[Ad] Why a minimalist projector is perfect for a pared-back home, with Viewsonic

The great thing about our extension is the space and flexibility it affords us. When I was designing the new addition to our Victorian terraced house, I wanted to create a relaxed, informal space that could adapt and evolve with our needs, whether that was in response to our mood throughout the day or according to our changing requirements as we grow into the space.

Typically, rooms in a home are clearly defined – bedrooms are for sleeping, dining rooms for dining and living rooms for living. But, I wanted to let go of the rules and create a space that didn’t define what you could do in there. The extension was to be a free space to eat dinner, entertain, connect, play, relax, unwind, watch films and more. At the moment it works perfectly for our needs: my daughter can run around like crazy, we can have friends over more often, and I can push all the furniture to one side and use the space as a photo studio for work. It’s a blank canvas that we can make our own.

With a blank canvas like this, where daily life becomes the character of the space and the neutral walls fade into the background, you need minimal tech solutions that can simply slot into your life. Enter the idea of the minimalist projector.

[Ad – this is a paid partnership with ViewSonic]

From the very beginning of the renovation project, I’ve been working with ViewSonic to reimagine my home and integrate a minimalist projector seamlessly into the space. When I was drawing up the plans, I was considering where we could project onto and how we could integrate storage to free up the rest of the space so that it could be free from clutter. Then later when we were on site, the ViewSonic team came around to film some behind the scenes of the work in progress – the results of which you can see in the video below.

The ViewSonic team helped me bust some of the myths around projectors and understand what could work best for our space. We decided to go with the X2000-4K, a 4K HDR Ultra Short Throw Smart laser projector that creates a home cinema experience without the fuss.

Now I’m such a convert, I’m not sure I’ll be going back to a TV. For example, I didn’t know that with an ultra-short throw projector, there is no need for a ceiling mount (which I was hesitant to add, not wanting to detract from the clean, plain ceiling and beautiful exposed bulbs). The minimalist projector can simply sit out of the way on a table or sideboard. In fact, it only needs to be 23cm from the wall in order to project a 100″ screen.

You also don’t need a projector screen if you have a plain flat wall painted in a light colour, like we do here. You can use projection paint if you want to really go the extra mile but in our space we have one featureless wall that is just perfect for a minimalist projector.

You don’t even need a home cinema system or additional speakers either. The X2000-4K has a built-in soundbar by Harman Kardon that offers really high quality, powerful sound.

For us, a projector ticked all the boxes. My husband is all about the movie quality and loves to geek out at the best tech on the market, I’m much more about the design of a product and choosing pieces that will fit with my simple, neutral aesthetic. We needed something that would look the part, but also perform to the best quality. So let me explain to you why a minimalist projector is perfect for a pared-back home, or indeed any style home!

  

Why choose a projector?

So why might you choose a projector over a TV? Especially in a pared-back space like this, a projector offers unobtrusive, minimalist design that fits discreetly into the home. A TV can be a big, bulky, unmovable thing, particularly if you want a big screen for that immersive experience. Whereas a projector offers portability and nuance. When turned off, you would hardly know a projector is there.

With the extension, it was really important for me to create a calm, light space that could become a soothing sanctuary. I love how the white design of the projector fits with the style of my home. Details also matter – the grey fabric of the soundbar adds a tactile finish that somehow softens the appearance of the projector. I can style it with my books and magazines on my sideboard and it just blends in without looking obtrusive or overpowering the space.

When I say I like to design for all the senses, I really mean that in a holistic way, creating a space that can support your wellbeing. Interestingly, with projectors, you don’t receive any blue light, making it more gentle on the eyes and reducing eye strain. There is also an eye protection feature on the X2000-4K, which means that the beam will automatically turn off when an object is too close to the lens. Especially useful when you have toddlers about!

How do we use the projector on a day to day basis?

A projector offers true versatility and flexibility for all the family. And it’s surprisingly easy to set up for instant entertainment. We use it in a number of different ways depending on what we want: we can use it as a Bluetooth speaker to fill the room with music; we can use Screen Mirroring to quickly put on shows for our daughter; or we can plug the Apple TV into the projector to watch our favourite films in 4K. I also like the idea of putting a yoga or exercise video on and being able to use the generous space of the extension to work out.

Typically when we want to watch it in the best conditions, we move our (very lightweight) sofa around so that we can project onto the blank wall that is normally behind it. In this configuration, it can sit on a small coffee table, bearing in mind that it needs to be plugged into a power socket. The further away the projector is from the wall, the bigger the screen will be, so we do often have it set up bigger than the images seen here. When the projector isn’t in use it just sits on the sideboard.

The X2000-4K can be used in the daytime as long as there isn’t bright sunshine directly on the wall you’re projecting onto. As a caveat, I took these pictures during the day as there’s a fine balance between taking beautiful, sharp shots where you can see everything clearly and showing the projector at its best. We will probably get some curtains at some point when we get round to it, but for now, the projector still works well for us on a cloudy day. Obviously, the darker the room, the better the experience.

A minimalist projector really fits with my less is more aesthetic, letting our extension space do the talking. The performance and image quality is impressive, but for me it’s the design that matters. I always love that William Morris quote that says ‘Have nothing in your home that you don’t know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’. This offers both function and form.

It’s been such a journey getting to this point, from conceiving the design for the extension and sourcing every little detail to project managing the build and making it all a reality. It really feels like such a reward to be able to sit down, look around and think wow, just look at what we’ve created. Now we get to enjoy the space to its fullest, with a good movie and a bowl of popcorn too!

Do you think you could be a projector convert too?

You can watch a behind the scenes video created with ViewSonic below: