Home of the year 2010 Winner by Electronic House Magazine

Everything from the TV to the motorized shades moves in this innovative beachfront bedroom suite. Underbed Lift Enhances View at Beachfront Suite

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Even with this bedroom’s beach view one might eventually want to watch TV in bed or order up a movie.

But where to mount a flat-panel TV without destroying this Mission Beach vista just north of San Diego? Easy. Just place the TV in a lift — under the bed. And at the press of a button have it slide out and tilt into view.

Actually, it wasn’t so easy.

First, a special Underbed Lift from MK 1 Studio was required to slide arms from under the bed and position the screen upright. Then, the lift had to be designed into the bed frame, according to Ryan Lipkovicius of custom electronics company Audio Impact in San Diego.

Once the homeowners press a button on their RTI T2 remote control, the TV takes about 32 seconds to rise into view. Lipkovicius says a 39-pound Samsung LED TV was chosen for its thinness and light weight, above all else. It also doesn’t hurt that the LED TV is more energy-efficient than many other types of sets, and that helps make up for the energy required to operate the lift mechanisms.

The TV is accompanied by two 8-inch B&W CC M80 two-way in-ceiling speakers in the bedroom area, as well as two of the same in the adjacent sitting room. The owners can summon music from an XM Radio tuner and iPod docks located downstairs in the main part of the house. A spacious bath area with a cool shower and copper tub is wired for speakers as well, but those have yet to be installed.

When the owners are done with the TV, they simply press another button, and the screen disappears, leaving a not-so-bad beach scene.

Other very cool scene-setting technologies in this master suite include motorized curtains and shades. But these are no ordinary curtains. They’re curved metal and perforated to complement the very contemporary form and feel of the house. (The house encompasses five floors of striking curved layers.)

The curtains close over the curved glass wall of the sitting room, and in the bedroom area three custom-sized Lutron Sivoia blackout shades descend for those rare times the owners don’t want to feel like they’re lying on the beach. Another blackout shade descends to block light from the sitting room.

The curtains and shades are controlled by a http://www.electronichouse.com/article/underbed_lift_enahnces_view_at_beachfront_suite/Slideshows