Are you still watching movies on an old TV and wishing for an upgrade? Once you’ve seen a true big screen—projector and projection screen—it’s tough to go back. This homeowner went from the small time to the big time for the transformation of this dedicated home theater room, courtesy of custom electronics pro Home Systems in Pompton Plains, N.J. The big move included going from an obsolete large big-box TV… View this story
Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Home Theater • Cool Homes

Talk about a fish out of water. This New Jersey homeowner is a Boston sports fanatic, but thanks to some creative thinking and some help from a local custom electronics firm, his nightly trips down to the basement take him into the Hub rather than the Holland Tunnel. As an equal-opportunity Boston sports nut, this homeowner and his family actually get to enjoy pieces of all the major Boston sports… View this story
Basement • Sports • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Home Theater • Cool Homes

We love it when homeowners express their passions or hobbies in their home theaters. We’d already seen Harley-Davidson show up in one cool theater environment, and here it is again in a completely different context. For one thing, this New Jersey theater is a dedicated room, and for another it’s not your typical basement project. It’s in the home’s attic space. That in itself was a bit of an unusual… View this story
Front Projection • Video Screen • Media Room • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Home Theater • Cool Homes

That was easy. At least it is for the homeowners of a 10,000-square-foot Baltimore townhouse and a summer island home. They have a one-button solution to turning on home electronics in each of their houses. And ta-da: it’s a Staples’ Easy Button. When they press an Easy Button in either residence, the lighting and audio/video systems in the family room come to life. In the townhouse, the lights dim, the… View this story
Home Control Systems • Weird Stuff • Cool Homes

We all have our favorites. Some have a favorite comfy chair. Some love their homemade racks and screens. Seth Valencia has a favorite as well. You could say that his favorite is a MartinLogan—well, everything. Unfortunately, there’s no MartinLogan HDTV and no MartinLogan throw pillows. (Although, the company should really consider sending Seth a few, just to commemorate his loyalty.) His seven MartinLogan products are his babies, as well as… View this story
DIY Home Theaters • Home Theater • Cool Homes

A belief among custom electronics professionals (CE pros) is that if your mother-in-law can operate the electronics gear you installed, you’ve done your job well. Chad Bessette of ASL Home Entertainment Group in Tucson, Ariz., thinks kids can be a good measuring stick of simplicity, too. Bessette’s 6-year-old daughter Abbey recently gave her stamp of approval to one of the most elaborate design and installation projects his company has ever… View this story
Home Control Systems • Cool Homes

One of the best spots to put a theater is in the basement. Isolated from the rest of the house, it’s free of many distractions, and with few, if any windows, light won’t interfere with the presentation, either. The owners of this THX-certified theater were aware of the benefits of going below grade. Unfortunately, their finished basement was already being used for other purposes. The best option, they figured, was… View this story
Front Projection • Video Screen • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes

Custom homebuilder Taradar Fine Homes in Calgary, Alberta, has built its fair share of high-end home theaters. But the real trend, says owner Todd Jensen, is “feature rooms”—spaces created for specific functions and catering to homeowners’ hobbies. “We might build a fancy garage to showcase a car collection or an enclosed atrium for a swimming pool,” he says. For a feature room of his own, Jensen looked to two of… View this story
Sports • Themed Theaters • Home Theater • Cool Homes

Think about it: You spend a fortune building a massive slope-side vacation home in Utah, complete with a home control system, lighting control system and a snow melt system—only to have your electrical contractor come back two years later to rig about $60,000 worth of energy-saving improvements. “Everything about the project was big,” says Mark McGuinness of Chesley Electric in Park City, Utah, of this 16,500-square-foot home that recently won… View this story
Lighting Control Systems • Green Technology • Enhancements • Cool Homes

Don’t you just hate it when you’re enjoying a workout in the home gym, watching the big game on TV, and then your workout ends while the result is still in doubt? That’s not a problem for one Connecticut homeowner. He has a TV-equipped sauna right off the gym. “The homeowner wanted to be able to use the workout room—there’s a couple of TVs there—and if he wants to jump… View this story
In-Ceiling Speakers • Home Gym • Cool Homes