Luxury Living on Lake Travis

This estate came to us as a takeover. A previous integrator had failed both the homeowners and the builder, and we were brought in to rewire the home end to end and specify a system that matched how the family wanted to live in it, as one whole-home system. Everything started with the network. The footprint is large and unusual, and the owners wanted the fastest Wi-Fi available reaching every corner of it. We planned the wireless so the two-story home has no dead zones and no lag, gave the main patio its own outdoor access point, and gave the detached cabana another, so coverage carries across the entire property. An enterprise-grade router and managed switch anchor the network, with access points throughout the interior and two more outside. The equipment lives in a dedicated rack closet with purpose-built cooling that holds the whole stack at its ideal temperature.

The second pillar was light. Every fixture and lamp in the home and across the outdoor entertaining areas runs on Control4's native lighting, controlled by combination keypad dimmers that put a dimmer and a multi-button scene keypad in a single device.

For entertainment, the dining room carries a Samsung Frame display with a concealed back box that hides the bulky electronics behind it, so it shows art until the moment it becomes a television. Sony displays fill the sitting room, family room, both guest rooms, the upstairs lounge, the master bedroom, and the master bath. The cabana pairs two Sony side displays with a large central Sony display and a soundbar above the outdoor fireplace, and on the cabana wall facing the pool and spa, a large SunBrite 4K outdoor display rides an articulating mount. Control4's native whole-home audio carries music through nearly every room, out to the main patio, and into the cabana.

Control4 thermostats and pool control round the system out, so the whole property answers to one platform. The family runs all of it from a handheld remote, a portable ten-inch touch screen, or the app on their phones. One system, from the front door to the far edge of the water.