Entertaining, yes?

Y’all. This TV is huge (79″). It’s the perfect spot to hang out, though if you happen to have any vision impairments. Come on over! Well, not right now. Maybe in a couple of months……

This focal point of the living room is a workhorse though…. it’s our total storage point for the living room. Even though digital media is certainly the wave of our future and lends itself to a more minimalist lifestyle, there is something about having the movie in hand that says “ you can never take this away from me!” So, we have movies, all our components, wii, ps4, games, and even the legendary Rock Band is all hidden in there. Up top we have a curved OLED TV, with some accent LED lighting (more later on this) and memories of our past, collectively and separately.

The biggest thing inside this cabinet is the “brain” for our home automation system made by Control 4. This little bitty thing can make our whole house come alive!

I didn’t know how much this would mean to me to have, even four years ago.. my inner techie geek girl wanted the toy but the function now has far outweighed this…. When we first talked about doing this, the salesperson shared with me about a doctor client he had who also had MS and had recently retired.  They told him he needed to look at his energy level like a bank .. the money runs out and rest is required to replenish it. I  was like ok…. but now I’m like i totally get that. Why would I waste energy walking around the house turning lights on and off, when I could use that energy to cook dinner, walk Samson, or work? At first, we could operate all the lighting in the common areas via an app. Now we can just speak commands to alexa- for lights and thermostat anyway… this keeps me hoarding valuable steps to help me get through my day…  I’m sure this will come up again, a few times. So when I mention Control 4, come back to this!

Here is the living room control pad- the left set of buttons is the fan with all speeds, working to the right is the fan light, next is a series of “scenes”: The foyer light dims on/off the light at the front door. “Video” is lit up based on what component is being used video/gaming/audio. “Party” is a scene with music throughout the common areas set to a certain channel and volume with the lights set at a certain percentage each as well. “Home” turns on our lamps, the foyer light for five minutes, and the television to NBC. “Bye-Bye” (guess who named that…) turns everything off and locks everything one minute after walking out the door. “Night” turns off everything that’s on except the island pendants at 30% for five minutes. It gives us time to get the meds, get the pets fed and head to sleep. See how cool this thing is, I’m telling you!!!! The far right switches are unfortunately not on Control4 but we may add them one day, we just have to increase our switches one more bay… It’s the outdoor fan and light.

The truth is, I don’t get to sit in there much. Maybe when I retire. Hopefully I will still be able to see the TV!!! 🙂

Next post, we are headed towards the food. Most everybody’s favorite conversation, right!?