Home Control Simplifies 9,000 Square Feet

Michigan dwellers take a practical approach to automating their beachfront home.

Dec. 17, 2008 — by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

If there’s one piece of advice Carter Eckert would share with anyone considering an automation system for his or her home: Contemplate each and every function carefully. Before a single product was selected for their new beachfront residence in New Buffalo, MI, Carter and his wife, Michele, carefully weighed its benefits against its costs. “Some things simply didn’t make sense for us,” says Michele. TVs, for instance, were kept to a minimum.

“I didn’t want people coming here and just sitting in front of a TV when we could be enjoying the beach, the pool or just a good conversation.” To prevent guests from holing up in a bedroom, none of the guest rooms were given a TV, much less a speaker to tap into the whole-house music system.

The only rooms in the 9,000-square-foot residence that Carter and Michele decided to put a flat-panel TV in were the den, the downstairs rec room and bar, and in each of their respective home offices. Even those TVs, though, maintain a low profile. The 50-inch Runco plasma display in the den, for instance, stays hidden inside a sleek built-in cabinet. Only when the “TV” button on the 10-inch wireless Crestron touchpanel is engaged does the set slowly lift into view.

The office TVs, meanwhile, are about as far away from the main living spaces as they can get, sequestered in Carter’s and Michele’s private office spaces on the third floor. The only room that was designed specifically for TV viewing is the downstairs media room. There, a wall-mounted 40-inch Sony Bravia LCD TV at the bar shares space with a 70-inch Sony Grand Wega tucked inside a custom-crafted cabinet.

Following a Grand Depiction
The Eckerts followed the same approach when deciding on speakers, touchpanels and other devices. Grand Home Automation’s Rich Conklin was there to guide them throughout the entire process. As part of Grand Home’s design services, he discussed with the Eckerts their specific objectives and goals for their home.

Based on their many conversations, he created a line diagram of the residence, depicting the location of every electronic component. This gave the Eckerts a good sense of where their money would be spent and allowed them to visualize the system’s impact on the decor and their lifestyle. By studying the diagram, they knew, for example, that it would make sense to have a large touchpanel on both the main level and lower level so they could conveniently control the lights, security system, surveillance cameras, whole-house music system, motorized shades, and swimming pool and spa.

Smaller in-wall units and portable handheld controls would be used in rooms like the kitchen, master bedroom and home offices to allow the homeowners to operate devices within those particular spaces. The handheld Crestron touchpanel in Carter’s office, for example, would give him control over the room’s 32-inch Sony Bravia LCD TV and satellite receiver, as well as the shades and the lights.

Applying Past Experience
While many of the Eckerts’ decisions were based on how they planned to live in their new home, others were driven from past experiences. “I remember vividly having to listen to reggae music all day when our kids were teenagers,” Michele says.

Consequently, she and Carter requested a music system that would let them hear whatever they wanted regardless of what other people were listening to. Grand Home Automation answered with a Crestron Adagio distribution system that divides the home into several distinct listening zones.

Michele can be in the kitchen zone cooking with Andrea Bocelli while Carter is in the den relaxing to Frank Sinatra. The pool area is always a favorite listening spot when family members are in town. Grand Home decked out the area with several weather-resistant Sonance speakers. When it’s time for a dip, the same panel is used to control the temperature of the pool and hot tub, the swimming pool waterfall and the landscape lighting.

Embracing Diversity
Given their diverse taste in music, the Eckerts have an extensive library of songs to pull from. Nearly 2,000 tunes reside on Carter’s iPod, there are some on the 160-GB Crestron Adagio media server, songs stream in from dual Crestron AM/FM tuners, and hundreds of music stations are available through the family’s HD satellite receiver.

All of this equipment (including a Crestron docking station for the iPod) is stored along with the 70-inch TV in the A/V cabinet in the media room. The cabinet also holds its fair share of video components, including the high-def DirecTV satellite receiver with digital video recording capability, a Marantz DVD player and a Panasonic VCR. The same Crestron system that distributes audio throughout the house can also deliver video from the sources to any TV. 

No matter where or when the Eckerts choose to listen to music or watch TV, their Crestron Cresnet automation system helps prepare the space for entertainment. From any touchpanel, they can open or close the motorized Lutron Sivoia QED shades, adjust the intensity of the lights on the Lutron HomeWorks Interactive system, check up on the GE security system, and warm up the pool and hot tub.

The Cresnet system integrates these various subsystems together so they can be operated as one cohesive unit. A goodnight command, for example, turns off everything that may have been left on downstairs, including A/V equipment, lights and gas fireplaces. “This is my favorite feature of the entire system,” says Michele. Another particularly handy command is vacation. The setting readies the beach house for the snowbirds’ departure to Arizona by turning off everything and engaging a random lighting routine that makes the house look occupied while they’re gone. Other scenes illuminate pathways through the house.

As was the case with the other amenities in their home, it didn’t matter to the Eckerts whether their system had 10 or 100 scenes. It was more important that each one have a practical purpose. A great amount of thought went into every function and feature in this home so that nothing would go unused, says Conklin. “Going through a stringent design process with us like the Eckerts did guarantees success.”

It also enabled the Eckerts to put away a little extra cash to spend on upgrades. One of the first items on their list? A Blu-ray disc player.
Click here to view pictures of this home.

Systems Design and Installation by Grand Home Automation, Hudsonville, MI
Interior Design by Cannon Frank, Chicago
Cabinetry by Priebe’s Creative Woodworking, Benton Harbor, MI

Home Control System
Crestron Cresnet ControllerCrestron LC-1000 Britetouch In-wall Touchpanels (5)
Crestron Isys 10-inch Wi-fi Touchpanels (2)
Crestron 12-Button Keypads(4)
Crestron One-Way RF Mini Touchpanels (3)
Monster Cable HTUPS1000 Power Center
Monster Cable HTS 2500 MKII Power Center/Surge Suppressor

Lighting Control System
Lutron HomeWorks Interactive System
Lutron Sivioa QED Shading Control
Lutron Remote Dimmers (10)
Lutron Remote Switches (5)
Lutron Maestro Wired Dimmers (62)
Lutron Sivoia Motorized Window Shades
Lutron 4-Button SeeTouch Keypad (23)

Whole-House A/V
Crestron Adagio 6-Room Distribution System
Crestron Adagio Audio Expander
Crestron Adagio 160-GB Audio Server
Crestron ADTC-AMFM2 Dual AM/FM Tuner
Crestron CEN-IPOD iPod Docking Station
DirecTV HR10-250 High-Def Satellite Receiver with DVR
DirecTV H10 Satellite Receiver
Marantz DV-7600 DVD Players (2)
Marantz SR-8500 A/V Receivers (2)
Panasonic PV-S4624S VCRs (2)
USTec Modulators (2)

Speakers and Subwoofers
Sonance Virtuoso In-Ceiling Speakers (2)
Snell SUB300 Subwoofers (2)
Sonance Cabinet Speakers (6)
Sonance In-Ceiling Surround Speakers (8)
Sonance Single Stereo Speaker
Sonance Symphony In-Ceiling Speakers (16)
Sonance Symphony Extreme Speakers (4)
Sonance Mariner Speakers (3)

Flat-Panel TVs
Sony KDL-V40XBR1 40-inch Bravia XBR LCD TV
Sony KDF-70XBR950 70-inch XBR Grand Wega
Runco 50-inch Plasma TV
Sony KDL-V32XBR1 32-inch Bravia XBR LCD TVs (2)

Networking, Wiring & Racks
USTec Tec Port System
Liberty Cable Wiring
Middle Atlantic Equipment Racks
OnQ Wireless Access Point

Communications System
Panasonic KX-TDA50 Phone/Intercom System
Panasonic KX-T7630 Digital Phones (7)
Panasonic KX-T7680 Cordless Phones (3)
Panasonic Surveillance Cameras (4)

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