WHEN THE YIP family goes to the movies, there's no loading the children into the car, looking for a parking space or queuing for tickets. The south Londoners from Hong Kong decided during a recent renovation to convert one of three reception rooms in their spacious Victorian house into a cinema.
'Our teenage kids were out with friends all the time,' says Peter Yip Kai-chung, a 57-year-old retired businessman. 'My wife and I never saw them and we didn't know their friends. So, when we were renovating, we decided to build a cinema here, so they'll want to hang out at home with their friends.'
The room measures 6.7 metres by 5.5 metres and looks out to the garden and road through large windows. Instead of opting for a media room that doubles as a lounge, the family decided to go all the way to replicate the appearance and ambience of a theatre.
'We wanted it to look and feel like a real cinema and not just a room with good hi-fi equipment,' Yip says.
The extravagance was reflected in the decor. Thick, luxurious carpeting from Laura Ashley was laid over the wooden flooring. The Yips installed professional rope lighting (accent lights made in long tubes rather than as individual fixtures) and a climate-control system. Then came the plush reclining armchairs, arranged on three tiers.
At one end of the room, two large floor-to-ceiling gold Romanesque columns flank the large screen and small stage. The ceiling, painted azure blue with wispy clouds, accentuates the deep-blue velvet curtains that pull apart to reveal a custom-made 2.4-metre screen by US-based Stewart Filmscreen. The projector is housed in a custom-made cherry-wood coffee table with a bevelled glass top. A Tag McClaren processor and amplifier, which power and control the 7.1 channel surround-sound speakers, are hidden from view behind oak cabinets.
