Farm House Home Automation

Our client purchased this farm as a new base for their growing family (both two and four legged) which required totally renovating, which provided us with the perfect opportunity to add a new home automation system.

This property was the second project from the client who was keen for additional features from their previous home we installed a home automation system within. We discussed and demonstrated various technology options at length within our showroom and at other clients’ homes so the family could see first-hand such a system would enhance their lifestyle. The initial brief began with eight rooms of stereo audio and four rooms of HD video before increasing to six UHD/4K zones with a home automation system encompassing a home cinema, gate entry system, heating integration, CCTV integration and whole house lighting & blind control.

This home automation system is based around the Control4 control system, giving a friendly and intuitive user interface for all the members of the family, without having an abundance of controllers peppering the walls. The infrastructure provides six video zones, all capable of receiving UHD/4K TV and video, and nine audio zones, distributing music to the key rooms with a mixture of in ceiling speakers, artwork speakers, outdoor speakers and free standing speakers. TV’s have access to Sky, Freeview, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, CCTV (live images from the CCTV NVR) and local Blu Ray, all available and controllable from a single remote designated to that room.

Music is controlled via the remote but more often, the Control 7” touch screens and iPhone licences make for a slicker option for scrolling through artist, tracks and albums. We integrated Sonos into the audio system which provides Spotify and Apple Music streaming services to each room.

Our client wanted a more immersive experience when watching films and playing the latest video games so to accomplish this, so we designed and installed a discreet home cinema which has turned a living area into a great room boasting 7.2 surround sound and a Sony projector letting the whole family kick back and watch an action packed film.

But what sets this project apart are the features applied to make the clients lives easier. Push notifications allow the gate entry system to send emails to their smartphones, so when they’re in the paddock or stables, they’re alerted to a visitor. Smartphone’s also provide the ability to communicate and open and close the gate. Both the gates and garage doors have been integrated with the clients car to enable push button remote opening and closing, a feature the client absolutely loves!

The lighting control system and blind control system has some clever tricks; they’re fully automated with a number of different actions commencing depending on the time of day, day of the year and even whether the house is occupied. Five minutes after dusk and five minutes before dawn the blinds are activated whilst the lighting is programmed to slowly raise and lower in conjunction with bedtimes and the alarm times

We also integrated their heating control system, providing them with total control of the temperature throughout their home where ever they are in the world, all from their PC or smartphone. The house is fitted with underfloor heating throughout with control taken care of by the Heatmiser Neostats which operate either stand-alone controller or integrated with Control4. The home automation system takes care of all of the actions when holiday mode is activated, opening and closing blinds, rising and lowering lighting levels and lowering the energy used by reducing the underfloor heating temperatures.

The finished article contained:

• A full house lighting control system and blind control system that will allow you to have full customisation and control over your lighting scenes with the touch of a button on a smart phone, system remote or installed Control4 touch screens
• A complete home automation system containing multiple motion detectors that provide automatic functionalities
• An elegant home cinema that meets the specification requested by the customer cinema converted from part of a of a barn conversion.