Do you own a vacation home in Snowmass or the Aspen area?  Most people tend to use their second homes only a few weeks a year.  Depending on their preferences, many rent them out on Airbnb or HomeAway, letting them recoup some of the considerable expense of property ownership.  In fact, half of the properties in Pitkin County are seasonal homes. 

Why would we suggest something like motorized shades for a vacation home?   We have highlighted the many benefits of motorized shades before, but you might not have thought about it for a vacation property, especially if it’s one that you sometimes rent out. 

Let’s look at a few reasons why motorized windows shades can be a smart investment for your Snowmass house or condo.

It used to be that a home theater evoked thoughts of a scaled-down movie theater. Or perhaps a mini-version of the small town Strand or Bijou movie theater from a bygone era. While we maintain that small town atmosphere here in Aspen, most of those nostalgic theaters have all but disappeared.    Much of our rustic Colorado architecture and our active, outdoor-oriented lifestyle lean toward a more relaxed approach to home theater design. Today, we do more than watch movies in our home theaters – we’re binge-watching Netflix shows, multiple college and NFL games on weekends and playing music videos as background in a multipurpose media/game room. 

Home theater design is evolving to meet today’s evolving entertainment purposes. Of course, you can still build that traditional theater in the lower level of your Red Mountain retreat with movie-themed décor and comfortable theater seating. But now, the theater can be in practically any room you want to make it, and today’s technology allows more flexibility than ever in designing the perfect media room. 

Let’s explore current trends in home theater and media room design to make any room into a state-of-the-art entertainment oasis at your Aspen-area house.

As smart devices proliferate and become more mainstream, the ability to tie them together into smart home systems has become increasingly popular. As you may know, many consumer products exist to brings increased levels of automation and control to functions like lighting, entertainment systems, and thermostats. But getting all those devices to work together, consistently, is sometimes a challenge, especially in more sophisticated larger homes.

For more complex home automation applications, several well-known vendors offer the types of systems that can integrate the functions of a sophisticated smart home and make it easy to manage and automate. All of the major systems provide similar functionality, automating things like lighting, entertainment, climate, security, and window treatments. You might ask, what are the real differences?

If you love movies, then you’ve likely dreamt about owning your own dedicated home theater. But it’s time to stop dreaming and start doing – and transform your Aspen property into the ultimate entertainment escape.

From crisp 4K to reliable, immersive surround sound, there’s plenty you can do with a theater designed to your specifications.

If you want to get the most out of your theater design, you’ve come to the right place. Just keep reading this blog to learn how you can build the theater of your dreams.