Modern Home Spaces: Living at the Peak

People from around the U.S. and all over the world covet a piece of Summit County. Year after year, many people invest in the community by building beautiful homes. To celebrate the work of local builders, the Summit County Builders Association recently held its 26th annual Parade of Homes, and this years Mountain Living Peak Award winner for best overall home was built by Pinnacle Mountain Homes with cutting-edge electronics and window coverings by ListenUp.

This seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom house is more than 6,500 square feet and has special touches such as a custom gas and wood-burning steel pizza oven and antique gray barnwood from western Kentucky. It also won awards for Best Kitchen, Best Interior Finishes, Best Landscaping and Best Outdoor Living Space.

When we lived in Colorado in the early nineties, says the homeowner, wed always go to Breckenridge that was our favorite place. When we returned in 2017 for the first time since 2010, we started looking around and thought it would be a great idea to build a home here.

ListenUp Outside Sales Manager Dusty Gorski, Project Managers Jim Bixel and Je Blundell and Technicians Nate Meyer, Matt Wilson and Brendan Woodward worked with the builder and the clients from the inception of the project. Structured wiring was installed at the framing stage, making it more efficient and cost-effective to implement advanced home automation and entertainment technologies later.

Control4 makes it all easy

The homeowners were already familiar with Control4 from their main home in Alabama, so the ListenUp crew designed and created a comprehensive Control4 system thats easily operated via apps on tablets and smart phones as well as hand-held controllers and strategically placed, flush-mounted touchpanels. There are 30 Bowers & Wilkins in-ceiling speakers powered by high-quality NAD amps for great sound everywhere. A Samsung 4K television is mounted in nearly every room (10 TVs in all), including an 82-inch set in the game room, which also features surround sound and an SVS subwoofer to provide dramatic deep bass for all the home theater action. A 65-inch Samsung Terrace outdoor TV graces the dining room deck above the afore-mentioned pizza oven, while Bowers & Wilkins Mariner all-weather speakers are mounted on the stone walls.

Sunny Colorado days make great window coverings a necessity, and this home is equipped with Hunter Douglas automated shades throughout. Lutron Homeworks lighting control system provides onetouch control of pre-selected vignettes and other advanced capabilities, which, in conjunction with the full security and surveillance system, provides the family with the ultimate in peace of mind. And 15 Nest thermostats let everyone adjust the climate to their liking. A robust wired and wireless network provides the digital backbone that keeps all this advanced technology reliably functioning, as well as the blazing fast internet needed for todays electronics-oriented lifestyles.

Getting it right

Dusty and his team have been very helpful in keeping everything on track and making adjustments that needed to be made, says the homeowner. For instance, when they initially set up the lighting and put all the different switches in, there were things that I didnt like not the system itself but just certain buttons and things. They went through and reprogrammed everything at my request and never blinked. I appreciated that.

Its quite a process creating a system of this size and complexity, which sometimes necessitates a lot of interaction between the client and the integration team. We went back and forth a lot, the homeowner continues. I appreciated the fact that Dusty listened. It was really difficult sometimes because I know what I want. Dusty was always accommodating. He addressed any issues right when things were installed and needed tweaking or had gotten out of whack. Hes been great and the ease of use of the technology is very good. Its gotten much better than in years past. I like the fact that I can control lighting, shades, the TVs and more from any remote or any panel in the house if I want to thats really nice.

Need ideas for making your home and spaces more modern? Schedule a consultation with our team of experts to decide what technology is right for you and your family.