We've all likely looked to movies and TV shows as sources for home decor inspiration at one time or another (mine has long been the midcentury set design of the John Lautner's residence in Tom Ford's A Single Man). Usually it's the furnishings and decorative pieces that sparks our imagination, but movies can inspire our visions of home via cinematography too...

Iron Man 3 hits American screens this Friday, officially kicking off the 2013 summer movie season. While the blockbusters are always a great ride, sometimes you just want to curl up on the couch and enjoy a movie from the comfort of your couch, and thankfully there are some excellent streaming independent features available today... 

If you're a home theater enthusiast, a decent 5.1 speaker setup partnered with a receiver is a given. But what happens when theaters start upping their game? Sound engineers report the human ear is capable of discerning sounds well beyond what a 5.1 system can offer: 7.1, 9.1, 10.1 and even 11.1 surround sound setups are here, bringing home viewers closer to the movie theater experience one extra speaker at a time.

At $7.99/month, the Netflix streaming subscription is a good deal for those who've ditched cable or satellite service. An unspoken perk is subscribers can split and share the cost of their accounts with roommates or family members, since currently the service permits 2 simultaneous streams to accessed at the same time. Now you'll be able to double the amount of users for about $4 more...

As warmer weather emerges, the backyard becomes the destination where many of us go to enjoy entertaining, grilling, and even escape to enjoy music. Some homeowners are bringing the full home entertainment experience outside, with television sets situated in backyard "living rooms". But weather is no friend of your standard television set...we'll show you how to set yourself up with a TV outdoors safely!

I think it's safe to say it has been a really crappy week or so. We could all use a quick drip of happiness right into our jugular. Some say happiness can't be bought, they are probably right. But I'd argue it can be downloaded, Googled and streamed.

The new Philips DesignLine TV is a striking design, a seamless monolithic sheet of glass with transparent ombre finish designed to lean against the wall like the cool kids back in high school, giving the appearance of a giant floating picture...

Since I tend to normally focus on home offices and desktops, I decided to change things up and give the living room some love. We've discussed the best colors for a dedicated home theater, but comparatively, living rooms also have to be livable and ideally offer more color than a dark theater setting. Cue in these wallpaper recommendations, inspired by the designs of some of the most popular flat panel TVs available today...

People cut cable subscriptions for a variety of reasons: for budget, disinterest in program offerings, temporarily as seasonal subscribers, in defiance of cable operators, etc. Maybe you're one of the legions who've moved to online streaming, but still occassionally like the option to tune into a broadcast event (like last this week's NCAA Finals). An easy and affordable solution for part-time watchers: the HD antenna.

An affordable example of how to decorate a flat panel television using home office 12" x 12" cork tiles from yesterday's Pacific Helm's Happy Modern Office workspace tour.