How to Choose the Right Lighting for Your Home Theater

Lighting - by Joe Weber - updated on 6/1/2023

Home theaters are still as common as ever. There's nothing better than sitting down to watch a movie in your own home while having the viewing experience of a professional cinema. While the home theater has changed slightly over the years to a more multi-functional room, paying attention to lighting is still very important for the movie-watching experience and other activities in the room.

Why Should I Pay Attention to Lighting When Designing A Home Theater?

There's nothing worse than sitting down to enjoy a movie and having to deal with reflections and glare on the screen from your lights in the room. If you use the space for multiple activities, you can turn the lights off completely because it will interfere with others in the room. With a properly thought-out lighting design, you can turn an ordinary room into a movie haven where all of your friends and family will want to come to watch movies and sporting events.

Are There Other Design Aspects to Consider?

The home theater has transformed slightly in recent years to a more multi-function room that can be used for many different purposes and not just for movie watching. Not only is it used for entertainment, but it can also be a gathering place for events or a game room with a pool table and other games.

Some additional things to take into consideration when building your theater are:

You should think about all of the potential uses for the room before you plan the lighting for the space. This will allow everyone to be able to use the space with proper lighting for all activities.
What are you going to use to watch movies and sports? Are you going to be using a projector or a large-screen TV? These will also have an effect on your lighting choices.
Wall color can have a large effect on the viewing experience. Darker-colored walls will tend to show fewer reflections on the screen.
Window treatments are also important. You want to keep light from the sun out of your theater. Heavy window shades or motorized shades to block the light from entering the room would be a wise decision.

Different Types of Home Theater Lighting

You might not (or you might, it's a personal choice) want to light your entire home theater with just one type of lighting. There are a couple of different types of lighting that work great for home theaters.

Task Lighting

The main task in a theater is watching movies, yes, but what about other tasks in the room? You will for sure need to clean and you should be able to see all the nooks and crannies to clean efficiently. What about games? Many people also use their home theater as a game room. You are going to want to be able to see the dartboard, pool table, or crokinole board clearly without causing too much light reflection on the screen.

The most popular type of task lighting to use for your home theater is recessed lights. These can be installed into the ceiling so there is nothing hanging down that could potentially block or reflect off the screen. If you are lucky enough to already have recessed lights installed in your home, we carry a large selection of recessed light bulbs to suit every need that you may have.

Expert Tips

If you plan on using recessed lights as your only light source in your theater, set them up on different circuits. That way you can light certain areas of the room while leaving others dark.
Use dimmable lights. This will give you more control over the brightness of your lights in different areas.

Accent Lighting

Designing accent lighting for your home theater is the fun part of this journey. This is where you can get all of those little details of the room to pop for some "oohs" and "ahhs" from your guests.

There are several different options for accent lighting.

Wall Sconces - Wall sconces are installed on your wall to provide decorative lighting along the length of your room. Generally, wall sconces will shine light up or down (or both) along a small section of the wall and are not best for your main light source but make for excellent accent lighting. It's also best to have these on a separate circuit so they can be turned off while watching a movie.
Indirect Column Lights - This can be a really neat lighting feature. These are similar to wall sconces, only on a much grander scale. The fixtures feature light that shines out the sides of a column attached to the wall. Depending on the fixture, these can be several feet tall. This type of lighting should be set up similarly to sconces, on a separate circuit so they can be shut off independently.
Cove Lighting - Cove lighting is one of the coolest features you can have if your room allows it. Cove lighting uses rope lights or new LED strip lights to create a glow between the molding and the ceiling of the room. If your room doesn't have crown molding on the ceiling, it may not be the best choice as the lights will be clearly visible and not hidden well.
Starfield Lighting - If you want to go all out and really let your lighting features be the centerpiece of your home theater, then starfield lighting is the choice for you. Starfield uses fiber optics in the ceiling to create an illusion of stars in the night sky. This can be a very pricy feature to add though and could blow a large portion or all of a smaller budget.

Safety Lighting

Theaters are supposed to be dark when you are watching a movie so you are going to want to make sure you have walkways and stairs lit so you can see where you're walking. You don't want to get hurt when you are getting up to get snacks or use the restroom.

If you are lucky enough to have stadium-style seating with multiple rows and levels you will want to make sure to light the steps well so no one trips. One of the best ways to do this is to use LED strip lights under the lip of the step to shine the light toward the floor to illuminate each step.

What Kind Of Controls Should I Use For My Lights?

It's very common in today's market to be able to purchase dimmable lights. Whether that's for your run-of-the-mill table lamp, recessed lights or other light fixtures, rather than just using a standard light switch, all of your dimmable lights should be controlled by dimmer switches.

With the advent of smart home lighting technology, lights can now be controlled with your phone or voice with the assistance of Amazon's Alexa, Apple Home Kit, Google Home and other smart assistants. The great thing about that is you no longer have to get up to turn the lights down or off if you forgot to do it when the movie starts.

Should I Install My Lights to Work in Zones?

It's been said a few times but you should absolutely install your lights on multiple switches. Even if you only choose to use one type of light for your whole theater, you will want to be able to turn them on and off separately depending on where they are in the room.

Setting up your lights this way will give you total control over the lighting in the room so everyone can use the space and have the ability to control which lights they need, and which they don't.

How Can Batteries Plus Help Me With My Home Theater Lights?

If you are starting to plan out your new home theater or are just looking for some replacement light bulbs for your existing space, stop into your local Batteries Plus to speak with one of our experienced associates. Residential light fixtures come in many different designs and we can special order the ones that work best for you and your home.