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Smoke and Mirrors

Published Jul 14, 2011 By Dawn Reiss

Picture a formal 18-room home in a Southeastern Denver neighborhood. Tucked among the beams and trusses is an octagonal library. It is the quiet refuge for a client who adores the 12-foot tall ceiling, large wooden bookcases and elegant décor.

With a click of a remote, a piece of artwork—a Japanese mountain landscape—rolls downward, revealing it’s a decoy for a carefully hidden 46-inch TV. Localized speakers are painted a faux marbleize tan to match the marble hearth. Below it is a fireplace, another double agent that effectively hides the mechanical system for the room behind its facade. From the client’s perspective, the sound integrity isn’t as important as the integrity of this room.

A builder’s recommendation brought the client to Electronic Integration. Along with integrating the library, Electronic Integration created multi-room integrated solutions that blended different applications to reveal or hide various electronic devices.

Twenty-four distribution zones divide up the home—its butler’s quarters and picturesque backyard that includes flower gardens, small streams and an in-ground, oversized peanut-shaped pool. Speakers hidden in the rocks flood sound into this oasis. A three-side cove protects a grill, a refrigerator and sink from outdoor elements.

The spacious home includes an open area for entertaining. The bar area has a granite countertop, plush seating and ambient lighting. Black cloth fixed to paneling is recessed between two stone columns and hides speakers. The contrast of ebony material covering paneling sets up a dramatic backdrop for the room’s focal point of a 52-inch television that is framed between stone columns.

“We work with a cabinetmaker that has perfected this method,” says Electronic Integration Owner Roger Koehler.

But one of the biggest specialties is a two-way mirror that allows televisions “to float” in the middle, allowing the client to watch television in the master bathroom just by looking into the mirror. When the client is done, the television is turned off, and the mirror looks like an ordinary mirror to any unsuspecting person who uses the room. It is a type of technology that has been used in many of the latest hotels in America, including the Trump Tower in Chicago. Although this can sometimes be retrofitted into a building, for this particular client, Electronic Integration worked throughout the building stages in this extensive remodel to insure the specific wall depths and electrical lines were installed for a seamless look.

A lavish theater was built in the basement and included a 123-inch Stewart screen with a Sony front projector that is mounted behind the back wall and projects onto the screen through a small hole. Also behind the wall is the theater’s mechanical room that conceals all equipment.

At Electronic Integration’s suggestion, the client also had a Netstreams System that incorporated a doorbell interface. This allows the client to hear the doorbell, since the system automatically interrupts any music or television noise to allow the sound of the doorbell to come through.

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