The Curtains Are Rising On Personal Home Theatre & Media Entertainment Centers (part 2)

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:53:20 +0000

You have wisely selected the perfect Amish built focal point for your new media room or personal home theatre – the entertainment cabinet and now it is time to fill it with quality electronic fun. A well planned personal home theater will deliver years of entertainment for you, your family and friends.

TELEVISION:

Both satellite and cable providers support High Definition (HD) television. HD packages vary from carrier to carrier in both price and content available. Not all channels, as yet, are broadcast in HDTV.

DVD PLAYERS:

One of the hot new ways to view movies from home is via either a DVD Blu-Ray or a HD DVD. The next generation players give better clarity and picture quality for more satisfying home viewing but the jury is out as to which one is best.

REMOTE CONTROL:

Nowadays we are no longer looking for “the” remote but rather the REMOTES! There is now an option to eliminate an individual remote for one high tech device that immigrates all devices onto one mini-LCD screen. Some of these high-tech gadgets even let you lower the curtains or raise the house lights. So far none can bring you fresh popcorn or a cold drink though.

SOUND PROOF PANELS:

Although this accessory may sound extravagant or beyond your budget there are many options available for keeping your theatre experience inside the room, while also reducing the echo effect of some environments. Soundproofing does not insure viewing quality but can keep the noise from exiting the theatre.

FUN IN DESIGN:

This can be your one chance to go imagination wild. From cordoning ropes to movie memorabilia, the theater palette is wide open for whimsical to classic designs. Small versions of popcorn machines, cotton candy machines and even hotdog rotisseries are now available at many home centers to add the whole movie going atmosphere, from eye appeal to stomach appeal.

While an Amish built entertainment center may hold all of your movie, music and gaming supplies you also have the option of adding matching armoires or closets. A brilliant idea is to place a row or more of plush solid wood leather or upholstered recliners, built for comfort by the Amish, as theater seating. With these chairs you can create theater seating worthy of an Oscar. William Morris and Gustav Stickley could not have conceived a better reclining chair than the Morris recliner for viewing movies in your new personal home theater.

A Brief History of Mechanical Furniture and the Morris Recliner Chair

admin — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:58:10 +0000

Mechanical furniture like the Morris reclining chair have a long, interesting and well documented history thanks to great designers like William Morris and Gustav Stickley and important design authors like Sigfried Giedion. In these icon’s footsteps dedicated Amish craftsmen still produce mechanical furniture and recreate solid wood Morris chairs. The Amish Morris Chair recliners are still crafted in the hardwood style of Morris and Stickley’s Arts and Crafts Mission furniture.

London’s Great Exhibition of 1851 had been the first publicly recorded display of mechanical furniture. Here designers and industry insiders were first exposed to the convertible furniture arena of compact ship’s furniture and mechanized wheelchairs. Mechanization in the 1800’s was particularly developed for chairs and specifically for chairs that served a specific trade or task. Doctors, dentists and barbers all benefited from these inventions. From haircuts to bloodletting the mechanics of these chairs improved the ability to do business. Appointments were also created for railroad dining cars and sleeping cars. Even American designed office furniture like the “sitting chair” was benefiting from mechanization with turning and tilting features.

The reclining mechanics of the recliner chair first appeared in 1813 but would not be mass-produced for 70 years. Morris and Company began producing a recumbent chair that every furniture catalogue in the early twentieth century began to sell. William Morris was the owner of the Morris and Company firm. Contrary to popular legend he did not design the chair bearing his name.

Gustav Stickley is also credited for adapting a reclining chair in about 1901 that helped further his design career. An interesting fact about the Morris chair is its use of a very simple mechanism to help the chair recline. Morris Chairs recline using a hinged back that is supported by a simple metal rod. The rod is then moved manually from one notch to another and all notches are in a slot that is placed at the back of the arms.

Today we may take for granted the workings we have come to expect in daily lives but furniture designers and historians full understand the value of the evolution of mechanics in furniture design. Sigfried Giedion was a Bohemia-born Swiss historian and critic of architecture. He felt it was important enough to write an entire book on the subject called Mechanization Takes Command focusing on the mechanization of furniture beginning in the mid-1850s. Giedion had a conceptual influence on all American modern furniture designs in the 1950’s and his influence on that era cannot be overstated.

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The Curtains Are Rising On Personal Home Theatre & Media Entertainment Centers (part 2)

A Brief History of Mechanical Furniture and the Morris Recliner Chair