How To Install A Fiber Optic Star Ceiling

DIY Fiber Optic Star Ceiling

For my wife and I, a dream of ours has always been to take a abode theater to sentinel movies with our family. This past winter we've finally been able to make information technology a reality. We had our basement finished and in doing so, I planned a good sized room to be our dwelling theater.

In the planning phases, my wife constitute a number of pictures online with abode theaters featuring beautiful star ceilings. These were in homes where people paid tens of thousands of dollars for their home theater — we were on a budget and I thought there was no way I would have the time or money to pay for something that cool. Only, the DIY'er in me wouldn't permit me surrender that quickly!

With a piffling determination and experimentation I was able to build a beautiful star ceiling that actually sets this room autonomously from anything you've seen. And information technology'south actually something you have to feel — no picture or video will do information technology justice. The version of the fiber optic kit I got makes the points of light twinkle like real stars. Information technology creates the perfect ambiance for a home theater, but y'all could also install these in children's rooms, game rooms, or wherever you want to create a truly impressive area.

And so, did I mention I did this on a budget? I won't say information technology'due south a cheap project as it'll depend on the size space you're looking to do. I did the within area of a rather big tray ceiling — it'due south only 6½' broad but it's about 26′ long — coming to about 169 sq ft. Because of the size, I went with the largest star ceiling kit available, 600 strands.

All together, I gauge the entire projection cost between $500-550. If you lot're planning on doing a smaller area, you may spend less depending on your materials and the fiber optic kit you chose. Considering the kit manufacturer besides resells pre-fabricated iv'x6' panels at $816 each (I would have needed 6 or more), I recollect I made out pretty adept.

DIY Fiber Optic Star Ceiling — The finished home theater with the star ceiling installed. Photo past Aron Hoekstra.

I purchased my kit from Wiedamark. Utilize their suggestions of which kit to utilize based on the size area you're doing. Based on the size of my area, I went with 1 of their largest kits — the 600 strand 3-size star kit. This kit has 3 different sized "stars" giving a more than realistic feel to the starfield. It also comes with a remote, which is nice for dimming the light output. I paid the toll y'all run across on the site: $369. Throughout this procedure I had a number of questions and I can't say enough nice things nearly the guys at Wiedamark.

My budget for the project does not take into consideration the amount of time information technology took. I didn't exactly keep track but I am estimating the build was somewhere in the 30 to xl hour range. It was definitely fun, certainly painful at times but totally worth information technology!