A thoughtfully designed home should be comfortable, beautiful, entertaining and remarkably easy to use.
Xtend Technologies designs and integrates comprehensive smart home automation, architectural lighting, lighting control, motorized shades, home audio, home theater, professional Wi-Fi, surveillance, outdoor entertainment and energy management systems for homeowners throughout Strongsville, North Royalton, Columbia Station and Northeast Ohio.
Our approach begins with design—not a list of products.
We meet with you, visit your property, learn how you live and determine which technologies can genuinely improve your home. For new construction and major renovations, we can also collaborate directly with your architect, custom builder, general contractor, remodeler, interior designer, electrical contractor and landscape architect.
The result is technology designed as part of the home rather than added to it afterward.
The most sophisticated smart homes often don't look particularly technological.
Speakers disappear into ceilings.
Lighting scenes replace rows of switches.
Motorized shades quietly respond to changing daylight.
Wi-Fi works throughout the property without calling attention to the equipment making it possible.
Entertainment is available when you want it.
And dozens of individual systems can become a handful of intuitive commands such as Welcome, Entertain, Dinner, Movie, Away and Goodnight.
This is the difference between simply installing smart devices and professionally designing a whole-home technology system.
For luxury residences in North Royalton, Strongsville and Columbia Station, we believe technology should enhance the architecture, interior design and lifestyle of the people who live there.
Every residence is different, which is why we don't believe in a one-size-fits-all smart home package.
Your technology plan might incorporate only a few important systems or become a comprehensive platform connecting technology throughout the entire property.
Imagine arriving home and having the house respond naturally.
Selected lights illuminate.
Your preferred temperature is already established.
Music begins playing.
Motorized shades adjust.
Outdoor lighting prepares the property for the evening.
A smart home automation system can bring lighting, entertainment, climate, shades and other connected technologies together into one intuitive experience.
Instead of learning how to operate dozens of individual devices and apps, homeowners can interact with their residence through elegant touchscreens, handheld remotes, mobile devices, keypads and automated scenes.
The goal isn't to make your home more complicated.
It's to make a sophisticated home considerably simpler.
Lighting is one of the most important—and frequently underestimated—elements of residential design.
Beautiful flooring, cabinetry, stonework, artwork, furnishings and architectural details can look dramatically different depending upon how they're illuminated.
That's why we encourage homeowners undertaking significant renovations or new construction to consider professional lighting design early in the project.
A comprehensive lighting plan may incorporate:
Fixture placement, beam angle, color temperature, dimming performance and control all influence the final result.
The objective is not simply to make a room brighter.
It's to create layers of light that make the architecture and interiors feel their best throughout the day and evening.
Large homes can quickly accumulate walls filled with switches and dimmers.
Professional lighting control changes that.
Instead of remembering which switch controls which fixture, homeowners can select scenes such as:
Morning
Welcome
Entertain
Dinner
Relax
Goodnight
Away
One command can adjust numerous fixtures throughout the residence simultaneously.
Lighting control can also become part of the home's broader automation system, allowing lighting to coordinate with motorized shades, entertainment, climate and other systems.
Architectural keypads can also replace banks of conventional switches, creating cleaner walls and a more refined interior aesthetic.
The amount of natural light entering a home changes constantly.
Motorized shades allow homeowners to manage that daylight without manually adjusting window treatments throughout the day.
Depending upon the residence, automated shades can help provide:
Lighting and shading become particularly powerful when designed together.
As daylight changes, shades and electric lighting can work together to maintain a comfortable environment while preserving the atmosphere of the room.
Music can completely change the experience of a home.
It might begin quietly in the kitchen in the morning, continue into a home office during the day and extend onto the patio when friends arrive in the evening.
A properly designed distributed audio system allows music to move naturally throughout the residence without requiring portable speakers or visible electronics everywhere.
Architectural speakers can be integrated into ceilings and walls while centralized electronics keep equipment out of living spaces.
We can design audio for:
For homeowners who place a higher priority on music, dedicated listening spaces and premium two-channel systems can deliver an entirely different level of performance.
A dedicated home theater can become one of the most enjoyable spaces in the house.
But achieving exceptional performance requires more than simply purchasing a large screen and surround-sound system.
A properly designed theater considers the complete environment:
Projection or large-format video
Screen size and viewing distance
Speaker placement
Immersive surround sound
Subwoofer performance
Room acoustics
Seating
Lighting
Equipment ventilation
Control
Architectural integration
When these elements are considered together, the room can deliver an experience far beyond what a conventional media room provides.
Xtend Technologies can work with your builder, remodeler, architect and interior designer to coordinate these elements before construction begins.
Almost everything in today's home depends upon the network.
Streaming video.
Music.
Phones.
Tablets.
Computers.
Remote work.
Security cameras.
Automation.
Connected appliances.
Smart televisions.
Outdoor entertainment.
Even some lighting and energy systems.
Yet Wi-Fi is often treated as an afterthought.
Large homes and properties in Strongsville, North Royalton and Columbia Station can create challenges that consumer routers and plug-in extenders weren't designed to solve.
Building materials, multiple floors, finished basements, detached structures, outdoor entertaining spaces and larger properties can all affect wireless performance.
We design professional wired and wireless networks around the residence and the number of devices the network will actually be expected to support.
The goal is simple:
Reliable connectivity where you need it.
A comprehensive surveillance system should be designed around the property rather than simply installing cameras wherever wiring happens to be convenient.
For larger residences and properties, important areas may include:
Proper camera placement, resolution, nighttime performance, network infrastructure and recording capability all influence the effectiveness of the finished system.
Planning surveillance during construction or renovation also provides greater opportunities to integrate cameras discreetly into the architecture.
Some of the best entertaining spaces aren't inside the house.
Pools, patios, covered porches, outdoor kitchens, fire features and landscaped entertaining areas have increasingly become extensions of the home.
Technology can extend with them.
Outdoor solutions may include:
Outdoor televisions
Displays designed specifically to withstand changing temperatures, moisture and sunlight.
Landscape audio
Strategically positioned speakers and subwoofers can create even sound throughout the property without requiring excessive volume near the house.
Outdoor Wi-Fi
Professional wireless coverage can extend connectivity to pools, patios and other frequently used portions of the property.
Outdoor lighting
Thoughtful landscape and architectural lighting can completely change the appearance of a property after sunset.
Integrated control
Music, televisions, lighting and other outdoor systems can become part of the same control environment used inside the residence.
For homeowners with larger properties in Columbia Station, North Royalton and Strongsville, outdoor technology should ideally be considered as part of the complete property plan rather than as an isolated project.
The modern luxury home is increasingly dependent upon electricity.
Internet connectivity, refrigeration, lighting, entertainment, security, heating and cooling equipment, home offices and smart home systems can all be affected by power interruptions.
Intelligent energy management and battery backup solutions can help homeowners better understand how electricity is being used while providing another layer of resiliency during an outage.
Depending upon the project, energy management can become another component of a comprehensive whole-home technology plan.
One of the best opportunities to create an exceptional technology system occurs before construction begins.
Unfortunately, technology is sometimes discussed only after architectural plans are complete and construction is already underway.
By then, many important decisions have already been made.
Early technology design allows us to coordinate items such as:
Planning these systems early can reduce compromises later while giving the entire project team better information before construction reaches critical stages.
A significant renovation provides an excellent opportunity to rethink technology that may have been added incrementally over many years.
Perhaps the Wi-Fi doesn't reliably cover the entire house.
The lighting feels dated.
There are too many switches.
Televisions and equipment have accumulated in different rooms.
Audio systems don't communicate with one another.
Security cameras were added individually.
Or you simply have too many apps controlling too many things.
A renovation gives us an opportunity to look at the residence as a complete system.
Rather than replacing individual pieces, we can develop a technology roadmap addressing what should be upgraded now, what can remain and what infrastructure should be installed for the future.
Columbia Station presents another interesting opportunity for whole-home technology design.
Larger homes, acreage, detached buildings and expansive outdoor environments can create technology requirements extending well beyond the walls of the primary residence.
A comprehensive property technology plan might include connectivity between structures, property-wide networking, surveillance, outdoor audio, landscape lighting, gate or entry considerations and entertainment areas located considerable distances from the home's primary equipment.
These projects benefit significantly from early planning.
Instead of treating the house, pool, patio, barn, outbuilding or other structures as completely independent projects, we can evaluate how technology should function across the entire property.
That can create a considerably more cohesive experience.
Technology touches nearly every other discipline involved in a luxury residential project.
Speakers affect reflected ceiling plans.
Lighting affects interior design.
Motorized shades affect window treatments and framing.
Televisions affect cabinetry and millwork.
Equipment locations affect mechanical planning.
Outdoor audio affects landscape design.
Lighting control affects electrical design.
Networks affect virtually every connected technology in the residence.
Xtend Technologies welcomes collaboration with:
Our goal is to become part of the project team early enough that technology decisions can be coordinated rather than corrected later.
Specifications only tell part of the story.
You should experience important technologies before making major decisions for your residence.
We invite homeowners, architects, builders and designers to visit the Xtend Technologies Experience & Design Center.
Here, we can discuss your project while allowing you to experience many of the technologies we're recommending.
See architectural lighting firsthand.
Experience lighting control.
Listen to premium audio.
Explore smart home automation.
Compare entertainment solutions.
Discuss motorized shades.
Learn how professional networking differs from consumer Wi-Fi.
Most importantly, we can begin developing a technology plan around your home rather than a generic equipment package.
The best whole-home technology systems begin long before equipment is installed.
They begin by understanding the home, the architecture, the property and the people who will use it every day.
If you're planning a custom home, renovation, technology upgrade or outdoor living project in Strongsville, North Royalton or Columbia Station, we invite you to start with a Discovery & Design Consultation with Xtend Technologies.
Together, we can develop a technology plan designed around the way you want to live today while preparing your home for what's next.
Xtend Technologies provides luxury residential technology design, installation and support throughout Strongsville, North Royalton and Columbia Station, as well as communities throughout Greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.
Our service area includes communities throughout Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina, Summit, Geauga and Lake counties, including nearby areas such as Brecksville, Broadview Heights, Hinckley, Medina, Rocky River, Westlake, Bay Village, Avon Lake, Hudson, Bath Township, Pepper Pike, Moreland Hills, Gates Mills, Hunting Valley, Chagrin Falls, Solon and Aurora.
Whether you're building a custom home, undertaking a major renovation, expanding your outdoor living environment or simply ready to replace technology that no longer meets your expectations, the right place to begin isn't with a product.
It's with a plan.
