Pimp My House

At the recent Smart Home Show in Birmingham, UK, high-tech home designers showed off the latest ways to pimp your house.

Designers can add mood lighting, TV, DVD, music, surround sound, CCTV and so much more, and control everything from panels placed in strategic locations throughout the living space.

To keep speakers out of the way, you could install them in the ceiling. Or, for a truly advanced option, you could opt for an entire wall that serves as speakers. A series of tiny but powerful speakers installed behind a wall, which is actually made of special mesh, will dissipate sound across the entire surface.

Other cool gadgets include a bathroom mirror which doubles as a plasma tv.

But it’s not just about the gadgetry; it’s about the design. At least one designer prefers to add false walls to cover the cables and to recess the plasma screens. So if you don’t mind losing a little bit of floorspace, you can have a much cleaner design.