A Colorado family dives headfirst into high-tech living in their new mountain home.
One of the toughest things about building a new house is separating your wants from your needs. You need an efficient heating and cooling system, sure. And top-grade kitchen appliances are probably a good idea if you love to cook. But do you really need that big-screen TV and those super-duper surround-sound speakers for the master bedroom? And what about that portable color touch panel to control all the lights, thermostats, audio/video equipment, window blinds, and gas fireplaces? These are a few of the questions Tom and Catherine Reagan struggled with as they laid down the plans for their new 10,000-square-foot home in Aspen, Colorado. "We couldn't decide whether to dip our toe in or jump in all the way," Tom recalls. Before making their final decision, Tom and Catherine had a heart-to-heart with the home-systems installers at Paragon Technology Group, the Aspen-based firm they had hired to design a modest home entertainment system for their house. "[Home entertainment] was the one thing we absolutely had to have," says Tom. The pros at Paragon knew exactly how to steer the conflicted couple in the right direction. "We took them to a couple of completed projects to show them how our touch-screen controller worked," says company president David Raife. "After actually seeing how easy our touch screens were to use and how convenient it was to operate the lights, temperature, audio and video equipment, and security from one place, it all just clicked for them." Tom and Catherine decided to take the plunge. See this slide show

 To see more Hot Houses such as these, subscribe to