MJ's Backyard Theater

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[Domestic MacGyver]

I debuted our backyard theater last father's day as a gift to my husband MJ.  When I told him what I wanted to do he thought I was out of my mind.  Little did he know it would end up being one of his favorite things to do last summer.  I live in Colorado so our season is fairly short.

I started out by lurking on this kicka** sight for ideas.  I ended up calling one of the local portable billboard companies that have the trucks with billboards towed behind them.  The guy sold me an enormous piece of blank vinyl for $75.  It ended up working great.  It already had great pockets all the way around it - but it was way too big.  I resized it to about 16x9 (I don't remember the exact measurements) trying my best to keep the 1280x720 aspect ratio.  I used gorilla glue to create the new pockets.


I headed off to the hardware store and ended up buying pipes.  They are pretty heavy but we hang our screen on brick pillars on our deck so it ended up adding a whole lot of sturdiness.  Then we just bungee it on.  I added some large binder clips to take in some of the wrinkles the brick pillars caused, and since these photos have painted them white to disguise them.

For now I use a ladder with a platform to set up a borrowed projector, a DVD player and my computer speakers (not so fancy, not so high-tech).  It has worked well but I am looking to purchase my own projector.

My favorite part has been putting together the pre-shows and letting my kiddos run a free concession stand (only the two older girls pictured are mine - the toe heads are my niece and nephew).  I am really looking forward to nicer weather here so I can try out my new tabletop popcorn machine we got as a Christmas gift for our BYT.

Thanks for checking out my setup!

Julie
aka Domestic MacGyver

[tscoff]

I like it.  Great job with the screen!

[movielover]

very nice. the screen looks great and you have the perfect place to mount it.
i especially like the FREE popcorn and candy... when's the next showing ? i'll be there 

[Yendor]

What kind of step ladder is that? It looks very stable, I may get me one of those.

[Domestic MacGyver]

I'm not sure what kind of ladder it is.  We got it as a wedding gift 11 years ago!  It is some kind of painting ladder though because the top where I have the projector is designed to hold a paint can and there is some sort of papertowel holder on the side.  It is really sturdy and has worked great.

Thanks for your comments.