08.22.2008 — It took a series of client consultations over two months. It took drawings, diagrams and updating countless documents as the project evolved.

It took coordination with a general contractor and an interior designer. But the hard work paid off.

eLifespaces earned three CEA TechHome Mark of Excellence awards for this sprawling integration. The Charleston, S.C.-based company won awards in the Ultimate Home of the Year, Best Distributed Audio/Video and Best Integrated Security categories.

Even better, the company earned a very satisfied client.

"While I was expecting an 'exceptional' system, I have to admit that the simplicity of everything exceeds my wildest expectations," wrote the homeowner in a testimonial used in the company's award application.

Security was a big priority for the clients, since the home is located in a heavy-tourist-traffic area. eLifespaces president Fred Fabian says there were three security focuses:

• burglary
• life safety
• CCTV

It was important that all systems be easily accessible from the Web and from central control system touchpanels.

The control system has a lot of responsibility. There are 17 zones of audio distribution, with various touchpanel or keypad control interfaces, Fabian explains.

Obviously, the clients are music lovers. The homeowner presented eLifespaces with over 1,500 CDs and over 1,200 DVDs with the request to share the resources between the media room, master suite and guest suite.

Two months prior to the on-site start of the project, Fabian says technicians began manually loading CDs onto a Crestron music server. The client also had a lot of legacy equipment that Fabian was tasked with incorporating into the project.

One last request: Make everything blend in and look great.

Click here to take a look at how eLifespaces handled its tasks.