This Reader Created A Movie Theater Atmosphere In Her Home On A Budget
Create a theater-like experience without overspending!
We’ve all been spending a lot more time at home these days and while this has been tough, I think the silver lining is that we have also been able to spend much of that time with our family as well. Family movie night has become a regular thing in our home since all this has happened and we plan on continuing it even after the pandemic.
If you are looking to make your movie-watching experience from home even better, one thing many people are doing now is creating a movie-theater atmosphere in their basement or media room. Reader Nicole has done just that by turning her basement into a Disney movie-viewing paradise!
She even decorated her staircase walls to give the look of a movie theater lobby and ticket stand! I love this idea as it gives you the feeling of actually going into the theater. And as a frugal Hip reader would, she was able to do it on a budget! Check out her story…
So, recently I decided our basement needed a decorating overhaul. We hadn’t really done anything cute with our finished basement since we moved into our home over 5 years ago. It desperately needed a fresh coat of paint and the decor consisted of random family photos hung on the bare spots to cover what I could of the dinged up walls.
A few months ago I decided it was time to get to work on this project. My amazing hubby applied two fresh coats of paint, and I got to work searching for fun Disney art. We are big Disney fans, and the basement is where we have our movie nights so I figured this made perfect sense. What I hadn’t realized was that since Covid, it was nearly impossible to find new Disney wall items anywhere! After countless hours searching FB Marketplace, eBay, Mercari, and the like, I finally built up a collection of what I was looking for.
The downstairs now looked just like what I’d pictured in my head but our hallway was just plain bare, so I got creative and thrifty and was so happy with the results!
I found a cute theater ticket sign at Hobby Lobby and only paid 9 bucks for it with the 50% off wall hanging sale that was happening. Then, I ordered a Disney poster book in used condition on eBay for less than 10 dollars. When it arrived in the mail, I started measuring and cutting my favorite posters. I then stopped by Walmart and grabbed four of their 3-pack document frames to house my “artwork” for a total of 23 bucks. My husband helped me space them out and hang them up with nails we had on hand and voila! I had my neato Disney themed entrance to the basement. For around 40 bucks, I completed a fun project and couldn’t be more pleased with the result. Hopefully, this post encourages you to think outside the box on your next decorating endeavor!
Thank you, Nicole, for sharing your frugal and fun decorating tip! This is a wonderful way to remind people that you don’t have to spend a fortune to make your ideal decor idea come to fruition. And we just love those 50% off Hobby Lobby sales too!
Head here for more home decorating tips on a budget!
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Super cute!! I did a similar project during quarantine in the naked staircase up to our 3rd floor bonus room. After painting, I finally framed my favorite pics from our family Disney trips over the years including the big princess dinner & Disney cruise ones. I added some Disney art my teen daughter painted, a Mickey & Donald Duck cross stitch my mom made when I was a baby & a cute monogrammed Disney wreath I bought on Etsy. It makes me so happy that we took those trips when my kids were smaller .
Love this and would love to see more pics of her basement . ❤️
Me too! Wanna see the basement!
I need basement ideas too! Love the picture ideas on the way downstairs.
Thanks for sharing! Would be great for a kids room too!
That’s so cool. We don’t have basements where we live. But we transform our living room every other week ( or when they have early access movies) for movie night. We love doing it. We have a huge popcorn machine and all the other gadgets (thanks to hip2save) so we go all out. Our kids don’t ever want to go back to the movie theater now.
Thx, This is so cute. I can’t wait to make this a family project.
We have a movie theater wall in our living room we just did a few months ago. We bought all our wall pieces from Hobby Lobby and I think we only spent $140 for everything.