Theater Room Faux Columns

Last year, I revealed my home theater room. Since then, I have received numerous questions and requests for instructions on how the faux columns were made. So, as promised, I am giving you all the short but sweet details for how to build them. Even though they look impressive, they are actually one of the easiest DIYs that I have done.

Faux Columns…

Materials Used for Each Faux Column…

• 3/4″ MDF boards cut 2′ x 8′
• window casing
• 4″ crown molding
• 6″ crown molding (optional)
• 6″ base board (optional)
• construction grid adhesive
• caulk
• primer and paint

 

Here, you can see the assembled phase prior to painting. It looks pretty rough, but it makes it easy to see how the pieces go together when you can see them raw. You will notice that my columns do not go all the way to the ceiling. They are only 8′ high. This is for two reasons:

1. The higher you take the columns the wider you will need them to be to keep a nice balance.
2. The MDF comes in sheets of 4’x8′. This means you can get two full columns from one board. Also, if you go higher than 8 feet, you will need to figure out how you want to conceal the seams.

Now, let’s begin.

To start with, you will need to determine your spacing. I have a pretty big room and wanted to be able to place posters between each column. So, I spaced my faux columns approximately 3 feet apart – making sure that each end of the wall has the same space left over. Once you determine the spacing,  you will need to glue and nail the MDF board in place.

Next comes the casing. Here, the casing is simply framing the MDF. However, you do not want to go all the way to the top of the MDF. Make your frame so that there is room at the top to add the crown molding. Also, my columns do not have casing at the bottom.

Next, add the 4″ crown molding to the top of the column. As you can see, I have about a 1″ reveal between the casing and the crown on my columns.

Add the 6″ crown and baseboards.

Then, caulk all the seams. Paint,and done!

 

Final Thoughts…

You will notice that even though I have baseboards along the walls, I did not use them on the columns themselves. For those of you that want to know, the paint on the columns is Sherwin Williams’ Urban Bronze in semi gloss. The walls are SW Pavestone. Ceilings are Urban Bronze in a matte finish. But I think it is the poster boxes that really accent the wall.

And because I know that some of you want to know about the sconces… I purchased these through Lowe’s. It took awhile to find exactly what I wanted, and when I did they were being discontinued. I got a few on discount, traveled to two other Lowe’s and picked up a few more, and still ended up ordering a few online. There are other places out there that have similar lights; however these particular ones are gone. (Update: they have brought these back)

(Tip – when choosing wall sconces for theater columns: up/down lighting such as above will hold the light close to the columns and accent the walkway and the column detail. Traditional sconces will cast the light out and around the room.)

To see the entire theater room reveal, click here.

– PIN IT –

– PIN IT –