LUXURY CE March 2010 : Page 42
Luxury CE Magazine luxuryce.com Feb/Mar 2010 DESIGN & INNOVATION In a Perfect World A high-end Chicago interior designer discusses working with his installer of choice. By John Cannon Working in the interior design industry for more than 30 years, I’ve seen many trends come and go, innovations emerge and styles evolve. I’ve also seen many things go out of style—only to come back into style, again, at a later date. As the consumer electronics industry continues to grow and evolve, many technologies that were once considered “elite” or “over the top” are now standard components of our residential projects. While these technologies are essential in nearly every luxury home project these days, the specialty vendors and contractors who represent and install these technologies are also critical to every project’s success. My interior and architectural design expertise includes building many custom homes in the Chicagoland suburbs, as well as Harbor Country, Mich., Cape Cod, Southern Florida and Beverly Hills. Not surprisingly, each home’s technology sys- tem is complex, and each system’s technical capabilities are customized to the client. The innovations in light- ing control and environmental systems continue to be startling to me. Frankly, some of my cli- ents now know more about these things than I do. However, the ability to learn more about these new technologies enables my cli- ents to better define what they want for their homes. Today, our homes can do almost any- nate to develop strong, ongoing partner- ships with companies that do far more than what the client wants: These companies understand what I, as an interior designer, want. One such company is Grand Home Automation, which has locations in Hud- sonville and New Buffalo, Mich., as well as Through all of these changes, the sign stage. By having reliable and established partners in home automation involved from the get-go, the project goes more smoothly for everyone, and the client is more satisfied with the results. You’d think this is a given in today’s world, but it’s not. My firm still experiences this issue with new homebuild- ers we work with. From the get-to, it’s the design smartest thing I’ve done is to sit back and listen to what my clients are asking for. Only then do I call upon subcontractors who have the expertise to deliver these kinds of results. thing—the house, itself, can dim the lights or it can alert you about something that isn’t working properly. Not only can you change the hot tub’s temperature via your cell phone while driving to the ski lodge, but you can play your favorite music selec- tions anywhere in your house via your iPod. You can even give your guests access to your playlists from that same device. Of course Apple TV is currently revolutionizing this industry again. As in any industry, home-automation contractors come and go. I’ve been fortu- Chicago. Grand Home Automation makes my clients happy. By going the extra mile every time—and by being more than pre- pared for contingencies and the technical challenges inherent in technology work— Grand Home Automation always makes me look good to the client. The company even creates rescue plans for when previ- ously installed systems fail and they need to be made right—right away. clarity in the beginning Today’s large luxury homes require that such systems—from lighting to audio and video—be incorporated in the home’s de- team’s job to educate homeowners about the importance of thinking through these technologies early on. This is important because of- tentimes clients don’t understand the logistics of managing a large home. How will they manage hun- dreds of light switches? How many sound systems will they need? Clients need to know what’s available—especially the systems that can manage the many aspects of a complex, large home, both on site and remotely, including HVAC and security functions. For example, climate control is ex- tremely important for second-home own- ers. Our design firm recently completed an 11,000-square-foot log cabin in Michigan. While the local HVAC contractor was unable to provide the required humidity- control abilities, Grand Home Automation was able to reprogram the existing set-up simply by adding programming to the sys- 37
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