Cynthia Bennett’s heart and soul beats interior design and architecture, but she’s been a huge advocate of technology for most of her 30 years as a professional interior designer. Her proclivity for smart home products could be credited largely to her son, Michael Fehmers, who runs a home systems design and integration firm nearby her Pasadena home and business. “We’ve participated in the Pasadena Showcase House of Design for years, and have always teamed up to combine design and technology in the show homes,” says Bennett. “Technology is an obvious fit for all homes, especially those with fantastic interior designs, and it’s something I recommend to all of my clients.”
DESIGNER
Cynthia Bennett, Cynthia Bennett & Associates, Inc. South Pasadena, Calif.
www.cynthiabennett.com
HOME SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR
Michael Fehmers, CBA Technology, South Pasadena, Calif.
www.cbatechnology.com
STYLE
Modern American Cottage with Influences from Dutch Farmhouses
TECHNOLOGY
Savant Home Automation System
Bennett definitely practices what she preaches, as her 3,600-square-foot “modern American cottage” has functioned as a test bed of sorts for Fehmers and his wide portfolio of smart home systems. “I’ve been a willing guinea pig for Michael as he brings on new products and systems into his business,” she says. She’s already experimented with three different brands of home automation setups, the latest being a fully integrated system from Savant. The transition from one system to the next has exposed Bennett to a variety of high-tech conveniences, and this most recent iteration focuses largely on the control of whole-house music components, thermostats, security system, surveillance cameras, and lighting, the latter of which Bennett notes as having a big impact on her cottage’s overall look and feel. “Good design requires good lighting. I have a great lighting scene in my family room that illuminates the paintings and glass cabinets beautifully. The scene can switch to something appropriate for reading, entertaining, and quiet time, and I don’t need to touch a half-dozen light switches on the walls to alter the visual environment.” Under the aegis of the Savant system, Bennett uses her iPad, iPhone, and a few handheld Savant remotes to monitor, manage, and control the lights, as well as the music and security devices.
Just as the iPad- and iPhone-based mode of home control has helped clear the walls of traditional switches; so have the Savant audio and video systems freed rooms of obnoxious black boxes. Hidden neatly inside a closet are a variety of A/V components, including a Roku box, Apple TV, and a Savant music server, that feed music and video over cabling that was installed inside the walls to speakers and TVs in nine listening zones and three viewing areas. Even the Sonance architectural speakers and TVs manage to maintain a low profile, having been recessed flush with the ceiling, walls, and cabinetry. Fehmers integrated a DSC/Viking security system with the Savant audio/video distribution system so that images from surveillance cameras appear automatically on every active screen anytime someone presses the doorbell button at the front gate. This setup effectively negated the need for an intercom system … another high-tech element that could have cluttered the walls of this casually comfortable Dutch-inspired cottage. EH
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