Homeplay

Home cinema installation in West London

Homeplay designs and installs home cinemas and media rooms for homes across West, South West and North West London, each one designed as part of the interior alongside your interior designer. Dedicated cinema rooms start from around £50,000. In 2022 we won the CEDIA Awards for Best Media Room, both Global and EMEA.

Studio and media room in Kew with track lighting, skylights and a ceiling projector
Glazed winter garden of a Bankside penthouse at dusk with London skyline beyond

At a glance

  • Based: Experience Centre, 117 Windmill Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, TW16 7EF
  • Founded: 2006
  • Area covered: West, South West and North West London, Surrey and the Home Counties, with projects across the UK and Europe
  • Our focus: lighting design and control, and technology that disappears into the interior
  • Dedicated cinema room: from around £50,000
  • Smallest recommended room: around 3.5 m by 5 m
  • Visits: by appointment. A tour of around 90 minutes, then a complimentary design meeting
  • Call: +44 1932 781 327

In London, the media room often wins

A dedicated cinema needs a room of its own, ideally at least 3.5 metres by 5 metres. Many London homes cannot spare one, and that is fine. A well-designed media room gives you film and sport at a serious standard in a room you already use.

In a new home in Kew, we designed one room to be both a professional photography studio and a media room. A ceiling-mounted projector and a drop-down screen appear at the touch of a button, with surround sound for film nights. The rest of the time, it is a calm, uncluttered working space. See the Kew project

In a Bankside penthouse, four rooms have surround sound from invisible speakers built into the joinery. See the Bankside project

Media room at the Homeplay Experience Centre with wall lights and a lit display niche

A cinema designed as an interior

A cinema is an interior first. We work from your interior designer's scheme, then design the technology to sit inside it: speakers behind fabric or plastered invisibly into the walls, equipment out of sight, and lighting that makes the room look as good with the lights up as it sounds with them down.

Underneath, every room starts with measurements, not an equipment list: viewing distance and screen size, seating position, sightlines, acoustic treatment, bass management and sound pressure levels.

Where the equipment matters, we are dealers for Steinway Lyngdorf, Meridian, L-Acoustics and Sonance for sound, Lutron for lighting, and Future Automation for motorised lifts, mounts and concealment.

Cinema room or media room?

These are two different things, and confusing them is the most common and most expensive mistake we see.

A cinema room is a dedicated space with a fixed projection screen, controlled lighting, acoustic treatment and seating laid out around one ideal viewing position. It is designed to do one thing perfectly, in the dark.

A media room is a room you already live in, such as a family room or a snug, that also does film and television extremely well. It has to work in daylight, with furniture arranged for conversation.

The design decisions are almost entirely different, and so is the budget. Home cinema vs media room: what is the difference?

Experience one first

The best way to choose a cinema is to sit in one. Our Experience Centre in Sunbury-on-Thames was named Best Showroom EMEA at the CEDIA Awards. A guided tour takes around 90 minutes and is followed by a complimentary design meeting. Visits are by appointment, and your interior designer is welcome.

Projects

See all→

Kew

Bankside

Berkshire

Questions we are asked

Who installs home cinemas in West London?

Homeplay designs and installs home cinemas and media rooms across West, South West and North West London from its Experience Centre in Sunbury-on-Thames. We won the 2022 CEDIA Awards for Best Media Room, Global and EMEA.

I do not have a spare room. Can I still have a cinema?

Yes, as a media room. A screen that drops from the ceiling or a television hidden when not in use, with speakers you cannot see, turns a living room into a cinema and back again.

How do I choose a home cinema installer?

Sit in one of their rooms before you decide. Ask who designs the acoustics and who installs the room, ask which interior designers they have worked with, check for CEDIA membership and independent certification, and ask what support looks like after handover.

How much does a home cinema cost?

A dedicated cinema room from Homeplay starts from around £50,000. The final figure depends on the room, the acoustic treatment and the equipment. Our budget calculator gives you a realistic estimate in five to eight minutes.

How much space do I need?

The smallest room we would recommend for a dedicated cinema is around 3.5 metres by 5 metres. Smaller than that, a media room is usually the better answer.

Can I have proper sound without seeing the speakers?

Yes. We install plaster-in invisible speakers, which disappear completely into the wall or ceiling. We were one of the first UK companies to demonstrate them permanently.

When should we involve you?

Before first fix electrics, and ideally at concept stage. A cinema is shaped by its room, so the earlier we see the drawings, the better and less expensive the result.

Do you install a cinema on its own?

Most of our cinemas are part of a wider project, and our typical project starts at around £100,000. If a cinema is all you need, talk to us.

Will you look after it afterwards?

Yes. Aftercare membership is £99 a month including VAT, with unlimited remote support and priority service.

Why Homeplay

Each of these can be checked with the body that awarded it.

Written by James Ratcliffe, founder of Homeplay and member of the CEDIA global board. Last reviewed October 2026.

Book a guided tour of our Experience Centre, followed by a complimentary design meeting. Bring your interior designer or architect.

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