Low Country Chateau

Project Summary

Low Country Chateau is a home that was constructed with the focus of highlighting both interior and exterior structural design features as well as incorporating interior construction with an amazing furniture and art collection. The client designed the home to showcase various artwork, furniture, and his love for reclaimed wood. This 6,000 square foot chateau is completed floor to ceiling in reclaimed wood in all the main living areas of the home.

AIC had to ensure that the proper  components were chosen so that they would not interfere with the aesthetics of the home. The Elan and Lutron platforms were the preferred choice for this new smart home design.

The main challenges during this “Chateau” project was to ensure that the lighting design highlighted the clients artwork and design a 4k HD Surround Sound system in the Living Room without any electronics being present. We did not want the entertainment aspect in the Great Room to distract from the attention of the artwork, therefore we added a TV lift system to a custom cabinet in the room and hid the speakers as well.

The custom Lutron system was designed to eliminate wall clutter by using sleek switches/keypads. All wires and electronic equipment were concealed in a private control room with a centralized custom AV rack that houses the Elan 4K Distributed Audio Video Matrix System. Given the décor constraints, AIC did not install any touchscreens in the home and all smart home control features are controlled via an Apple IOS or android devices.

Chateau’s Layout

The Great Room TV system consists of a 5.1 Dolby Digital SS System and a 55” Sony 4k HDTV installed on a custom tv lift within a custom furniture cabinet. The in-ceiling speakers in this room and all rooms were concealed by having them custom faux painted to blend in with the surroundings. The front left and right KEF T301 speakers were hidden on the exterior of the TV lift cabinet and out of site as they blend in with the décor and color of the cabinet.

The master bedroom’s primary focus was lighting and the homeowners wanted to create the perfect tranquil environment for sleep. Lutron Lighting Control and Lutron Shades were installed in the master bedroom to achieve the perfect lighting scenes and were also programmed into the Elan g! automation system. The Lutron Motorized Sheer Blinds use room darkening fabric that can be completely closed to block out view and most of the light, or can be tilted open to allow a view but still filtering the sun.

The Outdoor entertainment environment was equally as important as the indoor. Calm, relaxing landscape lighting was desired throughout the property and any speakers to blend in with the natural surroundings and remain in the shadows. The Lutron lighting system made the outdoor lighting requests easy and the speaker chosen to blend in with the foliage were landscape style speakers. The landscape speakers were strategically hidden in plants and bushes throughout the yard, pool and fire pit areas to create the ultimate outdoor sound while also enjoying the scenery.

Customer Needs

The Chateau homeowner’s primary concern and focus was pristine, yet hidden lighting control system that both featured his artwork and also complimented the home. Lutron Back-Lit engraved keypads, Lutron Blinds, and Processors offered the best solutions to our homeowner’s requests. All typical lighting wall clutter and lack of control was completely diminished by using the Lutron Homeworks Lighting Systems.  Through the Elan g! system, we were able to give the homeowners a simple yet intuitive control over all of the audio and video systems in the home. These various systems can be controlled with handheld devices along with smartphone app. The globally accessible Elan g! system was exactly what the homeowner needed given this is a secondary home and an ideal way to control or monitor their home while away. 

This highly intuitive home required a powerful network distribution layout and the Netgear Nighthawk Wireless system fit the job perfectly. The wireless network is able to handle all devices on the network without the client being concerned of interruptions or connection issues.

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