Project Projector: Why we traded in our TV for a projector at home!

Hey, guys, I’m here today to share all about our projector screen and why we no longer need a television in our home.

I’ve been meaning to post this for quite a while, but it was one of the hardest home projects to photograph ever! I really hope this post will do it justice because we are LOVING this choice for our new home.

First, a little backstory!

Here’s the layout of our den. It was always very clear to us that this would be the best “TV room.” It’s the darkest room of our home and one of the coziest. And our other living room has a HUGE window that makes it feel much more formal. So this room was the obvious choice for a television situation. The previous owners had the TV set up in the corner between the fireplace and the wall with windows. And the sofa pointing toward the windows.

You can see from this sketch that there’s really no good place for a television. It would either have to be on the wall with the windows, in the corner, on the stone fireplace, on the bookshelves OR on the opposite wall, which would have meant the sofas would face away from the fireplace… that was a deal breaker to me.

We had loved a solution that some friends of ours came up with to mount a projector and have a screen that comes down over the bookcase. It felt really right for this room. So we decided to go with that option!

See the before photos of this room here.

Here’s what the bookshelves look like by day when the projector is up. We built a soffit around the projector screen and added back the original trim from the bookcase on top of it, so it blends in really well! People don’t even notice that there’s a projector up in there until we push the remote to scroll it down!

Here’s the opposite view.

Our projector is mounted up on the ceiling. All the wires to connect our projector, speakers and apple TV are hidden either in the ceiling (attic) or behind pieces of the bookcase.

Initially, I was a little worried that this large projector would be an eyesore, but I never notice it in real life. The only time I ever notice it is in photos.

We purchased a remote controlled projector. So it’s super easy to bring up and down with just the press of a button.

Like many people these days, we got rid of our cable (when we moved), and we just have Apple TV and some monthly subscriptions that we use to watch our shows.

The Office reruns are what we watch when one of us needs some cheering up.

Stuff I used: Sorry guys—I can’t remember the exact projector we bought, but there are similar projectors in a lot of price ranges (just read the reviews!), projector screen (I think ours is 100 inches wide, but what you need depends on how far your projector will sit from the screen), speakers (I got the same ones as our turntable set up because they match, but also the quality is great).

Other stuff: My friend, Sam, has a travel size projector that we used to watch a movie with (you just have to have some speakers to connect it to). It’s a little more affordable (especially if you have a white wall and can skip the screen), and it’s portable, which is neat.

Taking photos in the dark is pretty much my nightmare, but I hope these photos can give you a pretty good idea of how our set up works and why we love it so much!!

In this house it was definitely the perfect solution for a room that didn’t really have a good place for a television. Now that we’ve had it, I would definitely do it again in future homes (not that we’re moving any time soon!). If you have any questions, let me know.

xx -Elsie

Check out Emma’s Favorite Accent Wall Decor to Hide a TV for more tips, and if you love movie nights, check out my movie room tour + home theater ideas.

Credits//Author: Elsie Larson. Project Assistant: Collin DuPree.Photography: Amber Ulmer.