A new addition designed for lap swimming morphs into this nautically-inspired home theater.
 
The “six degrees of separation” phenomenon is happening among Home Entertainment’s readers and home-theater aficionados. Some owners of the private screening rooms that have graced the magazine’s pages actually know one another.

A case in point is the couple who built this contemporary movie space, nestled within a woodsy family compound in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.

Building a home theater out of thin air requires both adaptation and flexibility.

When a hip, young Los Angeles real estate developer/entrepreneur decided to add a home theater to his Los Angeles-area home, he knew exactly what he wanted—right down to the color scheme and seating configuration.

How to incorporate the theater into his existing home, however, was another question.

Creative collaboration produces a home theater that’s truly life-enhancing.

Can home-theater technology help alleviate the chaos of modern life?

It’s not the typical path-to-enlightenment story, to be sure. But it’s one that rings true to Stephen and Kelli Brown of Austin, Texas.

A Miami businessman wants it all — minus the ostentation.

When the owner of a waterfront estate in Miami embarked on a three-year-plus building project that grew into a 12,000-square foot dream house, it was not with any desire to show off.

And though he wanted to furnish his new home with fine antiques, he didn’t want to live in a museum—or, for that matter, in an environment that made guests feel they had to pad around carefully in their socks.

Noted home theater designer Theo Kalomirakis has learned that a snooty attitude can sometimes accompany the celebrities who hire him.

“They think everybody else is below them,” he says, with a chuckle. So he was surprised, not to mention flattered, when on a first meeting a Hollywood movie star client asked him to autograph a copy of his book, Great Escapes: New Designs for Home Theaters by Theo Kalomirakis.

Best Whole-House Installation

The Big Show

With the push of one button, this home shows off everything it can do. And it can do a lot.

A complete interior update of an Old-World estate satisfies the owners’ request for fresh, cutting-edge design and a choice of entertainment venues.

What is a sleek, contemporary interior design doing within a 1920s English manor home?

According to its owners, it’s doing very well, thank you. While the exterior of this home presents a stately and elegant first impression, the interiors have transformed this venerable estate home into the ultimate modern residence with 21st-century cool decor that’s fully compatible with the family’s active lifestyle.

In the 20 years this home took to design and build, the architecture and technology become more modern.

In 1987, the owner purchased 42 acres to grow citrus in an agricultural community north of Los Angeles. Postmodern architecture was all the rage, so the owner hired Zoltan E. Pali to design a Georgianstyle residence.

The young architect, a disciple of the Case Study modernists, was just starting out on his own.

In the 20 years between the original drawings and full completion, both men, and the home, evolved in a variety of ways.