When the New Year arrives, we all take a hard look at what we can improve. We reflect on past memories and set goals for the upcoming year. Perhaps you feel you need to learn how to relax more when you’re not at work, or maybe you want to start exercising more often. Whatever your goals are, music can help! Many studies confirm that music benefits our physical and mental health. Music can motivate you to work out harder, improve your sleep quality, help you cope with pain, and reduce stress among many other health benefits. In this blog, we give you some ideas on how to use whole house music system in your Lake Norman, NC home to help achieve your goals in 2017.

SEE ALSO: How to Expand Your Music Library with Whole House Audio

Party

Good music is an essential ingredient to a fun party. But have you ever had trouble setting up an audio system the day of the event? It’s definitely a buzz-kill when your friends and family are ready to dance to some tunes, but you can’t get the audio system to work. Additionally, if you own just one system, you may have to move it outside or into another room where the main events are happening, which is extra time and effort.

However, when you have a whole house music system, you can turn on your music playlists with just the press of a button and stream it to any room in your house--even outside! All you have to do is pick a source, like Spotify, or create a custom playlist for your party with your personal collection, and then save it to a smart home scene for a later date.

Whether you’re a big Charlotte Hornets fan or look forward to the Duke vs. Carolina basketball games all year, a professional whole house video system can enhance your experience watching sports at home. Instead of going to the local sports bar, create your own custom sports den for enjoying those big games. A custom home theater, media room, or even a bigger TV with a quality sound bar can serve as the perfect environment for cheering on your team. Keep reading to discover how you can tailor your home with the best video system for all your favorite sports events.

SEE MORE: Access More Content in Your Home with a Whole House Audio/Video System

Watch Multiple Games at Once

There are few places where you can watch baseball, football, and basketball at once. Most sports fans go to a local bar, but why go out all the time when you can catch multiple games at once in the comfort of your own home? A video wall would be the best setup for you--multiple TV screens installed next to each other to form one giant display. You can play six games at once or one on all of them to make a massive image. A professional can install exactly what you want and customize your home to your individual preferences. And, since you are in complete control, you don’t have to ask the bartender to change the station. A smart home system will make it easy for you to switch between games at any time.

Enjoy the Action on the Biggest Screen

The demand for dedicated home theaters is certainly changing. More homeowners want a multipurpose media room instead because they either don’t have the extra room or they feel it doesn’t fit their lifestyle. This isn’t exactly surprising since most families interact in the communal environments of a home. In a media room, your kids can watch cartoons while you cook dinner in the kitchen and you can still keep an eye on them. There’s definitely added benefits to keeping your theater system in the living room instead of the basement. But how do you keep the room looking beautiful while still performing perfectly when you want to enjoy a movie or play a video game? We have the answers in today’s blog on media room design.

SEE ALSO: Dedicated Home Theater or Media Room? What’s Right for My Lake Norman Home?

Hiding Your Technology

There’s a common scenario that often plays out in Charlotte, NC homes – the husband wants a large flat-screen TV and full surround system in the living room. If he’s an audiophile, he probably wants to situate multiple loudspeakers in the room to create his sound nirvana experience. But the wife is more concerned about how all of this equipment is going to look. Whether it’s the husband or wife in the partnership, usually one of them focuses on the interior design while the other makes good, quality performance the priority. But when you work with The Integrated Home, you can have your cake and eat it to. We can hide all of the audio/video components so you only see them when you want to. Here are a few ways we accomplish that:

Motorization: We’ll hide a TV or screen in the ceiling or other wall enclosure and install a motorized lift so that it’s only visible when you want to use it. Push a button and the TV or screen will appear instantly out of the wall, creating that ‘wow’ factor.

Mirror TVs: Seura has designed TVs that are hidden in beautiful mirrors. One moment you look at the stylish mirror in your living room and see your reflection, and the next a movie appears in the middle of the glass.

The holidays can be both the most enjoyable and stressful times of the year. Whether you are hosting parties or attending them, these next few months can get quite hectic. But thankfully, smart home automation can help keep you organized and relaxed as you prepare. As a Control4 dealer in the Lake Norman, NC area, The Integrated Home has the advantage of customizing your home exactly as you like it. Once all of the home technology is in place, the only thing left to do is figure out how to use it to your advantage on a regular basis. Today we have some tips on how to use your Control4 system to enhance your holiday meal preparation, or entertain guests.

SEE ALSO: Partner with a Control4 Dealer to Build or Renovate Your New Home

Customize Your Kitchen Lighting

If you’re on turkey duty for Thanksgiving, or baking cookies for Christmas or Hanukah, then you definitely need a well-lit and equipped kitchen. A common problem for many homes is that the lighting isn’t evenly distributed. The lights are either placed in inconvenient areas causing some areas to be brighter than others, or the lighting fixtures aren’t capable of producing the type of lighting you need to see well. With Control4 lighting, you’ll not only get an even distribution of light, but you’ll also be able to control the lighting levels and quality by choosing LEDs over standard bulbs for example. You can also create “kitchen” or “cooking” scenes with your smart home system so that every feature in the kitchen creates an environment conducive to making a good meal. You can include music, a TV, or temperature in your scene so that all you have to do is press one button on your tablet, phone, or keypad on the wall and you’re ready to get working. For example, label your scene, “cooking” and pick a comfortable temperature so that the area doesn’t get overheated while the oven and stove top is going, a festive music playlist to get you in the mood, and then play the Food Network Channel so you can watch what the chef is going as you make your dish.

Automate Your Entertainment

Some people like to shop on Black Friday so they can snatch up those amazing deals, while others avoid the stores like the plague because of the massive crowds. For the families who want to avoid the lines, there’s always Cyber Monday. But if you are a techie and want the best home theater products or smart home automation gadgets, you may be hard-pressed to find what you are looking for – even online. Sometimes retail stores make price cuts on those hot items, but most of the time they are trying to get rid of older TV models or less-than stellar tablets. But if you want only the highest-quality products and trustworthy brands, come to The Integrated Home in the Lake Norman, North Carolina area. You’ll never be disappointed with your purchase or wonder if there was a better item out there. We have exclusive partnerships with the best brands in the audio/video business—so you’ll never find them at the shop around the corner. Keep reading to see our list of the best products you won’t find on November 25th.

SEE ALSO: Enjoy Hands-free Automation with Amazon’s Alexa

Lutron Shades: Perhaps you want to spruce up your home with new décor accents, but you also want the convenience of living in a connected home. Instead of buying those discounted curtains, invest in motorized shades by Lutron. Why? Lutron is the number-one trusted brand for lighting and shading products. As a matter of fact, their founder invented the dimmer. With Lutron shades, you’ll be able to lift and lower your window coverings using a remote, mobile app, or keypad on the wall. You also won’t have to sacrifice style since they offer hundreds of styles and fabric selections.

Screen Innovations: Have you ever bought a flat-screen TV, brought it home and then were disappointed by the performance? Or maybe it just didn’t fit the room just right. Screen Innovations has beautiful screens for your living room that beat many TVs on the market. Their Black Diamond model displays vivid picture in broad daylight, without glare. You can leave your windows open on a sunny afternoon and watch a movie or football game in crystal clear picture. When you work with The Integrated Home, you also have the option of hiding your home theater system. We can add a motorized lift to conceal your screen so that it’s displayed only when you use it.

Control4 Remote: There are so many universal remotes at retail stores, but they can’t reliably control your entire smart home. You need a professional integrator to make this possible. Control4 has a smart hand-held remote that can change the temperature, lighting, shading, security, and of course the TV channel. Wouldn’t it be great if you could dim the lights in the living room and turn the channel at the same time? With this exclusive control device you can.