The village of Wetheral sits towards the upper reaches of Cumbria’s Eden Valley, within easy reach of historic Carlisle to the west and the Scottish Borders just to the north.
It’s every inch the quintessential village; leafy, well presented gardens and avenues; stone built homes finished in traditional white render or Lazonby Red sandstone; coffee shop, hotel, branch line railway station and parish church.
New build properties are introduced with no small degree of consideration and our client’s home is such an example. Located on the edge of Wetheral, this 5-bedroom property stands resplendent with its vernacular red brick walls and slate roofing. There’s green oak and sandstone, there’s open pastures beyond and a thousand acres of sky.
There’s also a quite beautiful house here in Wetheral, that’s what there is.
It’s a commission that Majik House was introduced to by Carvetii Town and Country Interiors, the award-winning designers and makers based in Carlisle and near Kendal.
Where Carvetti were appointed to design and deliver the kitchen and key living spaces in the home, it was Majik House who would undertake the lighting design, AV and automation, including the creation of a bespoke cinema room in the attic space.
Majik House’s Jit Mistry designed, specified and project managed the installation: “I’m sure they won’t mind me saying but this particular client was quite ‘anti-tech’ for the understandable reason that the system in their previous home wasn’t great at all.”
“Just to be clear, Majik House wasn’t involved in that property but it’s understandable that there was a degree of hesitancy before committing to having us – or any smart home installer – involved.”
After initial conversations and briefings, it would be clear that a ‘back to basics’ approach would be the right solution for this project – nothing complicated, nothing too elaborate, just relatively simple things done well.
The whole house audio is a prime example of this: “They were already familiar with and liked SONOS, both the products and using the app, so let’s use that as our primary audio control – simple.”
Whilst a number of the familiar SONOS units are present in the house, like the Play:1 and the Beam, it is the versatile SONOS amplifier that feeds the Monitor Audio in-ceiling speakers and also the external audio in the garden and tennis court.
The Open plan kitchen and living area does include a Control 4 in-wall touchscreen controller which can be used for control of the music and lighting.
“There’s a few nice touches we’ve enabled in the sound system,” adds Jit, “like integrating the doorbell system to play through SONOS, which is just a really convenient and practical feature to have.”
The televisions in the home are another example of the straightforward solution, again delivered to suit the client’s wishes.
“They liked the Sky interface and were happy using Sky remotes; there was no need to have a video feed from a central distribution hub, so in every room where there’s a TV it’s fed locally by a Sky Q Mini box.”
“There’s no integration between the TVs and room audio, other than SONOS Beam soundbars in two of the bedrooms so, again, a very stripped-back approach but one which our client is very happy with.”
The exception to this rule is the bespoke cinema room, found on the second floor in the eaves of the roof and alongside the home office.
The AV control here is more than apparent, with automated blinds (Velux in this instance) and control of the lighting system which includes ‘starscape’ ceiling lighting, as used recently in two Together4Cinema projects at the Jigsaw Children’s Hospice in Carlisle and the Space Centre in Preston.
“The cinema is also a gaming room for the two boys and the only room in the house integrating with any AV control. Being in the eaves makes for quite a unique experience and it’s a great example of what can be done with this sort of unused roof space.”
The JVC DLA-NP5 is a native 4K home theatre projector which delivers industry-leading HDR performance.
The audio is 7.2.2 Dolby Atmos, courtesy of Monitor Audio C280 in-ceiling speakers, a Monitor Audio Silver Series Surround FX Speaker and Velodyne DB10 subwoofers, with Control4’s NEEO remote and C4-EA1 entertainment and automation controller managing the whole system.
Majik House’s proprietary range of high-end LED lighting is present throughout the property, along with feature lighting in the main reception rooms and kitchen.
“If we’re keeping it simple with the rest of the house, then we recommend having good lighting design and control.” adds Jit, “They had lighting control in their previous home but the system just didn’t work very well, so we appreciated their hesitancy.”
“After establishing they wanted any AV systems to be simple, we introduced the concept of how good lighting design with easy-to-use control could really work in harmony with Carvetii’s interior designs.”
Low-energy Majik House down lighters are present throughout the home; these and the feature lighting operated by Lutron HomeWorks home integration system and wall-mounted keypads.
Majik House’s lighting also features outside the property and in the garden and tennis court; there’s also extensive outdoor wi-fi and audio to the rear patio from a pair of Monitor Audio Climate CL80 outdoor speakers.
Climate control throughout the house is via Heatmiser, controlled via wi-fi through the neoStat thermostat, installed in conjunction with the plumbing and electrical contractors.
Majik House’s involvement in this project began in the autumn of 2021 with initial system designs and proposals presented after a number of client meetings. At this stage, the property was still in relatively early stages of construction, not being fully weathertight and prior to the first fix taking place.
“Timing couldn’t have been better as it meant that we could be introduced to the building and electrical contractors and have the constructive conversations necessary to ensure everyone is on the same page. Between us, we were all open and shared plans, information and were able to properly coordinate our work.”
“We really enjoyed working with all the contractors throughout this commission; everything went smoothly, no nasty surprises.”
That said, there were a few changes and minor challenges along the way: “The thickness of the ceiling materials in the kitchen required some re-thinking about how we approached fitting the recessed track lighting system, but the solution was achieved and works perfectly so no big issue in the end.”
“It was also a great opportunity to work with the team from Carvetii. We’ve admired their work for a long time and this was a chance to show what our two companies can achieve.”
“The quality of their workmanship is unquestionable and, likewise, the execution of the design concepts has achieved a quite beautiful result for our client.”
From involvement with the first fix in January 2022, the final visit from Majik House to hand-over the system was in December of that year.
SELECTED KIT LIST
- Control4 EA5 Master Entertainment and Automation Controller
- Sky Q Mini – Kitchen, Living Rooms and Bedrooms
- SONOS Amp
- SONOS Beam Soundbar
- SONOS Play:1 Alexa
- Monitor Audio C280 In-Ceiling Speakers
- Monitor Audio CL80-B Outdoor Speakers
- Control4 10” In-Wall Touchscreen Controller (kitchen)
- Control4 Door Station Access Control
- Lutron Homeworks DIN Panels, 4-Zone DIN Power Module, Processors and 8 Button Keypads
- Majik House Low Energy LED Down and Uplighters
- Ubiquiti Managed Wi-Fi and Port Switches
- Furman F1500-UPS-E Uninterruptible Power Supply and Voltage Regulator
