Calgary Home Theatre Installation: Designing and Childproofing

Overview

A home theatre can be a wonderful gathering space for the whole family to relax and spend time together. Building your own home theatre installation can allow you to customize the sound, picture, and seating arrangements to suit your whole family’s unique needs.

Here are a few aspects of home theatre installation to keep in mind when planning a home theatre that will be used by kids. Fluorescent Man’s staff have experience building several different kinds of Calgary home theatre installations over the company’s 25 years of providing lighting and handyman services in Calgary.

Safety: Making your Calgary home theatre installation hazard-free for kids

Households with children need to pay attention to safety in a variety of settings. We all know this ranges from ensuring that power outlets and sharp table corners are covered; keeping tripping or choking hazards out of the way; and keeping step-stools handy to prevent climbing on high shelves.

There are a few ways you can bring additional safety to your home theatre:

• Keep cords and wires out of the way, taped down, or stored in specialized containers.
• Make sure the lighting provides enough visibility for young children when the room is darkened. Strips of LED lighting on the floor can be helpful for this.
• Top-heavy or tower style speakers can easily be knocked down by playful kids. We suggest mounting them on walls (this has the added benefit of saving on floor space) but you can also minimize any tripping or tipping hazards by ensuring that these items are kept behind a baby-gate or in cabinets.

General Childproofing: Protect your equipment from damage, wear, and tear

If you’re worried about your young child playing with buttons or dials, or accidentally damaging your equipment, storage options can be very helpful. We’re not talking about old-fashioned style TV shelves: there are numerous sleek, modern, and low-profile options available for today’s screens and accessories. You can even hire a Calgary handyman service to custom build shelving or cabinets to suit your needs.

Sound, Seating, and Screen Placement: Design the perfect movie experience for your family

Even if you love the high-quality speakers you’ve chosen for your Calgary home theatre installation, it’s important to be aware that young children can be more sensitive to loud noises than adults.

• Lower the volume when watching loud or action-packed features like the latest superhero movie.
• Opt for speakers that provide clear sound over speakers that are very loud.

When designing your home theatre, as we’ve explained in previous posts, it is important to place your screen at an appropriate height and distance from the screen. This helps ensure good picture quality and prevents annoyances such as neck or eye strain.

If you have young children, keep in mind that children are smaller than adults and this will impact how the seating arrangement and screen affects them. There are a few options for making sure kids can comfortably watch a movie at home:

• If your seating is in several rows, position some of the chairs in the rows farther back with children in mind.
• Find comfortable booster seat options for younger children.
• Seating with heights that can be adjusted is a good option not only for children but for adults with different heights or seating preferences.
• Don’t forget to mess-proof your seats: Movies nights often include snacks like popcorn, chips, or home-made variants of classics like movie theatre nachos or frozen yoghurt. A simple way to make cleanup no-fuss is to choose upholstery that wipes clean easily.

Want to Learn more

To learn more about how our Calgary handyman service can help with your Calgary home theatre installation, contact us at  403-863-8529, or through our convenient online contact form. For general information about lighting and handyman services, browse our blog.