“If Batman had a ski house, this would be it.”
— Steve Lee, VP Integrator Sales, Insteon
“After building things for decades for other people, this was my chance to get everything I ever wanted, exactly the way I wanted it, and Insteon is at the heart of that.”
This astonishing $40 million home in downtown Aspen can count Rihanna as one of it’s famous guests. The prime “ski-in” compound isn’t just what CNBC dubbed “the biggest home in the richest town in America,” it’s also one of the smartest: Powered by over 1,800 Insteon-enabled smart-home devices, this home is as smart as it is breathtaking.
This seven-bedroom, 20,000-square-foot custom luxury home was built by Leathem Stearn, a former yacht sailor, architect, and businessman. Leathem had developed plenty of custom luxury properties for other people, so when he set off to design a home for himself with an unlimited budget — and even more imagination — Leathem turned to Insteon.
Naturally the house has two elevators, an indoor pool, an ice skating rink, a theatre, a gym, a car turntable in the six-car garage, … and 1,000 Insteon smart light switches.
Insteon Wins on Cost
“When I priced out comparable systems from Crestron and Control 4, the amount of money I saved is significant — in the six figures.”
Leathem knew his modern, super-luxurious house had to be “smart,” but he was concerned that the investment to do that on this kind of scale might break the bank. After evaluating the options, Leathan found the clear winner. Just about every light found throughout the sprawling 22,000 square-foot compound is powered by Insteon.
“We talked to Lutron, too, and Insteon was the only solution that would give us the signal reliability, scalability, and flexibility we needed to pull this off without it being a programming and wiring nightmare. I had a vision for this house that I just wasn’t going to be able to get using Lutron.”
Insteon Passes the “Guest Test”
When you have a house with seven bedrooms, you’re naturally going to have people staying with you all the time. Leathan was determined not to fall into the trap of building a house that was so “high-tech” that only he could operate it.
“It’s just not safe to have people stumbling their way in the darkness of an unfamiliar house trying to find the bowling alley or the shooting range.”
“When I have houseguests, I don’t need to give them a walking tour with instructions on how to use the house’s technology — or worse, leave sticky notes, binders, or laminated instructions everywhere. Insteon is so intuitive, it’s effortless for my visitors to make themselves comfortable, and I don’t need to be the technical support guy in my own house. It’s a relief.”
When Leathem knows he’s going to have a lot of people excitedly exploring the house, discovering activities, he pulls out his phone and taps the scene in the app that lights the corridors and stairs leading to those places.
Instant Ambiance
““You wouldn’t think lighting would play such an enormous role in giving the house such a magical ambiance, but lighting plays almost as an important role as architecture, art, and furniture. Successful design is all about the lighting.””
When Leathem wants to entertain, he can set the mood instantly across all 22,000 square feet with the push of a button in an app. Having central control over all of his Insteon-controlled lighting means he doesn’t have to run from lamp to lamp — and from room to room — to dial in the right brightness.
Flexibility
When high-end developers like Leathem build a house of this magnitude from scratch, they try to imagine exactly how the house will be used, well in advance of anyone moving in, anticipating the owners’ needs and building that into the electrical and lighting plan. But Insteon’s technology approach allows for built-in flexibility.
““If one Insteon switch by the kitchen door controlled the lights under the counters, I knew I could ‘re-program’ that switch to control a different light, or even a group of lights, without ripping out drywall or running any new wires. Knowing I could ‘virtually rewire’ literally anything after the fact took so much pressure off having to get it 100% right the first time.””
Energy Savings
As you can imagine, if you’re not careful, lighting a house this big can get very expensive very fast. Through a combination of scheduling, dimming, and manually turning off all of the lights with an app — either from inside the house or while traveling — Leathem credits Insteon with contributing to the energy savings he was able to achieve when compared to similar houses of this size.
“Before bed, I don’t have this dreaded required activity of going from room to room to turn everything off for the night; I just do it all at once with one press of a button on the app and know I’m not wasting energy while I sleep.”
From time to time, when he rents the house out to celebrities and other VIPs, he doesn’t have to wonder if they left all of the lights on when they checked out; He can view status across the property and easily turn everything off.
“It gives me peace of mind to know I’m not burning money at the far end of the house in a room I never go into. I have to imagine there’s some real energy savings there when you add it all up.”
Frustration-Free, Scalable Technology
Since Insteon’s patented Dual-Mesh Technology doesn’t use Bluetooth or WiFi, Leathem didn’t find himself limited or frustrated by having thousands of smart devices in the same house all fighting for priority on the same network.
“No matter how many devices are using my WiFi — even if every guest is streaming Netflix all at once — I’m confident my lighting’s responsiveness won’t ever be a factor. Everything just reliably works because Insteon doesn’t use WiFi. I’ve had to call tech support more for my laptop than for my Insteon-enabled house!”
“Insteon truly changed the way I live. I look forward to installing Insteon into all of my future developments. It’s a no-brainer.”
With more than five million products installed throughout the world, Insteon integrates easily with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, and it’s controllable through iPhone and Android. Patent-protected innovations like our Dual-Band Technology and our use of a simulcast mesh network make us the hands-down winner in simple and scalable lighting control, giving you the most reliable and affordable smart-home experience available.
Discover Insteon’s collection of simple and scalable products for yourself.
April updates from Co-Founder & Chief Geek, Richard Sudek