Meandering along nearly three acres of richly landscaped lakefront is a 12,000-square-foot mansion by the name of Mediterra. The elaborate mansion—a fully furnished spec home in Delray Beach’s Stone Creek Ranch—is designed to replicate an authentic Italian piazza.

When homeowners Richard and Maureen Coleman asked interior designer Char McNamara to mastermind an extensive expansion for their home in Asheville, N.C., they didn’t allow her to put pencil to paper.  They wanted her to present her ideas right on the spot.

“I said theater,” says the Waynesville, N.C.–based designer, who orchestrated the home’s original interiors, as well as those of the Colemans’ Utah vacation home. “Not gang seating, not the typical home theater, but one that would look like part of the house.”

Custom home builders have come a long way since the days when piping Muzak through intercom systems was considered high tech. And home buyers have come a long way, too. Even those in their late 50s and 60s are raving about the beauty of integrated technology (once they get over the initial fear factor).