The ground-floor of a new home at Cedar Point overlooks a large cove in Jamestown, Rhode Island, and if you stand in the back of this newly designed theater, you can take in the expanse of the comfortable ground floor as the western sky turns all the colors of twilight..  A lighted nook filled by an expansive candy bar invites you into the comfortable lounge space above three settees that face a large movie screen. An additional, raised settee beckons to your right.

The theater is dual purpose, as it offers quiet spillover space from the bar, lounge, and billiards area just outside. But close the glass doors, draw the shades, and the next film can begin.

Encouraged by the owner, who wanted a unique space, we designed the theater to mimic the look and feel of saloon interiors we design for motor yachts over 100 feet. Ceiling deck beams run overhead, curved vertical posts evoke the frames of a yacht, and “flourish” details are inscribed on the horizontal beams similar to those on a yacht’s cove stripe.

A truly collaborative project, Jerry Kirby of general contractor Kirby Perkins offered the initial concept, and Taste Design chose fabrics and wall coverings, and recommended crown-molding design that matches their design in adjacent parts  of the house. Newport Yacht Builders handled the custom construction and, beyond carpentry and finish quality, they contributed essential additional ideas on acoustics and sound insulation that took the finished space to a whole new level. Yacht-like thinking even led us to disguise the HVAC ducts inside the curved vertical frames and install “air returns” through louvered openings below the toe kicks in the settees.

Photos by Billy Black