Modern resort style homes are retreats from the outside world, places to live out nearly every facet of our lives, in the comfort and privacy of our own space. Home movie theaters (and media rooms) complement this luxurious mode of living, inviting us to unwind and relax, escape the day, explore, and get inspired, without having to go anywhere. It’s the ultimate entertainment. Often set in downstairs spaces that are easier to cool in hot climates, below-grade home theaters have become a specialty of ours. And dedicated as they are to the world of play, they’re great spaces to experiment with the interior decor of a house. Dramatic lighting, lush textures, and decorative themes are all favorites of ours.

At our Serenity house, in order to achieve the spaciousness of a two-story home within a community that requires all houses be just one story high, and to cool the interior from the hot desert climate, a bright open plan lower level was created by digging down. This floor is flooded with natural light from large front and rear sunken courtyards, and glass walls that surround. It’s the home’s luxury entertainment space, and includes a race car display museum, dance floor, pool table, and home theater.

The theater features custom motorized, reclining Ferrari red leather chairs by Elite HTS, and a 161” x 91” Samsung wall screen. Sliding glass walls open the. theater to an adjoining zen garden that adds the sounds of splashing fountains, and natural light from a glass floor walkway above. While the design serves to continue the indoor outdoor feeling of the rest of the house, it poses challenges for creating a well functioning home theater. As Cineluxe explains in their feature on the home, this design is in direct contrast to what a movie theater normally requires. “[It]...goes well against the grain of the widely accepted criteria for creating a home cinema, dicta chiseled in stone, sacrosanct and inviolable: The room must be sealed off, admitting no light or sound…” ( - https://www.cineluxe.com/achieving-serenity/ ).

Set within such a spacious, open plan, and light filled space, Serenity’s home theater needed a design that could maximize the visual and sound quality. Two retractable curtain walls provide the necessary insulation, on demand, allowing for bothh classic movie nights and more casual viewing. To maintain the sleek and uncluttered aesthetic of the house, most tech and equipment, including speakers, are hidden in ceiling soffits. above.

Luxury home theater with Ferrari red leather seats at our Serenity House. — Serenity. Photo by William MacCollum

Serenity modern courtyard with fountains & luxury home theater — Serenity. Photo by William MacCollum

The specific needs and lifestyle of our Bighorn client directed the design of the entertainment lounge. “He wanted a smart use of space. He didn’t feel the need for a large home theater, so this is more of a media room. It can be totally open for casual TV watching, so you can see the entry pond to your right, and people hanging out by the wine room, or you can close the doors, roll down the blackouts, and it's a mini theater.” - Yoav, project manager.

At Bundy Drive, entertainment options are extensive. A sports lounge with 9-panel TV screen also enjoys views of luxury cars parked in the modern underground garage, that’s just on the other side of a glass wall.

The formal home theater features a luxury interior with LED starry sky ceiling, bar seating, and plush walls and sofas.

A bright downstairs anti-basement at our Trousdale house solved the challenge of fitting everything in the client’s design program into the home, which had a one story height limit dictated by the neighborhood’s height restrictions. The final design, incorporating this lower level, fits a lot of functionality into the limited space, while still maintaining an open plan feeling that “lives small.” This lower level is full of natural light from the open central volume above, that’s topped by a skylight, and crossed with a glass bridge walkway, and it includes a wine room, gym, weight room, salon with massage table and steam shower, golf simulation game station, and 8-seat home theater with state-of-the-art projection and sound.

Marc: Living small means if you are going to bed you aren’t going up a closed stairway and down a hall to the third door on the left. The idea is that right outside your bedroom you can look back to where you were, catch a corner of the kitchen, or see into the family room to say goodnight to someone. In this design you can be downstairs next to the theater and see someone near the front door, or be practicing your golf swing and in a few steps see who is up in the kitchen. Absent this strong design drive of the central volume, the family connection is lost.

Trousdale luxury mansion modern home theater with marble style carpets — Trousdale. Photo by Jason Speth

Laurel Way has been called a jewel box for its detailed interiors, and it’s also a high tech house, with a home automation system that’s fully integrated into the entire property. Where these two design elements meet, is in the property’s modern home theater, which includes its own fully equipped wet bar, hidden fabric-covered sound panels, plush couches and leather seating, and drop down video screen. Adjacent to the home’s wine cellar, pre and post-show, this space becomes a luxury lounge and wine tasting area with views of a zen garden that are revealed when the screen is raised, and the curtains opened. This visual niche, and others like it throughout the house, add a further depth to the home’s jewel box character.

Laurel Way Beverly Hills luxury mansion modern home theater — Laurel Way. Photo by Art Gray Photography

To the left of the entryway at our Benedict Canyon house are the central living areas of the home. Tucked in next to the dining room is the modern home theater, featuring bright LED accent lights, and the ambience of a traditional cinema.

At Summitridge Drive, the luxury design again includes a variety of entertainment possibilities. On the rooftop terrace, a TV sits atop a modern fireplace, against a backdrop of L.A. city lights, for luxury outdoor moving watching. A card room adjacent to the cigar lounge and wine cellar features a nine-panel video screen, and in the traditional home theater, comfy sofas look on a movie screen framed with recessed LED lighting that can be set with any color combination.

Summitridge Drive Beverly Hills luxury mansion modern home theater — Summitridge Drive. Photo by Anthony Barcelo

At Hutton Drive 2641 the below grade entertainment space includes an onyx bar, lounge area, 150-bottle wine storage, home gym and spa, and luxury home theater with fabric wall coverings for maximum sound quality.

Going down one level from the rooftop entrance of our Los Tilos house, you come to the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Go down another level and you reach the bedrooms, family room, owner’s suite, and pool terrace. On the bottom floor sits the home theater, office, wine room, lounge, and gym. Each level of the house opens onto a terrace with views, and this includes the home theater, which opens its doors to a patio, grassy lawn, and city views.

The home theater at our Hopen Place house is tucked in under the primary bedroom, and was one of the few spaces in the house that was not part of the home’s original footprint. The modern design features one of L.A.’s first installations of perspex acrylic underwater pool windows, which add a sense of playfulness and tranquility, and an ethereal watery light. A projector, fully retractable screen, plush gray velvet club chairs, motorized curtains, and Wenge wood cabinets complete the room, which is accessed via a waterfall lined walkway.

Georgina Avenue is an open plan modern home in Santa Monica, California. designed for loft style indoor outdoor living. An outdoor TV screen on the backyard.terrace invites fireside movie watching, while the bright anti-basement inside, lit by a central glass walled atrium, includes a luxury bar, wine cellar, and art filled home theater.

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