The family that built this house, were clients for many years. At their previous house I maintained the phone system, built their computer network, and helped setup and maintain the computers. When they decided to sell their home so they could be closer to the kids school, they asked me to handle all of the systems in their new home.

I designed and managed the installation of the security, camera and gate access systems, along with the phone system. And, the whole house music and entertainment systems for the guest house, pool area and sport court were part of the overall design as well. All of it was fairly standard, with one exception.

They wanted a 120" projection screen installed in the family room, because in their previous home the media room was rarely used. In 2002 large flat-screen displays were not available. And unfortunately, video projectors did not produce enough light to make an image visible when there was a wall of windows in the back of the room, but they wouldn't want a projector hanging from the ceiling even if that were an option.

So, I worked with a friend in the business who had more experience with rear projection systems, and the owner and builder, to design a rear-projection room, similar to what was typical in large auditoriums at the time, where there was a large screen behind the stage and the projector was concealed in the room. We found a narrow projection mirror system and a small but bright DLP video projector, which was capable of filling a 120" screen from 6' away. In the end they got what they wanted, a large video screen in the family room, which could be hidden by bookshelves on hinges.

Due to a lot of hard work by a lot of people, the project turned out well. When I eventually relocated to Austin, my friend in the business took over servicing their systems.