Examples of Our Smart Home Projects

Brief: reliable WiFi

Background: despite having a great fibre internet connection to the house, the client had long running problems with their WiFi, resigning themselves to 4G, or regularly ‘switching off and switching on again’ to get it working even for a day.

Over time, they’d tried a number of solutions for spreading WiFi throughout the house, adding powerline adaptors (internet over your electrical cables) and a ‘meshed’ WiFi system. 

Powerline adaptors can work well but only in specific circumstances. And they typically don’t work together, meaning the more you add, the more competing WiFi networks you have. Eventually, this starts to impair their performance and defeats the object! Adding on a separate meshed WiFi system just added to the wifi congestion. 

Our solution:

We knew we needed a solution that used far fewer WiFi boxes, while offering as much coverage and speed as possible. We also knew, for the best WiFi system, that we wanted each WiFi box to have its own connection to a data cable back to the main internet router.

Initially with only one usable network cable in the house (on the ground floor, from one side of the house to the other), we hid another cable to the loft behind the drain pipe, allowing us to fit WiFi units in the loft space to cover the first floor..

Before we chose the final location of the upstairs WiFi boxes, we tested and surveyed the coverage from each one using our WiFi heat-mapping tool, allowing us to clearly see the best positions.

We also upgraded the BT router for a Draytek one, offering more reliability (and better suited to busy family life of work/ study/ play from home), and added two small network switches to connect devices that benefit from a wired network connection.

We reconnected and tested everything once set up (TVs, printers, laptops etc) and checked streaming services - like Netflix, IPlayer, Amazon Prime before walking through the system with the client and handing over the user guide.

The result: 

Great wifi for the house and the annex which gave the client their first trouble-free weekend for a long time. 

Brands we liked - Ruckus, Draytek, Specialist Cables

Weybridge House WiFi Upgrade

  • WiFi and home network

Large Country Home

  • Home cinema

  • Lighting

  • Blinds

  • WiFi and home network

  • Home control system

  • Multi-room audio

  • Multi-room video

In this large Surrey home, the family wanted the latest in home technology to help them both enjoy the home, but also to simplify how they lived in the house.

Top of the list was lighting controls, so the family could have both the different lighting effects they wanted, but also easily turn the house on or off as they came and went. We used Lutron, with custom light switch faceplates from Wandsworth (in either aged brass or stainless steel finishes according to the interior plans). We worked with the family to make sure the light switches had the same set of understandable controls for each room (making it easy to remember what switch to press, whether the light switch had 2 or 4 buttons).

We also worked with the interior designers to provide Lutron sheer and blackout blinds in the main living rooms, with fabrics chosen from Lutron’s wide range. These are also controlled from the custom light switches.

Finally, we added the Lutron app so the lights could be controlled from a phone, anywhere, and dawn/ dusk timers set for the external lights - both for security and for the garden effects.

For the audio-visual experience, we installed a dedicated home cinema with the latest laser projector (in ultra-high definition), cinema seating, Dolby Atmos sound (4 speakers around the sides, 4 in the ceiling, 2 sub woofers, plus the usual front left, centre and right channels) from B&W to create a truly immersive ‘this is better than Odeon’ experience. The client wanted to use this for sport (especially football and American football) as well as gaming and films. We fitted the Apple TVs and set up their Curzon home cinema app.

The system is easily controlled from a Control 4 remote control, with one or two buttons to press for the whole system to be ready. All the family had to do was bring the popcorn!

For the rest of the house, we fitted a mixture of 55” and 65” Sony OLED TVs, connected to Sky Q and Apple TVs, plus games consoles in the kids’ bedrooms. The family had 5 Sky Q boxes, with one of the boxes shared between the kitchen and dining room.

For audio, we fitted B&W ceiling speakers in 10 rooms, with Sonos Amps. The client also had a vast music library on a computer hard drive, so we connected that to the Sonos system too.

Last, but by no means least, we fitted a whole-home WiFi network - including the large rear garden with external weather-proof WiFi boxes - from Ruckus. We conducted a heat-map predictive survey of the expected coverage of the property to plan for the best WiFilocations, with the result that every room in the house has great signal, and the client can walk from top to bottom without dropping off the WiFi or losing a call.

A refurbishment project for this family who revamped their ground and first floors. We worked with the interior designers to specify a Lutron lighting control system for their selection of light fittings, controlled by Lutron’s keypads and the Lutron app. We configured the scenes during an evening with the designers and the client once the furniture was all in place to get just the right levels; but the Lutron app makes it easy for our client to make adjustments without needing to call us back each time.

In the media room, we fitted a Dolby Atmos system (speakers around the sides and over the head) for the ultimate audio experience, but the speakers were hidden in the ceiling and walls, to keep the installation amazingly clean. The TV itself rises up from a custom-built piece of joinery, so the living room functions as a peaceful relaxation room, or a jump-out-your-seat ‘Friday night is film night’ experience, without the TV and speakers dominating the room.

Lastly, as with most of our projects, we fitted a whole house wifi system and fast home network, using Ruckus as the brand we know will work for years.

South-West London Home

  • WiFi and home network

  • Media room

  • Lighting control

London Duplex Apartment

  • Vertical blinds

  • Media room - OLED TV, Apple TV

  • Multi room audio

  • WiFi and home network

The electrics and motors for curtains or blinds were pre-installed when the client bought the apartment, so we worked with them to choose the fabric and style of blinds, then added them into the iPad controls of the apartment.

We fitted a 55” Panasonic OLED TV into the custom-built recess, on a Future Automation bracket that pulls out and swivels the TV for viewing either in the living or the dining area. We connected an Apple TV and Playstation that were installed in the cupboard below. The TV is controlled from an all-in-one Control4 remote control for ease of use. 

Four areas of the apartment were fitted with B&W ceiling speakers, linked to Sonos Amps installed in the equipment cupboard.

We installed a small wifi system that gave whole apartment coverage, solving the problem of bad wifi signal between the upstairs and downstairs.

Brands we liked: B&W, Future Automation, Sonos, Ruckus

This was the family’s first purchase of a home outside London. They weren’t sure how much time they’d be spending in the house, so didn’t want to install too much when they first moved in, in case they opted to let it out for much of the time. We worked with them to install a whole-home wifi system covering the two floors and approximately 3,000 sq ft, and three rooms of audio based on Sonos with either book shelf speakers or floor standing speakers from B&W.

Small Country Home

  • WiFi and home network

  • Multi-room audio