Emil's Wicked Cool Blog

Kelly and I have been on a tear lately (as much of a tear as us analytical/methodical people can be) getting the house the way we want it. We've been selling some stuff on craigslist and making a ton of purchases. Here's a quick list of what I can remember doing over the last 6 months:

• Had house interior painted (this is huge, considering our two-story formal living room)
• Created a "photo wall"
• Purchased three bookcases, gave one bookcase to goodwill
• Moved some picture frames to a new wall
• Got an entertainment center to replace our old one (known as "Pac Man" after we stuck our new plasma TV into the space designed for a regular CRT)
• Sold floor standing Infinity speakers, center speaker, and rear speakers, purchasing a full set of Polk speakers
• (in process) Selling coffee table and end table, with the intension of purchasing "cubes" for the family room

Well, today I got a hidden IR system, which so far is making me very happy. The problem we ran into after all the entertainment center business is that the center speaker, which clearly belongs in the center, would cover the IR sensor on the TV, rendering remotes useless from one half of the room (the half we use the most). The only way to alleviate the issue was to move the center speaker all the way to one edge of the TV or the other, which no longer placed it in the center. The system has completely alleviated that problem. I've only used it in tests so far, but it seems great.