Projector Without a Screen: Why You Don't Need One

The Screen Myth (Busted)

Every time someone sees a projector ambience setup on TikTok or Reddit, the comments are full of the same question: "What screen are you using?" And the answer, almost every time, is: none. It's just a wall.

The idea that you need a projector screen is the single biggest barrier stopping people from trying this. They picture those expensive pull-down screens from offices and think "I don't have one of those, so this isn't for me." But for projector window ambience -- rain on glass, snow, city scenes, nature views -- a plain wall works brilliantly. In most cases, it works just as well as a screen.

Here's why: projector screens are designed for watching films with fine detail, accurate colour, and uniform brightness across the entire surface. If you're watching a movie with subtitles, you want every pixel to be sharp and every shade to be accurate. A screen delivers that.

But ambient scenes aren't films. You're not reading text. You're not scrutinising details. You're watching rain slowly streak down a window or snow drift past a cabin. These scenes are forgiving -- they look good even when they're slightly soft, slightly imperfect, or slightly uneven. A wall does this job perfectly.

Still sceptical? Let's get into the detail. Wall colour, wall texture, cheap workarounds for non-ideal walls, and an honest comparison of wall vs screen quality.

Wall Colour Guide: What Works and What Doesn't

Wall colour is the single biggest factor in how good your projection will look. Here's an honest breakdown of every common wall colour and how it performs.

Wall Texture: Friend or Foe?

After colour, the second most common worry is wall texture. "My walls have that bumpy stuff on them -- will the projection look terrible?" Almost certainly not. Here's the breakdown.

Smooth plaster / plastered-over walls

The ideal. A flat, smooth surface gives the sharpest image with the most uniform brightness. If your walls are smooth plaster (common in new-builds and recently renovated homes), you'll get the best possible wall projection. Practically identical to a screen for ambient scenes.

Light stipple / orange peel texture

The most common wall texture in UK homes. That slightly bumpy surface you get from standard roller-applied paint. For ambience projection, this is totally fine. The slight texture adds a very faint softness to the image -- like looking through slightly frosted glass. Many people actually prefer this for ambient scenes because it makes the projected window look more dreamlike and less like a flat TV image. You genuinely won't notice it from more than a metre away.

Artex / heavy stipple

The swirly, textured ceiling and wall finish that was popular in the 70s and 80s. It's not ideal -- the heavy texture creates visible shadows and uneven brightness across the image. But for ambient scenes viewed from across a room? It's still surprisingly watchable. The texture gets lost in the movement of rain or snow. You'd notice it projecting a PowerPoint slide, but not a rain window ambience video. If Artex is your only option, try it before assuming it won't work.

Exposed brick

Looks cool. Terrible for projection. The deep grooves between bricks create dark lines across the image, and the uneven surface makes the image warped and patchy. If you've got an exposed brick wall and want to project onto it... honestly, pick a different wall. Or use one of the cheap hacks below to hang a flat surface over it.

Woodchip wallpaper

Similar to heavy stipple -- the texture is visible up close but fades into the background with ambient scenes viewed from a distance. It works better than you'd expect. The main issue is that woodchip tends to have a slightly yellow tone (old paste showing through), which adds warmth to the image. For fireplace and rain scenes, this actually looks pleasant.

Cheap Hacks When Your Wall Isn't Ideal

If your walls are dark, heavily textured, or the wrong colour, here are five cheap workarounds ranked from simplest to most effort.

1. White bedsheet (free - you already own one)

The classic hack. Take a white bedsheet, pull it taut, and hang it on the wall. You can use drawing pins, adhesive hooks (Command strips are renter-friendly), or just tape the corners. Pull it as flat as possible -- wrinkles will show in the projection.

How good is it? Surprisingly good. A flat white cotton sheet gives you roughly 85-90% of the image quality of a proper screen. The fabric is slightly more matte than a wall (which actually reduces hotspots where the projector is brightest) and the colour accuracy is excellent. The main issue is wrinkles -- iron the sheet first, and pull it tight when you hang it.

2. White blackout blind fabric (£5-10)

Pop into a fabric shop or order a metre of white blackout blind material online. This is thicker than a bedsheet, lies flatter, and has a smoother surface. It's essentially the same material that cheap pull-down projector screens are made from. Cut it to size, hang it with hooks or tape, and you've got yourself a projector screen for under a tenner.

3. White roller blind (£10-20 from Argos or IKEA)

A plain white roller blind, mounted above the area you want to project onto, gives you a pull-down screen that retracts when you don't need it. IKEA sells the FRIDANS blind for about a tenner, and it comes in pure white. Mount it, pull it down when you want to project, roll it up when you don't. It's neat, renter-friendly (adhesive mounts), and looks intentional rather than improvised.

4. Projector paint (£15-30)

See the dedicated section below, but the short version: special projector screen paint exists and you can paint a section of your wall with it. One coat transforms a dark or coloured wall into a high-gain projection surface. It's more permanent than the other options but gives the best result if you're going to be projecting in the same spot regularly.

5. Foam board / white display board (£3-5)

Large sheets of white foam board (the kind used for school projects and presentations) are available at Hobbycraft, WHSmith, or Amazon for a few quid. A single A1 sheet (594 x 841mm) is a decent projection surface. Two side by side give you a larger area. They're lightweight, can be leant against a wall or hung with adhesive strips, and the surface is smooth and brilliantly white. The edges are visible, but for a quick-and-dirty solution, they work a treat.

Wall vs Screen: The Honest Comparison

Here's what you actually get with each surface. This is based on side-by-side testing in a typical UK flat -- dark room, budget projector, rain ambience scene.

Proper projector screen (~£30-80)

• Image quality: Best possible. Uniform brightness, accurate colours, no texture visible.
• Downsides: Costs money. Takes up space (tripod screens) or requires wall mounting (fixed screens). Looks like a projector screen when not in use. Your room starts looking like a home cinema setup rather than a living space.
• Verdict: Unnecessary for ambience. Worth it if you also watch films on the projector and want the best image for movies. Overkill for rain scenes.

White / cream wall

• Image quality: 90-95% of a screen. Slightly less uniform brightness (you might notice the centre is slightly brighter than the edges). Virtually identical colour accuracy on white walls; slight warmth on cream.
• Downsides: Minor texture visible up close. Slight hotspot in the centre with cheap projectors.
• Verdict: The sweet spot. Looks great, costs nothing, and doesn't turn your room into a cinema. This is what 90% of projector ambience setups use.

White bedsheet

• Image quality: 85-90% of a screen. Slightly softer image due to fabric weave. Excellent colour accuracy. The matte surface actually reduces hotspotting compared to a glossy wall.
• Downsides: Wrinkles show. Needs to be pulled very taut. Looks a bit improvised if not hung neatly.
• Verdict: The best free option for dark or coloured walls. Iron it, pull it tight, dim the lights. Nobody will know it's a bedsheet once the projection is running.

Light grey wall

• Image quality: 80-85% of a screen for brightness, but better contrast. Darks look deeper. Colours are slightly muted. Overall effect is moodier and more cinematic.
• Downsides: Bright scenes (sunny gardens, white snow) look dimmer than on white.
• Verdict: Perfectly good for evening ambience. The improved contrast actually suits dark, moody scenes like rain and firelight. Don't let a grey wall stop you.

The Projector Paint Option

If you want a more permanent solution and you're allowed to paint your walls (or you own the place), projector screen paint is a genuinely good option.

What is it?

It's paint designed specifically for projector use. It has a high reflectivity, a neutral colour temperature, and a smooth finish that maximises image quality. You paint it directly onto your wall -- usually a rectangle the size of the projection area you want.

Brands and costs

• Dulux Light & Space (budget cheat) -- not specifically projector paint, but Dulux's Light & Space range is designed to be ultra-reflective. The "Morning Light" shade is almost pure white with high reflectivity. About £15 for a tin that covers your projection area several times over. This is the cheat code: it works nearly as well as dedicated projector paint at a fraction of the cost.
• Screen Goo (dedicated) -- the original projector screen paint. Two-coat system (base coat + top coat) that creates a cinema-quality surface on any wall. About £80-120 for enough to cover a 100-inch area. Genuine cinema-quality results but probably overkill for ambience use.
• Paint on Screen S1 (dedicated) -- similar to Screen Goo but simpler (single coat). About £60-80. Good results, easier application.

Is it worth it?

For ambience projection? Probably not, unless your wall is a dark colour and you want a permanent solution without hanging sheets or boards. A white or cream wall works just as well for free. But if you're setting up a dedicated projector wall (maybe in a bedroom or home office) and you want it to look intentional and permanent, a coat of Dulux Light & Space is a solid investment for fifteen quid.

Tips for the Best Wall Projection

1. Clear the wall. Take down pictures, shelves, and hooks from the area you're projecting onto. Any object on the wall will cast a shadow and break the illusion. You want a clear, flat expanse of wall.
2. Check for marks and scuffs. That scuff from when you moved the sofa, the patch where you filled a nail hole -- these are invisible normally but show up when a projector is shining on them. A quick wipe-down or a dab of touch-up paint makes a difference.
3. Size your projection to look like a window. Don't fill the entire wall. A projection that sits roughly in the centre of the wall, from about waist height to above head height, reads as a window. Wall-to-wall projection reads as a screen. The window illusion is more convincing at a slightly smaller size. See our fake window guide for detailed sizing advice.
4. Kill competing light. Your wall doesn't need to be in total darkness, but the less ambient light hitting the projection surface, the better the image. Turn off the room's main light. Use side lamps, candles, or fairy lights pointed away from the projection wall.
5. Adjust the focus carefully. Projecting onto a wall that isn't perfectly flat means the focus can vary across the image. Most mini projectors have a manual focus ring -- set it to the centre of the image being sharp. The edges might be slightly softer. For ambient scenes, this is fine and often enhances the window illusion (real windows are slightly soft at the edges too).
6. Don't obsess over perfection. A projector screen gives you 100% image quality. A white wall gives you 90-95%. A cream wall gives you 88-92%. In a dark room, running an ambient rain scene, you cannot tell the difference. The projection is background atmosphere, not a cinema experience. "Good enough" is genuinely good enough.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I project onto a coloured wall if I just use it at night?

Darkness helps enormously, but the wall colour still affects the image. A dark wall absorbs light regardless of how dark the room is. What darkness does is remove competing light, so the projection is the only light source -- this helps, but it can't overcome a navy wall absorbing 80% of the projector's output. Light-coloured walls only, or use a workaround.

What about ceiling projection? Same rules?

Yes. Most ceilings are white, which is perfect. If your ceiling is textured (Artex is common on ceilings), it'll add a slight softness to the image, but for aurora borealis, underwater scenes, and starfields projected above your bed, it works beautifully. Ceiling texture is less noticeable than wall texture because you're looking up at it from several metres away.

Will the projector damage my wall or paint?

No. A projector produces light, not heat (LED projectors run cool). There's no UV damage, no discolouration, no physical contact with the wall. You can project onto the same spot for years without any effect on the paint or surface. Completely safe for renters.

My wall has a window in it. Can I project around it?

Best to use a different wall. The window frame, glass reflection, and curtains/blinds will all interfere with the projection. Even with blinds closed, the texture difference between the blind and the surrounding wall is visible. Pick a wall without obstructions -- even a narrower wall with no window is better than a wide wall with one.

What about wallpaper?

Light-coloured, smooth wallpaper works fine. Textured wallpaper (raised patterns, flock) will show the texture in the projection. Patterned wallpaper (floral, geometric) will show the pattern through the projection, which looks odd. If you have patterned wallpaper, use the bedsheet hack over the top of it.

I rent and can't modify anything. What's my best option?

If your walls are light-coloured: just project straight onto the wall. No modification needed. If your walls are dark: hang a white bedsheet with Command strips (renter-friendly, no damage, comes down cleanly). Or prop up a white foam board against the wall. Both options leave zero trace when you move out. Our complete setup guide has more tips for renters.

Do I need a screen for watching films (not ambience)?

For films, a screen makes more of a difference than for ambience. You're looking at small text (subtitles), fine detail (faces), and precise colours. A screen gives you the sharpest, most uniform image for this. But even for films, a white wall in a dark room is perfectly watchable -- most people won't notice the difference unless they're comparing side by side. Start with the wall. If you find yourself squinting at subtitles, invest in a screen later.

This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through our links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we genuinely use and rate.