Apple of Your iHome: Simply Automazing!

Crestron, the company that created an industry by introducing the world’s first touchpanel, has now enabled you to use your iPhone as a remote for your home entertainment system, or to control all the lights in your home. The Crestron Control App for iPhone puts a professional-lookingCrestron touchpanel user interface right on the popular Apple® iPhone or iPod touch, enabling all kinds of customizable control capability.

The application which will soon be available for download from the Apple App Store communicates directly with the control system without any third-party software or external servers. On the road, iPhone communicates with the system over the 3G network or Edge cellular network. At home or away, both your iPhone and iPod touch can connect via Wi-Fi.

Control multiple locations, such as a primary residence, vacation home and office, from a single, intuitive graphical interface that provides real-time status of room temperature, lighting levels, shade position, control of local AV devices and digital media meta data including album, song and artist.

New locations are easily added by opening the “Connections” page on the iPhone, and customized buttons, graphics and dynamic text can be added by your installer. Updates or changes to the control program are automatically sent to the iPhone when the Crestron app is launched.

 

GREENTECH: Question: Home automation systems consume large amounts of energy right or wrong? Answer: Wrong! 

Home automation systems require relatively little power, and the energy-conservation benefits they offer are considerable. These systems make it simple to check if you’ve left the lights on and turn them off and often incorporate multizone climate-control systems to shut down heating or air condition in areas of the house that are not being used. 

Motor-driven shades can be programed automatically by astronomical clocks to open and close at key points in the day, automatically adjusting the timing of these routines to the length of day at any time of year, protecting furniture, fabrics and flooring from harsh sun rays and keeping the house cool when the sun wants to take overtake your home. The home automation system touch panel can also report on energy use, energy cost per hour, and carbon output of a lighting system. Explore the exciting innovations taking place in home automation at some of these links:

Crestron Electronics: www.crestron.com | Control4: www.control4.com | Lutron Electronics: www.lutron.com | Savant Systems: www.savantav.com

Amazing Lightshow and Machine Washable, Too!

Schonbek expands the known universe of lighting with the new Da Vinci™ LED crystal chandelier. In halogen mode, this massive, perfectly round chandelier is a glittering moon of pure Swarovski® crystal. Switch to LED mode, and it’s a ball of fiery color, shimmering and shifting indefinably. Colors ignite and fade with a dream-like quality. Da Vinci™ LED comes in a variety of enormous sizes. 

Schonbek designed the chandelier to come apart in sections that would fit into a standard dishwashing machine. The smallest Da Vinci™ can be cleaned in one cycle. Larger sizes will take several loads.

Cutting a Rug

Our penchant for whimsy knows no bounds. No more evident than in some of the more inspiring spring rug collections like this creative, comic book cut-up from Stile BK. Based in Italy, rug designer Behrouz Kolahi borrowed from the Italian word for comic to create the “Fumetto” series. The rugs come in six duotone patterns in a style inspired by the art of Roy Lichtenstein and are sold in a limited edition of 50. Hand-woven in Nepal using knotted fleece on a cotton warp, and trimmed in a Tibetan-spun, hand knotted wool and aloe. The rugs can also be custom made in virtually any size and shape.

And check out these animal kingdom inspired rugs from Eelko Moorer. They are intended to lie on the floor or hang on the wall and measure roughly  70 inches long by 61 inches wide. The six week labor intensive process starts with a clay sculpture from which a silicone mold is made. The urethane rugs come in almost any custom color, noting lighter colors will yellow from exposure to air and UV rays.

iContact Designs Featured In Taunton Press “Basement Ideas That Work”

iContact Designs’ interior design work is featured on pages 62, 63, 74 and 157 of this latest in the Taunton Press “Ideas That Work” series. “We’re thrilled that Taunton Press thought highly enough of our work to seek our input with the book project,” said Susan Murphy, principal and lead designer for iContact Designs. “The thought of our interior design work exhibited to a national audience is exciting.” The book is available now for $19.95 at better book sellers everywhere. Or from Amazon.com by clicking ORDER.

Hello world!

Welcome to iNSIGHTS & iNTERIORS, the new online journal from the award-winning interior design firm iContact Designs. We look forward to bringing topical, informative information on the exciting and ever-evolving world of interior design to these pages and our readers.