement?
Yes. This North London living room had a window layout that made a fixed screen impossible, so a motorised drop-down screen descending from a ceiling cassette was specified instead — avoiding the window openings entirely while still delivering full projection cinema performance.

Does a drop-down screen compromise audio performance compared to a fixed screen?
No. The front speakers in this installation still sit immediately behind the screen when it’s lowered, maintaining the same sound-to-image alignment a fixed acoustically transparent screen provides — the only difference is the screen retracts fully when the room isn’t in cinema use.

Can a living room cinema look completely normal when not in use?
Yes. With the screen retracted into its ceiling cassette and equipment housed in a custom AV cabinet, this room reads as an ordinary contemporary living room with no visible evidence of the cinema system beneath the surface.

Project Details

• Location: North London
• Room type: Living room cinema
• Screen: 150″ Screen Excellence acoustically transparent drop-down
• Projection: Sony 4K projector (2,200 lumens)
• Audio: Artcoustic 7.1.2 — Audio Control AVR
• Control: Crestron iPad
• Furniture: Hayden custom AV cabinet

Media Room Installation → · Home Cinema Installation → · Artcoustic Speakers → · London Office →

Project Gallery