Enjoy Entertainment in New Ways as the Days Get Shorter & Your Living Room Gets Busier

All summer, your living room played a supporting role. Pool days and patio dinners were the norm, and weekends up at the lake drew attention outside. 

As the sun begins to set earlier, the days become shorter as we near the time change, fall, and winter. Everyone's back inside more nights than not, and football season just began, so there’s more than enough reason to spend extra time in the home theater or media room. 

A dim ceiling light and a remote buried in the couch cushions isn't a movie night. It's a mild inconvenience, every evening, from October through March. If your current TV setup still runs off one wall switch and a single soundbar, the return trip indoors will feel rougher than it needs to feel. 

The fix is to pair your audio/video equipment with lighting, shading, and other devices so they all work together to meet your needs. With integration, the indoors start to pull its weight again as the go-to entertainment spot.

SEE ALSO: Upgrade Your Home Theater Design for the Ultimate Cinematic Atmosphere

Your Living Room Is About To Work Overtime

As football season kicks in and the holiday season creeps closer, the traditional TV room becomes the default gathering spot for the next six months. Whether it’s a dedicated cinema room or a more multi-functional media room, or something in-between on the entertainment spectrum, it’s the destination spot for all of your family movie nights, Sunday games, and guests dropping by after dinner. A space built around a flat screen and whatever speakers came in a box at the local big-box store won't be able to keep up with everything that the room needs to do.

A professional home theater design gives every one of those nights its own settings. Movie night on Friday looks and sounds different from Monday night’s game, and neither one requires digging through three remotes to get there. 

That same flexibility matters on a random weeknight, too, when the picture and sound serve as background ambiance for homework at the kitchen table rather than a full surround-sound moment.

One Button For Movie Night

AV system integration is where Control4 and Josh home automation earn their keep. Pair your theater with lighting and shading control, and a button tap dims the room, drops the shades, and starts the film, all at once. Hunting for switches and fumbling for a remote is no longer necessary.

Origin Acoustics speakers built into the walls keep the audio playing without a rack of visible gear cluttering the room, and Samsung's display options hold up whether the lights are down for a movie or up for an afternoon game. Add Sonos speakers in the kitchen or hallway, and the same system carries the game into the rest of the house without anyone needing to touch a second remote.

Get Ahead Of The Holiday Rush

Once the calendar turns to November, install schedules fill up fast. If you're picturing a finished setup before family starts arriving for the holidays, the window to begin planning is here and now. Requesting a home theater consultation starts the process before you’ve even thought of who to add to your invite list.