This blog has now been updated; you can view this updated post here.

When you think of home automation and smart home technology, do you imagine something that sounds both complicated and expensive? No doubt the underlying technology is sophisticated, as is most of today's consumer technology upon which we rely every day – like your smartphone.

Most likely, you find your smartphone as a device that is not complicated to use, and a boon to your daily life. That's because the system and apps use technology intelligently to simplify everyday tasks – whether it’s communication, managing your calendar and tasks, getting information on your finances, or the myriad of other things smartphones bring to the palm of your hand.

Home automation sounds complicated, but it is much the same as the smartphone. Some sophisticated technology under the veneer of a simple-to-use interface makes it easy to manage a host of functions in your home. The good news is that home automation systems are not an all-or-nothing thing; you can start small and scale up in functionality and size. It's much like your smartphone: You can do many things in the digital realm with them, but some people stick to basics like communication and taking pictures. You can always add more apps to do more, but you don’t have to.

If you haven’t dipped the proverbial toe into smart home technology, there’s no reason not to. You can start with something as simple as taming the pack of audio-video remote controls sitting on your coffee table. A Control4 home automation system would banish all those remotes in your Alpharetta-area family room to a drawer and replace it with a clean interface that makes your A/V setup work just the way you like it. But of course, it can do much more.

Keep reading to see how a Control4 smart home system can cinch those quick 8-yard slant passes, but also go long for the touchdown, automating your whole house.

Is light just light? Of course, it isn't. iIdeally, light is tailored to the environment it needs to illuminate. Too much light in a space can be fatiguing, and so can too little light. But light is more than just its intensity; it also has a color temperature. We all understand different light intuitively and react to it quite naturally, without realizing its effect on us most of the time.

So what is a tunable lighting system, and what does it bring to the world of home lighting? Let's discuss what it is and what it can do for your Brookhaven, GA, home.

Lighting is an essential element of your home, illuminating your space but also creating ambiance to make it more inviting. Georgia Home Theater is always looking for new ways to enhance the lighting technology for homeowners in Marietta and beyond, which is why we’re thrilled to announce our new partnership with DMF Lighting, a company dedicated to creating attractive, highly functional lighting equipment that is easy to install and maintain.

In this blog, we introduce you to our new brand partner and delve into why you want their products for your LED lighting installation. Keep reading to find out more.

If you’re fortunate enough to live in the coastal Florida Panhandle area, you know how you can enjoy an outdoor lifestyle all year round. Whether your Destin home is a winter escape from the North or your all-season home, sunshine and beautiful starry nights are abundant.

Given Florida's easy outdoor climate, you'll want your home to look as distinguished on the outside as it is inside. Don't let your home's beauty diminish at night; highlight it with outdoor lighting. You can emphasize your home's best features and create a safer, more picturesque ambiance to enjoy your patio, pool, and outside space. The best way to illuminate your outdoor living is with the help of a professional landscape lighting company like GHT Group to design the right plan and bring simplified control and automation to your lighting. Read on to learn more.

New technologies sometimes transform entire industries - or bury some and create new ones. LED technology has transformed many industries. It replaced bulky CRT based monitors for computers, led to brilliant, efficient, and lighter laptops, is steadily replacing analog instruments and all types of lights in automobiles, and has revolutionized TV screens. 

In home lighting, LED technology may not create a total revolution, as your house will still look like a house. But LED light fixtures in homes lend new flexibility in lighting design, last much longer than other lights, and of course, are far more efficient for your Atlanta home.  

Let's take a look at a few ways you can use LED lighting to rethink the light in your home.

SEE ALSO: Learn About Georgia Home Theater’s New Brand Partner: DMF Lighting

Chances are you already have some outdoor lighting on your property. It may light the driveway, a pathway, and perhaps some of your landscape. On these pages, we have written extensively about how lighting can create a whole new look for your home, inside and out. With landscape lighting, you can totally change the character of your property after dark.

Outdoor lighting design is part art and part science. The art is hiring an expert outdoor lighting company that knows all the proper techniques and tricks of the trade that add panache to your property after sunset. The science comes in using the right lighting systems that provide the tools to make it happen. GHT Group is excited to work with FX Luminaire Luxor, an advanced outdoor lighting system that offers simple installation and fantastic flexibility to design dramatic nightscapes for your Cumming, GA property. Read on to learn more about the Luxor system!

SEE ALSO: 4 Landscape Lighting Design Ideas to Make Your Home Pop

Last month, we were excited to tell you about the latest Control4 smart home system, OS 3. Control4 did its homework in designing this new software: listening to both existing customers and integrators like Georgia Home Theater, then taking the best features from today’s mobile apps to make this an extremely easy system for daily use.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Judging by the popularity of YouTube, you could say that saying holds ever so true today. Along that line, we'd like to cover some of our favorite features in Control4 OS 3 that really shine - with a tidy how-to video compilation that will give you an excellent feel for how comfortable it is to use.

After you read and watch the tutorials below, you may just want to upgrade your current Control4 system in your Atlanta home. If you don’t have a Control4 smart home, then you’re still in the right place - Georgia Home Theater can customize one for you.

When you upgrade your home lighting to Ketra tunable LED light fixtures, your lights become much more than a utility. They become part of your home décor. Medicine for improved wellness. A breath of fresh air. Pair them with a Lutron lighting control system, and the LED light fixtures in your Marietta, GA home can rise and fall with you, creating the perfect light for every moment of the day.

From a tranquil morning glow of sunrise to a cool, vibrant afternoon to a warm and serene sunset, Ketra tunable LEDs bring natural light indoors to help you start your day, stay focused, and wind down at night. Read more to step into a day of living with tunable LED lighting fixtures.

SEE ALSO: Redesign Your Home’s Lighting with LED Lighting Fixtures

We’re big fans of smarter lighting solutions at GHT Group. With some new technologies, there are advantages and disadvantages. When it comes to lighting, LED has clear and measurable benefits that are hard to ignore with no downside. While LED lighting and fixtures were once an expensive proposition, economies of scale and a major shift to this technology have now made them an easy decision for any home.

Should you upgrade to LED lights in your Alpharetta, GA home? You might guess our answer is an emphatic yes, and we’ll give you five reasons why below. Keep reading!

SEE ALSO: Learn About GHT Group’s New Brand Partner: DMF Lighting

If any room in the house needs proper lighting, it’s a bathroom. A bathroom is a place that hosts daily routines for showers, shaving, makeup, and more. But it can also be a space for relaxation with a good soak in the tub or enjoying a massaging set of shower jets. Bathrooms need highly functional lighting, yet they must also be inviting. 

Despite all that, bathrooms often get only the most basic utilitarian lighting. But that can be remedied by applying some of the best recommendations from professional lighting designers. Let’s explore some better ways to illuminate bathrooms for form and function in Rosemary Beach, FL. 

Are you building or remodeling a home in Kennesaw, GA? If so, you are likely considering a myriad of options regarding how you want your home to look and feel. From colors, finishes, flooring, appliances, hardware, and more, you have much to consider and decide. 

One area that should also be considered early in the project is the integration of home automation features like lighting control and motorized shades. Both of these work hand in hand to help you make the most of natural lighting, add to your home's aesthetic appeal, and as a bonus, make it more efficient. 

If you are considering these smart home features, you should consider one of the premier names in managing and controlling light – Lutron. Lutron has an enviable array of options for lighting control in the home. To get the best aesthetic and functional results for your home, it’s essential to bring in a Lutron dealer like GHT Group early into your project. Let’s explore why below. 

SEE ALSO: What to Expect When You Partner with a Lutron Dealer

The lighting in your home is more than mere illumination. Yes, it is an essential element in daily life and using your home, much like running water. But just as there are many functional aspects of your house, there's also the aesthetic, the part that makes your spaces pleasant and tailored to your tastes and lifestyle.

Good lighting design is both art and science, and working with a lighting designer is the easiest way to maximize both form and function in your Vestavia Hills, AL, home. Keep reading below to learn three distinct advantages of working with lighting design professionals. 

We've talked before how we at Georgia Home Theater like to work with the best brands in their categories, and we have a rich stable of brand partners in audio, video, and home control to prove it. Landscape lighting is no exception, and in that space, we work with Coastal Source. The company puts quality into every aspect of their products’ design and performance, and it’s a difference you can tell. Also, it doesn’t hurt that the company also offers high-performance outdoor audio solutions, but we’ll leave outdoor sound to a different blog.

If you haven’t installed landscape lighting for your Alpharetta-area home, you are missing out on an opportunity to enhance and beautify your property’s outdoor areas. Few investments add as much drama, flair, and utility to your property as much as lighting.

Let’s discuss some ways a landscape lighting installation can add distinctive appeal to your Georgia home. Read on for more.

It’s not uncommon for homeowners in Destin and along the Emerald Coast to seek energy-efficient ways to safeguard their properties from the Florida sun and heat. Lutron offers sophisticated motorized window treatments that insulate your spaces and keep out harmful UV rays. Plus, they can be operated remotely and even programmed to adjust on their own for optimal energy savings.

Likewise, Lutron lighting solutions work in tandem with your window treatments to reduce your energy consumption while refreshing your interiors with beautiful light. As a certified Lutron Dealer, GHT Group is your one-stop-shop for smart lighting and shading that make your spaces look and feel luxurious while lowering your energy consumption.

Read below to explore the intelligent and flexible offerings from Lutron and how GHT Group can help transform your home with custom lighting and shading solutions.

SEE ALSO: 5 Reasons Why Lutron Powered Shades Are a Great Investment

As an integrator of a wide array of home technology, including security, lighting control, whole-home automation, and audio-video systems, GHT Group has invested heavily in acquiring the skills, infrastructure, and industry brands to deliver the best solutions across all these areas. And in the past, we’ve told you about what to look for in a smart home company or a home theater installer because we think we've differentiated ourselves from the pack to bring you the best possible customer experience. 

While we’ve always worked with lighting both inside and outside the house, we have put a special emphasis on this growth area in the past few years, as LED lighting and more powerful control systems have become an important part of home technology upgrades. We think all our experience in home technology makes us the ideal partner for all your lighting needs, indoors or out. It might be a little self-serving (it is our blog after all), but we’d like to tell you some of the things you should look for in an outdoor lighting company for your Marietta, GA project. Ultimately, it’s your choice, and we hope you choose GHT Group when you’re ready to move forward!