Our Home Cinema Journey

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I always dreamed of creating a home cinema. It was just a dream because I had beer pockets with champagne dreams. A casual conversation with a co-worker (whose job was the Audio Visual/IT Administrator for the corporate campus theater and conference rooms) started my journey into the home cinema and movie review industry.

As my coworker and I were waiting for a campus event to start, we struck up a general conversation as people do when they are killing time. We both learned we were film nerds. The love of movies was our friendly co-worker connection. The coworker showed me pictures of his home theater set-up. I was impressed beyond words with his home theater. His theater room was huge and included top-of-the-line everything. We talked every chance we got about his set-up and plans for the room.

I remember saying to him “I wish I could afford a home theater.” He looked confused and said, “You can!” He began to explain home theater equipment had become more affordable. He assured me it was easy for anyone to create a budget friendly home theater. He even went online to show me specific components I could afford to purchase as my budget allowed. He encouraged me to buy one component at a time. Those conversations opened a can of home theater happiness for me.

The can was open and I needed a plan. I honestly was born to plan things and I am very detail orientated. I put my excellent organization and planning skills to work immediately. I knew I had to write down my goals with extreme details for the dream to become reality. I strongly believe a dream without a written plan is just that – a dream. I needed written goals to work towards. I spent months working on this document. I outlined every detail of my home cinema dream from the paint to the snacks. When it was all said and done, I had an 80-page Microsoft Word document I saved as Beer Pockets with Champagne Dreams. You know the saying “There ain’t nothing worse than a woman with a plan.” I had my Beer Pockets and Champagne Dream theater plan. It was on!

I wanted our home cinema to reflect happiness every time I walked by or entered the room. I called the on paper vision of the room décor Modern Mouse Bling. The color pallet of the room incorporated red, grey, black and white with accents of mouse shoe yellow. It was important to include touches of sparkle and bling where appropriate in the room. I had my plan and color theme, so the next step was to seek out furniture and accessories to match my beer pockets but champagne dreams.

As the queen of clearance sales, yellow tags, coupons, and all things discount, I kept my eye out for everything and anything I could buy on discount. I was determined not to pay full price for this room. Honestly, the determination was strongly driven by the fact that I could not afford to pay full price for the room. The goal was to create a comfortable home cinema with new items sold on clearance of 75% or more. My employer at the time made the process of purchasing items on extreme discount possible. I used my employee discount to purchase home theater components that was totally out of my price range. With the employee discount, high-end home theater components were affordable to my budget. I couldn’t be more grateful for the ability and blessing to use an employee discount at that time.

I am blessed and grateful to have a small space that brings happiness to my home. Watching movies is mental therapy for me. We all deal with the trials and tribulations of life in different ways. Watching movies provides a positive outlet to help me decompress from the stress of the day. It’s more fun and cheaper than therapy sessions but equally effective. It is truly a blessing to have my beer pockets with champagne dreams plan become a reality.