Let’s face it: Texas homeowners are not well equipped to deal with cold weather. Anything below 70 degrees is practically foreign territory, and your home’s heating system (if you even have one) is likely rusty from lack of use. That said, the Southlake area has already seen some chilly days, and the fickle Texas weather could turn even colder at a moment’s notice. Is your home prepared? In this blog, we discuss how motorized shades can help keep your home cozy warm without blasting the heater 24x7.

The Need for Insulation

The big trend with home architecture these days is large windows in every room. While these windows promote an open, airy feel to the house, that ambiance comes at a price, a very tangible cost seen each month on your energy bill. That’s because glass is not a very good insulator. During the summer, those glass windows focus the sun’s heat, essentially baking each room and causing your HVAC unit to work overtime to keep things cool.

In the winter, the problem is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Your home’s heat seeps out of the glass, so even though your heater might be running, the odds are likely that you’ll still feel a chill in the air whenever you go into rooms with large windows.

The Solution: Motorized Shades

Obviously, you don’t want to cover up your beautiful windows for the entire winter season, so the trick is to find a solution that balances your view of the outdoors with smart energy management. Motorized shades are a perfect fit.

Window treatments form a barrier between your well-heated room and the glass that enables the heat to pass outside, essentially trapping the warm air in the room. You can achieve this effect through multiple shading styles, such as traditional drapery, but one of the best types of window treatment for heat harnessing is the honeycomb style. The design has pleats that open up to create and trap warm air pockets.

As smart home technology becomes more and more popular, there are several terms that you’re going to hear quite frequently. One technology that is often considered an essential part of smart home automation is lighting control. If you’re unfamiliar with this term, don’t worry. We’ve put together a quick guide that goes over the features and benefits of lighting control systems so that you can decide for yourself if this innovative technology is right for your Colleyville, Texas home.

What is Lighting Control?

Lighting control refers to technology that allows you to easily adjust the lights throughout your home. Technically, anything from a light switch to a lamp dimmer is a form of lighting control, but in modern terms, lighting control typically refers to systems that automate the process of managing all the lights throughout your home. So instead of relying on individual switches for each light, all of the lights are connected to one centrally managed system you can control right from your smartphone or tablet.

SEE ALSO: 5 Ways to Manage Your Lights With Smart Control

What are the Main Advantages of a Lighting Control System?

The short answer to this question is that lighting control makes your life more convenient and comfortable. The longer answer is that the versatility of lighting control makes it possible for you to gain the benefits that matter most to you. Here are just a few of the ways a lighting control system can make life easier:

• Energy Management: The intelligent system ensures that you never waste energy lighting rooms that aren’t in use or burning bulbs at 100% brightness when natural sunlight is available.
• Security: Through automated “scenes,” you can use your lights to make your home look occupied while you’re away, thus convincing would-be burglars to move on to easier targets.
• Time Savings: Instead of walking throughout the house every evening to turn off lights one by one, imagine being able to push a single button on your phone turn off all the lights immediately.
• Interior Design: You can use your control system to display art and décor in the perfect lighting for every occasion.

How Does Lighting Control Fit into a Full Home Automation System?

Modern smart homes are fully customizable, so you can start with as little or as much smart technology as you want and then add on other elements as time goes on. Many Texas homeowners choose to automate their lights initially, then add on other smart home control elements such as audio video systems, home security, motorized shades, etc. The great thing is that all of these different technologies use the same interface that you’re already comfortable with, so each new addition won’t require learning a new system.

These days, you can find just about anything you could possibly need for home networking at your local electronics store. They’ve got routers, wireless access points, Ethernet cables…you name it. Yet despite the availability of DIY home network solutions, savvy Texas homeowners still consistently opt for a professional installation, and with good reason. If you’re questioning whether to DIY your own networking solution or invest in a professional network installation for your Westlake area home, then read on.

Smart Homes Require More than the Minimum

It’s tempting to grab the cheapest router on the shelf, set it up with the default settings, and call it a day, but if you’re planning on using your network with multiple smart devices, that process simply isn’t going to cut it. DIY is still possible, but be prepared to do extensive research on the best products, setup, and maintenance for smart home success.

There are several aspects of a professional installation that you simply cannot get with a DIY solution, and they all boil down to the level of knowledge and experience that comes from working in the home automation and networking industry.

SEE ALSO: 3 Signs Your Smart Home’s Network Probably Isn’t Cutting It

The Benefits of Each Option

DIY home network installations definitely have some worth. They don’t cost as much (although keep in mind the value of your time spent on research and manual labor), and they offer you an opportunity to stretch your technical skills and create something incredibly useful. However, these benefits pale in comparison to the security, reliability, and ease of having a professional installation.

The holidays are nearly upon us. Is your home ready for entertaining? Many holiday traditions revolve around the television: watching the Macy’s Day Parade on Thanksgiving morning or The Grinch during Christmas break. So why not make the most of your time enjoying media with family by upgrading your outdated, clunky system with one that’s easy to use? Keep reading to learn the benefits of a modern audio video system during the holiday season. 

A Better Movie-Watching Experience

If you or your family members are squinting at the grainy image on the television or bumping up the volume to its highest setting, it’s time for an upgrade. With 4K Ultra HD, the latest advancement in television image resolution, you can now get a super crisp, clear picture of all your favorite shows and movies. Whether you’re watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation or It’s a Wonderful Life, you’ll be able to see so much detail, you’d swear you could reach out and touch the actors.

Of course, the view is only part of a great movie setup. You also need high-fidelity sound to create that immersive experience. The sleek, thin look of modern televisions comes at a price; there’s no space for quality speakers. Whether you have a dedicated home theater or a family room, it’s important to supplement your television with either a sound bar or surround sound speakers. We can work with you to help you decide on the best brand, speaker type, and placement for optimal sound.

Spread Holiday Cheer in Every Room

Nothing gets people in the holiday spirit quite like music. Instead of blasting the Christmas carols from one room or individually going into each area of your home to set up music systems and pick out playlists, it’s possible to set the same music, optimized for easy listening, in every room at once. By upgrading to a multi-room music system, all of your audio equipment, music, and streaming services are instantly accessible via your smartphone or tablet. So when Santa Baby comes on the radio for the fifth time that day, all you have to do is press “Skip” on your phone, and the multi-room music system will immediately respond to your command.

Of course, it’s possible that not everyone in your family will be gung-ho for Christmas music 24x7. Your audio system can have separate music zones that allow everyone to listen to their own music in different areas of the home. So if someone in the family is ready to go on a rampage from too many Christmas jingles, they can retreat to their room without interrupting the holiday atmosphere.

Good news for everyone with Savant smart home automation systems: the intuitive control technology can also be used to manage your multi-room music. Savant recently announced new upgrades to their all-in-one music solution that make it easy for you to enjoy high-quality audio in every room of your Texas home. To learn about the different aspects of Savant’s multi-room music features and how you can take advantage of them, read on.

All of Your Music in One Place

Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, Tidal, traditional CDs… you likely have a lot of different sources for your music. Swapping between streaming services or media types is usually a hassle, but Savant makes it a simple process by centralizing all of the music on a server with plenty of storage for those high-fidelity files. With one touch, your entire music collection is at your fingertips so that you can easily find the perfect song to jam out to.

SEE MORE: 3 Aspects of a High-Quality Multi-Room Music System

Airplay Straight from a Mobile Device

Want to play a song from your iTunes music account? With Savant, you can use Apple AirPlay to instantly start listening to your chosen music within your home—no cords or cables required. With AirPlay, you can continue to use your phone for other activities while the music is playing instead of leaving it docked somewhere as the official “music” phone.

Music Wherever You Are

One of the best things about a multi-room music setup is that you’re not restricted to enjoying music only in one area of your home. Sure, you can get away with adding speakers and stereos to each room and controlling them individually, but nothing beats the convenience of simply pulling up your phone as you walk from one area of your home to the next and having the music follow. The centralized access to all of your speakers and media makes listening to high-fidelity music an effortless process.

What do you use your home’s lights for? The obvious answer is something along the lines of “I use them to make each room bright enough to see,” but your lights can do so much more than that. Below, we outline some of the unique things you can do with a smart lighting control system. Explore the possibilities for your Dallas, Texas home.

Let Your Home Greet You When You Arrive                 

As you’re returning home after a long day of work (or a fun vacation), walking into a dark, empty house can be downright depressing. But what if your home lit up moments before you arrived? Your home’s lighting control system can use sensors to identify when you have entered your property or passed the front gate, then automatically turn on the lights at the porch, entryway, living room, etc. It can even trigger the outdoor lights to illuminate a pathway from your car to the front door if you arrive home at night.

Secure Your Home with “Vacation” Lighting

Break-ins are far more likely to occur when the home is empty for extended periods. To help deter criminals while you’re away on business or vacation, you can use your lighting control system to make the home appear occupied, even when you’re halfway across the world. The lights will mimic everyday use – turning on in the morning, changing from room to room, and finally turning off at night. You can also add motorized shades to your “Vacation” scene to create even more convincing signs of life.

Go Green with Energy-Efficient Lighting

Even if you make sure to turn off every single light every time you leave a room (and let’s face it: who wants to go through all that effort?), the odds are likely that your lighting use isn’t as energy efficient as it could be. By adding sensors, timers, dimmers, and other lighting control technologies, you can make your home’s lighting more eco-friendly while adding convenience and enhancing your home’s decor at the same time.

SEE MORE: 5 Ways to Manage Your Lights With Smart Control

One of the best things about living in a smart home is the ability to customize it to fit your lifestyle. Every smart device in your home can be optimized to make your life more convenient and comfortable. But getting started with smart home automation can seem daunting at first. That’s why we’ve put together this guide of the most popular and useful technologies worth integrating into your Westlake, TX smart home. 

SEE MORE: What Are Some Perks of Living in a Smart Home?

1. Lighting Control: With lighting control technology from Vantage, you’ll never have to walk into every room of your home to turn off the lights before bed or get up from a comfortable spot to brighten the lighting while reading. Instead, all you have to do is tap your smartphone or tablet, and the lights will adjust automatically.
2. Audio/Video System Control: Imagine being able to turn on your TV, select a movie, and adjust the volume for your kids…all without ever stepping into the room that held the equipment. With a centralized A/V system, you have instant access to the speakers, TVs, gaming systems, streaming services, etc. throughout your home.
3. Smart Home Security: Modern security systems go far beyond really good locks and deadbolts. When you make your surveillance and security system “smart,” you gain the ability to view camera footage in real-time from anywhere, lock or unlock your doors remotely, access your home without any physical keys, and more. Your home security can even react intelligently to certain events—for example, calling the fire department if a fire is detected or even shutting off your HVAC system to avoid fanning the flames.
4. A Strong Network: Networking probably isn’t what comes to your mind when you think about smart home automation, but it’s absolutely essential if you want all of your devices to work smoothly and reliably on a daily basis. By optimizing your home network and adding in wireless access points or routers to ensure all devices receive a strong connection, you’ll never have to worry about dropped signals or lagging shows.
5. The Total Control System: Each of the technologies listed above is a great way to make your life a little bit easier at home, but by connecting them all together into one easy-to-use system, you gain a solution that is so much greater than the sum of its parts. Savant’s smart home control systems are intuitive and streamlined so that you can skip the hassle of trying to figure out your technology and go straight to enjoying it.

If any of these smart home automation technologies appeal to you, contact us! We’ll help you design a fully customized smart home solution that includes the technologies that matter most to you.

There are a lot of great smart home automation technologies out there. You can control your lights, your HVAC, and your home security all using one simple system. A popular component of a smart home is a home video distribution system, in which all of your A/V devices are connected to simplify access to shows, movies, etc. To help you decide if a video distribution system makes sense for your Dallas, Texas smart home, answer the three questions below.

SEE ALSO: How to Connect All the A/V Devices in Your Home

Do you have 3+ TVs?

The amount of A/V equipment you have in your home is usually a good indicator of whether home video distribution is a smart investment for you. If you have just a few TVs, each with their own Blu-Ray player or gaming system already set up, then a distribution system may not be as valuable as another automation technology. However, for homes with TVs in the bedrooms, dedicated home theater, living room, patio, etc., a video distribution system can vastly simplify the process of using and managing all of your different TVs.

Do you waste time moving A/V equipment from room to room?

If you want to play your Xbox in your bedroom but it’s currently in the living room, what do you do? Without a home video distribution system, you may resort to unplugging the equipment and lugging it to a different room, only to have to repeat the process the next time you want to use that system elsewhere. It’s time-consuming and annoying, and it makes it difficult to hide your equipment away where it’s not cluttering up your home’s décor. This issue is solved completely by a home video distribution system because you can centralize all of your equipment in one location, such as a utility closet, then easily switch sources using a remote, smartphone or tablet to access the device you want in whatever room you’re in.

Do you have redundant gaming systems, streaming services, etc.?

When faced with moving those devices from one room to the next, many people will decide to skip the inconvenience by just buying an extra device for each room. While that makes it easier to access your media content, purchasing redundant equipment isn’t the best option for two primary reasons.

For audiophiles in the Colleyville, Texas area, there’s one room that you definitely need in your home: a listening room. As the name suggests, a listening room is a space dedicated to the enjoyment of high-end audio. In this blog, we cover the main things to keep in mind when building a listening room so that you end up with a truly immersive music experience.

SEE MORE: 3 Ways to Fill Your Home With Music

Create the Right Environment

While it’s true that you can really use any space for a listening room, such as your living room or office, the best listening rooms are spaces that are dedicated for that purpose. That way, you can design the environment to be perfect for high-end audio, as opposed to accommodating multiple functions in the space. Your listening room should be a completely separate space that is able to be closed off from the rest of the house, removing any distractions that could get in the way of your music enjoyment.

Choose the Best Equipment

For a dedicated listening room, not just any speakers or audio equipment will do. In this blog on buying high-end audio speakers, we cover the characteristics you should look for when inspecting different speakers, but another topic worth discussing is brand. You simply cannot get the same level of pure, clear sound from cheap speakers, so do yourself a favor and choose a quality brand from the start. Here are our favorite audio brands—any of these companies will provide reliable, robust A/V equipment perfect for your listening room.

• Triad: Handcrafted in the USA, Triad’s loudspeakers are custom-built to fit your needs, including custom paint and veneer. Triad uses top-notch components and proprietary engineering to ensure each speaker offers premium sound.
• Denon: From amplifiers to analog turntables, Denon’s selection of high fidelity audio equipment leaves nothing to be desired. Their speakers are engineered to make it easy to enjoy pure sound.
• Integra: Integra has been around since 1969, and in that time, their A/V equipment has only gotten better. Whether you’re looking for Dolby Atmos surround sound or the perfect amplifier for your system, Integra has you covered.

Optimize the Acoustics

The most expensive speakers in the world won’t yield the type of sound you want for a listening room if the room’s acoustics are bad. Your audio/video integrator should design and implement your listening room with acoustics in mind from the very beginning. For new construction, your integrator should get involved during the initial planning of the building so that your room ends up with the appropriate ceiling height, room shape, and size for optimal acoustics. Other factors that can significantly impact acoustics include speaker positioning and placement as well as the objects and materials in the room, such as glass cabinets or bulky furniture.

If you’re considering designed a home theater system for your Southlake, Texas home, we have a question for you: how do you plan on making it unique? You don’t have to settle for a cookie-cutter home theater design. Instead, you can make your space as personalized and fitted to your needs as you’d like. Of course, to achieve that custom theater look, there are a few design tips you should keep in mind, and you can read about them below.

SEE MORE: How Can You Upgrade Your Home Theater System?

Choose a Theme

If you have a hobby, movie, or location that’s important to you, why not use that as a theme for your home theater system’s décor? Choosing a theme, whether it’s your favorite sports team or a binge-worthy television show, makes it much easier to create a cohesive design for your theater.  

Use Every Space

Yes, it’s easy to plan out the screen and the seating, but what about the ceiling? A popular design choice for home theater systems is to recreate the night sky above you. Twinkling lights provide ambiance to the space without causing too much extra light on your movie screen. Tie in the carpet pattern and lighting sconces into your chosen décor theme, and you’ll have a truly immersive theater experience.

Hide Your Speakers

A blatantly obvious speaker can break through the immersive décor scheme in your home theater, so avoid the clutter of devices entirely by hiding them behind the screen. In order to do this properly, you need the right type of screen—an acoustically transparent fabric that allows the speakers to transfer high-end audio without any loss of quality. 

While Southlake is one of the safest communities in Texas, the gorgeous homes in the area are the perfect mark for thieves hoping to score big. That’s why it’s essential that your home be adequately protected. So how do you know if your home security is up to par? Answer the questions below to find out for yourself. 

SEE ALSO: How to Choose the Right Home Surveillance System

Do you know whether all of the doors are locked?

We’re not talking about walking throughout your home every day, checking the doors one by one. A smart home security system can tell you at a glance which doors are locked and unlocked. Even better, you can lock all of the access points to your home with the push of a single button.

Can you see who is at the gate or front door?

Having surveillance cameras around your property is a great first step toward home security, but you also need to make sure they’re placed appropriately. You should definitely have the ability to see in real time who is ringing the doorbell or driving through the front gate.

Are you notified immediately about safety threats?

Smartphone integration is more than just a convenient feature for your home security system—it allows you to act quickly in the face of a threat. Receive alerts about attempted burglaries, electrical fires, water leaks, and more so that you can mitigate any damage immediately.

Building a new home requires a lot of decisions—building materials, home layout, wiring, and more all have to be carefully considered so that the homeowner is happy with the final product. More and more often, homeowners decide after the residence is built that they want their home to be “smart.” While this is definitely possible, nothing beats the seamless design and reliability of a smart home automation solution that is built from the ground up. Below, we’ve covered how builders in the Colleyville, Texas area can benefit from installing smart home automation technology during construction of new homes.

SEE MORE: What Are Some Perks of Living in a Smart Home?

Boost Home Value

Smart homes are worth significantly more than traditional residences, and even some basic home pre-wiring for future automation can go a long way toward upping the purchase price. Smart home automation is in demand for high-end home buyers, and that demand is rapidly growing over time. By investing in smart home automation during new home construction, you can reach far more buyers in the luxury home market.

Increase Buyer Satisfaction

The goal with any luxury home construction is for the homeowner to be completely happy with their purchase. Nothing beats the “Wow” factor of showing buyers their new home and demonstrating how their smart home automation system can control the lights, shades, HVAC, security, and more—all with a single touch on a screen integrated directly into the wall. You can also work with your home buyer from the start to tailor each room to fit their needs, with different technology and wiring going into each area.

Create a Clean Look

A common mistake that occurs when implementing smart home technology during construction is that the integrator is brought into the process at the very end of construction. As a result, many issues that arise during the installation process, which would have been easy to avoid with planning, end up affecting the design of the home. Closed walls have to be opened up again for wiring, or worse: wires have to be run outside of the walls where they are visible to the homeowner. By partnering with a smart home automation integrator at the start of construction, you can create a plan for a sleek and clean design right from the beginning.

Thinking about upgrading your Westlake, Texas home with a multi-room music system? It’s much simpler than you might think. DB Media Solutions can handle multi-room music installations from the initial design to final optimization of the sound in each room. Not all multi-room music solutions are created equal, so we’ve put together this list of the three main characteristics of a high-quality music system for your whole house.

SEE MORE: What You Need to Know When Buying High-End Audio Speakers

Optimized for Each Space

The acoustics in each room of your home will be different, and you need speakers that are versatile enough to accommodate the differences in room layout and furniture. To ensure a smooth, even sound as you walk through the house, speakers are carefully placed in specific locations. Speaker type is another concern with a multi-room music system. You’ll want a different style of speakers for your outdoor audio, for example, than you would for your kitchen. DB Media Solutions can help you design a system that has the right speakers and equipment in the right location throughout your home.

Hidden from View

Your home’s décor probably doesn’t accommodate bulky speakers or cluttered wires. It may be easy to hide speakers in a media room or bedroom, but what about the bathroom? The solution is to use in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, such as the Sonance Invisible Series, to completely hide the speakers. You get high-quality sound without having to deal with wires or looking at speakers.

Easy to Use

The best sound quality in the world isn’t going to do you much good if your music system is difficult to operate. When all of your music equipment is integrated into one seamless system controlled by a touchpad or your smartphone, it’s much easier to adjust volume, change the station, or pause music. You don’t have to walk to the other end of the house to turn on your music—instead, just pull up your phone and start enjoying the high fidelity audio wherever you are.

The modern smart home has gone far beyond keyless locks and 4K Ultra HD TVs. Everything from your home surveillance cameras to your window shades can be automated with technology that adds convenience and comfort to your home. Below, we’ve covered two of the main ways that upgrading to motorized shades can make your Dallas, Texas home smarter.

SEE ALSO: 3 Reasons to Invest in Motorized Shades for Your Home

Energy Management

It takes a lot of energy to keep a home cool in Dallas, especially during Texas’ stifling summer months. The large windows that add so much beauty and character to your home are actually contributing to your high energy bill. Once the sun comes up, your windows can essentially bake your home in the sunlight, significantly raising interior temperatures.

The regular approach to this problem is to hang shades on all the windows, but with your curtains always closed, you don’t get to enjoy your outdoor views, and you have to rely on artificial lighting all the time (which also requires energy). Motorized shades solve this problem by intelligently monitoring your home’s temperature and lighting. The motorized shades automatically adjust throughout the day to ensure your rooms are adequately lit without the sun blasting heat into your home. Sensors detect the amount of sunlight hitting the window and cause the shades to lower or raise as needed.

Of all the things interior designers take into account when working on your Westlake, Texas home, lighting is often one of the most critical components. It may be easy to focus on wall colors, artwork and furnishings, but professionals know lighting is the glue that brings it all together. Make their job easier with a lighting control system that helps you find the perfect setting for all your lights while reducing unsightly clutter on the walls. 

SEE MORE: 5 Ways to Manage Your Lights With Smart Control

Reduce Wall Acne With Centralized Control

Very few people can argue with the practical benefits of having centralized control of all your lights. From a touchpad, tablet or smartphone you can access any fixture in your home. But there are a lot of stylistic benefits to centralized control as well.

Ever get inspiration for your interior design by browsing fashion magazines? You’ll notice there are never switches or outlets on the walls. While you can’t eliminate outlets without some help from Photoshop, you can certainly do so with your switches. Centralize control to a stylish touchpad flush-mounted on the wall. Whether you’re going for a modern look or a more rustic feeling, you can always do away with some of the wall clutter.

Highlight Your Home’s Best Features

With intuitive control, you can also play around with your lighting arrangements. Have overhead lights for routine activities and focused LED fixtures to highlight works of art, furniture, or architectural features. You can adjust what you want to showcase at the touch of a button.

Investing in high-end audio is a commitment to getting the highest quality music possible in your Southlake, Texas home. If you're only interested in a bit of ambiance while you cook, perhaps this kind of system is not right for you. But if you're the kind of person that categorizes their CD and album collections by eras, genres or themes—it’s time to upgrade your system. The right pair of speakers should be invisible, a transparent window that lets sound come through naturally. If that’s the kind of experience you want, check out how to find the right speakers: 

SEE MORE: 3 Ways to Fill Your House With Music

Things to Look For in High-End Speakers:

• Sound Characteristics: Certain speakers are better at producing different styles of sound, from subtle tones to ‘bright' tones with a lot of trebles. Depending on your musical preferences, we find speakers tuned to the styles you like.
• Frequency response: This is a good way to gauge how pure a sound your speaker can create. It is the amount of frequencies your speaker produces, the fuller the range, the more realistic your audio will be. You also want this range to be flat, meaning that certain frequencies aren’t overwhelmingly louder than others.
• Cone Material: Your speaker has three main components: a cone, a coil, and a magnet. The coil sits in front of the magnet; the coil and magnet interact to create a vibration which is then amplified by the cone. As air comes through the come, it may flex at certain frequencies and distort the sound. What you want is the sturdiest material possible to avoid any flexing.
• Cone Variations: Audiophiles want to hear a range of high, medium and low frequencies. High-end speakers often include multiple cones, each corresponding to a particular frequency to create the most accurate sound reproduction possible.
• Design: You need to have the right design so there’s not too much echo within your speaker cabinet. Everything also needs to be tightly packed to avoid any movement that can create disruption.
• Tweeters: Your tweeters are important in getting higher frequencies to stand out. To reproduce high-frequency, they need to be light enough to move quickly, yet strong enough that they hold their shape at loud volumes. High-end manufacturers work to adjust the design and material of your tweeters to get the best results.
  
  

Give Your Speakers a Test Drive

Ultimately, listening to music is a subjective experience. For you to figure out which speakers sound best, you have to hear them yourself. Just because a speaker is the most expensive or highest rated, doesn't mean it's necessarily the right one for you.

Many AV technicians like DB Media Solutions have showrooms where you can test drive speakers before you buy them. Let us know what you’re looking for in your system and we’ll pick out a few options for you to check out.

Consider Where You'll Use Your Speakers

For one, large speakers in a smaller room can result in too much bass and muddled sound. Meanwhile, small ones will be unable to fill up larger rooms and result in weak, overworked systems

When it comes to a smart technology, overwhelmingly the first thing that most consumers are interested in is home security. In a recent study by Icontrol, ninety percent of users said personal and family security was one of the main reasons they used their system. If you want to embrace the smart security movement in your Westlake, Texas home, you need to make sure your system offers these four features:

SEE MORE: How Does Automation Enhance Your Lifestyle?

Smart Locks

What’s the simplest thing you can do to protect your home? It all begins with locking your doors. So it should come as no surprise that smart locks are one of the first features adopted by smart home users. There are a variety of ways you can ‘smarten up’ your locks. Opening your doors through an app, creating key cards or using unique access codes.

Instead of having to leave a key under the mat, simply give guests or workers an access code. Each code is unique to the person using it, so from a touchpad or smartphone you can monitor who is coming in and out at all times. Want to revoke a person's access? Just erase their code from the system.

Surveillance System

There are two key components to a good surveillance system: having the right cameras and the right monitoring solution. We partner with IC Realtime for the best cameras in the industry. From its trademark Allie that covers 360 degrees (perfect for placing at the center of a room) to more traditional bullet cameras for outdoor use, IC Realtime has options for any environment. We let you know which cameras would work best and where to install them.

Are you looking for a subtle way to upgrade your home’s technology? Motorized shades serve a myriad of functions from protecting your privacy to reducing your energy costs. And your smart shading solution can be custom-designed to meet your needs. Start in one room, then expand to your entire Colleyville, Texas home as you see fit. Choose the control option that works best for you, whether it’s a remote, touchpad or smartphone. Read on to find out how the right solution can transform your home.

SEE MORE: 5 Ways to Manage Your Lights With Smart Control

Protect Your Family’s Privacy

Large windows are a trademark feature of luxury homes, letting you bathe your home with natural light and exposing beautiful views. These windows come with their own set of challenges. Windows may be too tall to reach or hard to manage for children or older family members. Don't worry; motorized shades can help! With control from a remote or touchpad, you can close them in seconds at the touch of a button without having to deal with them manually.

Having smart control of your shades also helps with your daily routines. Did you forget to close the shades before you went into the shower? There’s no need to walk up to the window to close them when you get out, just use the remote by your bed. To ensure all shades are closed when you go to sleep, use a "Shutdown" button that closes all the shades in your home.

Enhance Your Home’s Interior Design

One of the reasons motorized shades are so popular is that they serve both pragmatic and aesthetic purposes. While shades are there primarily for your privacy, they’re also a vital component in your interior design.

We work with the top manufacturers in the country to offer thousands of style, color and texture options so you can dress up your home with the perfect shades. No matter how big or out of reach your windows may be, we find the fabric and control solution that works best.

Deciding what song to play should be the only challenge when enjoying music throughout your home. With a multi-room music system, it’s easy to access all your sources—media library, streaming service, turntable—from one centralized control interface.

What makes multi-room music stand out is its reliability. With a professional installation in your Dallas, Texas home, the sound is evenly spread out throughout your space. You also get consistent control of all your technology; everything can be managed from the same user interface or app, so you don't have to learn multiple platforms.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s only one way to listen to your favorite music. Below we take a look at three unique audio design options for your home.

SEE MORE: What is the Best Entertainment Gear for Your Outdoor Spaces?

Denon Wireless Solutions

As you prepare to renovate your Southlake, Texas home or begin construction on a new one, what details are most important to you? So far you’ve likely decided on which architectural style you prefer and the way you’d like to design your interior spaces. Usually lost in all the commotion is a comprehensive plan for your technology. You could bring it all together with a smart home automation system that makes your home more beautiful and efficient. Below we’ll take a look at some of the biggest perks of building a smart home.

SEE MORE: How Does Automation Enhance Your Lifestyle?

1.  Make the Technology in Your Home More Efficient

The primary reason to invest in smart home automation is efficiency. Placing control of all your technology under one system makes it easier to manage it. From the same touchpad or tablet, you can adjust your lights, music, and thermostat. A unified front also lets your technology work hand-in-hand. For example, in the case of a fire, your security system communicates with your lighting. Once the alarm goes off, the lights turn on to guide the way to the nearest exit.

2. Reduce the Equipment Clutter in Your Home

Even if your primary focus is aesthetics, smart home automation can be a great design partner. By centralizing control of your technology, you can reduce some of the clutter in your home. With smart lighting, switches and dimmers can be taken off the wall. Through your audio video system, you can place all your source components –including Blu-rays and media servers—in a dedicated AV closet instead of keeping the equipment in each room.

3.  Eliminate Energy Waste With Smart Control

There are a variety of ways smart control ensures your energy doesn’t go to waste. For most homes, air conditioning and heating represent the brunt of energy expenses. Your smart home is built to take the load off your HVAC system. Shades close automatically during the hottest times of the day to help cool down the house. You can also set different temperature presets for certain times. So when you’re away from home, the thermostat goes up to use up less energy.