A capacious mountain getaway, designed for family and business retreats, is sprinkled with technological treats that are easy to use.

There’s a certain ruggedness—a rough-and-tumble way of life—in Colorado that’s as irresistible to the locals who run the ski mountains as it is to the well-heeled who build vacation homes from the ground up.

2009 CEDIA Electronic Lifestyles Award Winner

Best Integrated Home: Overall Winner

Electronic Systems Consutlant: T&T Automation Ltd.—British Columbia, Canada

When Tony Harper, the managing director of T & T Automation Ltd., was hired to handle all the a/v and automation for a sprawling 35,000-square-foot residential compound in Vancouver, Canada, it’s fair to say that the word “imposing” crossed his mind. 

In this award-winning home, what’s new is meant to look old. Translation: This house was designed to resemble a finely restored Georgian home. And that means every ounce of technology is hidden and out of the way.

It looks like an old-world mansion, but with 25,000 square feet of fun.

We usually have a Home of the Year category for Fun Rooms, which we’ll feature in a future issue. This home, though, could have a fun category all to itself.

There are fun rooms peppered throughout this 25,000-square-foot Atlanta area mansion, from the wood-paneled home theater with its 127-inch screen to a cavernous music room with the owner’s guitar collection. There’s also an indoor putting green, a kids’ game room and a family style “keeping room” off the kitchen with a soaring cathedral ceiling. The 60-inch Pioneer plasma TV over the fireplace in this room actually looks small.

Just call this house a cathedral to fun. There are more than 200 devices being controlled by a Crestron home management system, via 72 wall-mounted keypads and five wireless touchpanel controllers, as well as iPad and iPhone control options. The house boasts 32 separate audio zones and 16 video zones—in addition to 144 lighting zones, 13 heating and ventilation zones, and 65 security zones with 28 surveillance cameras.

A developer, who has only one home theater under his belt, designs a client’s dream cinema to rave reviews.

She loves technology, he fears it. While their new home is loaded with the latest-and-greatest gear, it's built to please both personalities.

Designer Sandra Canada explains how she made two clients happy in one house.

A bachelor’s private home cinema in South Florida becomes an instant getaway.

We chat with Jeffrey Smith—owner of North Miami’s First Impressions Theme Theatres Inc.—about how he orchestrated every detail.

Best Media Room Installation

Supreme Sound

This media room/library features an entire wall built from custom CAT/MBX speakers.