Electronic House recently published its annual Home of the Year list, and a number of top-of-the-line home theaters and smarthomes made this year’s list. Get inspiration for your home theater or automated home by checking out some of the 2014 winners:
Matrix-Inspired Home Theater
This year’s bronze winner for Best Home Theater in the $150,000+ category is a Maryland home theater inspired by the movie The Matrix. Designers used LED lights to create a futuristic sci-fi look that referenced the popular film trilogy without going overboard. The theater’s layout and lighting creates a tunnel effect that draws viewers’ eyes toward across the 1,125-square-foot space to a 110-inch screen. The room also features a hidden surround sound system that produces powerful audio while maintaining the room’s sleek, minimalist design.
His and Her Automated Beach House
The gold winner for Home of the Year ($50,000 or less) is a 3,000-square-foot, oceanfront home in San Diego. The beach house’s gorgeous design – featuring a cream-colored interior and curved walls – was further enhanced by innovative home automation. The home’s highly customized automation system features separate his and hers controls – tailored to match both the wife’s penchant for simplicity and the husband’s love for precise controls. The couple’s Crestron smarthome technology allows them to control every aspect of their home, including lighting, motorized shades, and audio/visual systems.
Paradise Meets Tech in Florida Outdoor Theater
The bronze winner in the Best Outdoor Space category is a lush outdoor theater in Florida that combines luxury landscaping with sound structural engineering. Theater installation experts had a challenge when attempting to attach a home theater screen to the lanai’s bug-proof steel frame. The Sarasota, Florida-based installation company had to consult with structural engineers to ensure that the lightweight metal frame could support a 300-pound motorized screen. In the end, their efforts paid off, and the homeowners and their guests are now able to enjoy movies from anywhere in the yard – even across their swimming pool.
From Nightmare Basement to Award-Winning Theater
The bronze winner in Best Home Theater ($25,000 to $75,000) is an ugly-duck basement that was transformed into a delightful home theater at an affordable price. Installation experts were confronted with numerous design challenges that included obtrusive HVAC ductwork and sewage pipes, unsightly sump pumps, and a limited budget. The homeowner was explicit about not paying extra to remove the offending structures, so the team designed around them and come up with concealment strategies. The end result was an aesthetically pleasing, highly functional home theater that far exceeded expectations.
Ultimate Automation in Swanky L.A. Lounge
Is it a home theater or a swanky cocktail bar? This year’s gold-winning Multipurpose Room is both. Modern furniture, luxurious leather walls, and a fully stocked cocktail bar turned a Los Angeles home theater into the ultimate party space. The room is stylish as well as fully automated. With the touch of a button, motorized wall panels behind the wet bar open up to reveal a commercial-grade projector that beams light through a glass panel onto the projection screen. A high-end 7.2 surround sound system produces a rich audio experience to match the rich visuals from the screen, walls, and furniture. The entire room is outfitted with the Crestron smarthome system and controlled by a single iPad app.
For more design inspiration for your home theater project, see the full list of 2014 Home of the Year winners.
Whatever your design ideas may be, the expert installation team Advanced Home Theater Systems turns your home theater dreams into reality. Call us today to talk to a staff member about building your home theater or installing Crestron smarthome technology: (469) 656-4804.
