At first it was to be “his” room. The wife, who was planning the design of the interiors for their new shingle-style California beach house, didn’t have much time to help her husband design the look of the high-performance dedicated home theater located in the space above the garage.

Architect Mary Andrulaitis designed large expanses of trellised deck areas—covered and uncovered—on both sides of the house for dining, entertaining and dolphin-watching. Every deck is wired into the home’s integrated audio system for the home-owners’ listening pleasure. (Click image to enlarge)

The 7,000-square-foot house outside of Santa Barbara is surrounded by beach grasses, sand dunes and melaleuca trees, and overlooks a bird refuge, the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. “It’s all about being at the beach and one with nature,” says Mary Andrulaitis of Neumann Mendro Andrulaitis Architects in Carpinteria, Calif., just south of Santa Barbara.

Being one with nature, however, doesn’t mean being without. The homeowner, a leading figure in the investment world, wanted “a balance between nature’s gifts and the gifts of civilization,” explains custom installer Hans Betzholtz of HiFi Club in Santa Barbara. Betzholtz and his wife, Elaine LeVasseur, worked with the architect to conceal the technology, a request they have received from numerous clients. A case in point is the AudioAccess PX-700 multiroom audio system, which hides in a kitchen cabinet with a blind-cut door.

“The whole house has a super high-end system, but it’s so low key you’re not aware it’s there.” —Mary Andrulaitis, architect (shown with partners Andrew Neumann, left, and Dave Mendro) (Click image to enlarge)

In “his” room, though, function won over form. At the husband’s insistence—for the sake of the best possible sound—the front speakers sit directly on the floor instead of being positioned within a traditional wall rack. Other audiovisual components are boldly displayed on shelves in the back of the room, so the electronics’ blinking lights do not distract from the movie at hand.“Where to put the projector was, as always, the biggest issue,” LeVasseur says. “He wanted the best. And a CRT-type, three-tube projector is the best when it comes to sharpness and contrast.” The projector of choice—Sony’s mighty VPH-G90U CRT projector, which boasts three 9-inch tubes—is the “big bertha,” LeVasseur says.

A sitting room, above, is fronted with a slate and white-wood fireplace and opens to the kitchen. Within the custom cabinetry is an elaborate media center. (Click image to enlarge)

In the beginning, the architect envisioned setting the projector in a coffee table, which HiFi Club has done before. However, the size of the room—about 20 feet wide and 20 feet long—and the proper positioning of the projector dictated that the theater seating would have to be placed directly against the wall.

“CRTs are tricky to install,” LeVasseur says. “They must be placed in a precise location in relation to the screen, and are a bear to set up.” Sensitive to movement within the space, CRTs have been known to need recalibration even after an energetic cleaning crew passes through the room. LeVasseur suggested  hanging the projector from the ceiling where it is safe from contact. Believe it or not, this was the first theater with an overhead projector that the architect designed. Rather than leave the projector exposed, which Andrulaitis says “would simply be too distracting,” she met the challenge with a mahogany encasement. “We added two beams to the side on 45-degree angles so it would tie in with the ceiling finish and beam work and look more truss-like.”

“Recently, we’ve done homes for several people who wanted both a dedicated family-style home theater and a family room with a media center off the kitchen.” —Elaine LeVasseur, custom installer (Click image to enlarge)

Interior designer Sandra Canada, assisted by Louise Phelps, created a lusciously comfortable room with Craftsman-like qualities that is anchored by a burgundy-colored Cordovan leather sofa, two chenille lounge chairs, a Cordovan woven leather cocktail table (perfect for propping your feet upon), a dark-green broadleaf patterned rug and green upholstered walls of the same hue. The soft, plush fabrics and deep colors, the arrangement of the furniture and the absence of hard surfaces were all carefully orchestrated with performance in mind. When the iron and mica sconces—rescued from an East Coast Art Deco theater—are illuminated, the rich colors come to life and the room is cast in a soft glow. When the lights go down, guests’ eyes do not have to adjust to the glaring white “spot” residuals that are produced by harsh lighting.It wasn’t until the wife grasped the theater’s potential as a cozy family room did she become enthusiastic. It’s a familiar story, Canada says. “She didn’t think she would be using the room that much—she had seen too many home theaters that looked like screening rooms and could not relate.” Now the wife enjoys the space as much as her husband does.

The gym’s sleek LCD television is controlled by remotes that are connected to the exercise equipment. (Click image to enlarge)

The architectural firm has designed numerous contemporary beach homes for clients such as Kevin Costner and Susan Sullivan. The owners of this Santa Barbara beach home, also parents to three grown children, dreamed of a beach house reminiscent of those they enjoyed during childhood vacations along the Jersey shoreline. The result is a combination of mahogany floors, wainscoting and tongue-and-groove exposed beams and trusses, along with refined fabrics and antiques chosen by Canada. Windows, true to the style, boast divided lights, but are larger in scale to better capture the stunning sea views.

In the great room, the designer took an Eastern seaboard approach to life at the beach by creating a palette of taupe and sea foam with chamois-colored walls crisply trimmed in white. (Click image to enlarge)

“The couple didn’t want a television in the living room,” Andrulaitis explains. “They wanted this to be the place they go to listen to music, read or to watch the Super Bowl and movies with their family. This kind of dedicated family theater, removed from the rest of the house, is popular with her clients and is exactly what many of HiFi Club’s clients are also demanding these days. The big multiseat theater with tiered floors is less adaptable to other purposes.