In days gone by, the family typically spent their evenings watching television in the den or living room, crowded around a black and white television set that may have measured no more than nineteen inches in diagonal size. For decades, this scenario was pretty much the same in most American homes, with the only change being the replacement of black and white televisions with color models. This worked fine for many years, when most cities only had two or three stations, and most homes didn’t have cable television. With the introduction of high definition television (HDTV), DVD movies, high performance surround sound systems, and affordable video projectors and flat-screen plasma displays, many homeowners would like to have a dedicated room, or home theater, for audio-video use. In today’s housing climate, adding a home theater to your home is a smart move.

Few homes have a room that is naturally suited to use as a home theater. Most rooms that might be used for such purposes either have a fireplace or inappropriately located windows. By building a dedicated home theater, the homeowner can build a room that suits the specific needs of audio video systems – limited outside light, darker-colored walls, a mounted screen or plasma TV, and special wiring inside the walls, where it cannot be seen.

Adding space to your home is a bullish move, and the extra square footage will add value to your property. You can finance the construction with a home equity loan or line of credit, which allows you to deduct the interest from your tax return. And the inclusion of a theater in your house may make the home easier to sell in the future, as more and more families are finding a theater to be a useful feature to have in a home. If you are not sure about how to go about designing such a room, you might check the Yellow Pages for stores that sell audio and video equipment. They can provide you with information regarding what kind of equipment you might need, wiring requirements and so on. They might also be able to recommend a contractor who can do the work for you.

The introduction of affordable big-screen televisions and HDTV has made a home theater THE must-have home accessory. With interest rates still at affordable rates, now is a great time to add that dedicated viewing room that will make you the envy of your neighborhood when the next Super Bowl comes around.