Repurposing an Existing Smart Home Theatre into a Personalised Wine Bar in Toorak, Victoria
Homeowners enjoy sharing their favourite drinks with friends and family without having to step out of their properties, and personal wine bars are a prominent feature of modern homes in Melbourne. They are also a great way to showcase a curated collection of various beverages in a well-organised manner during parties and social gatherings.
The following case study is a testimony to a 4-month-long project, where our smart home installers carried out a wine bar upgrade for a luxury home in Toorak.
Client Name
Stuart
Project Duration
04 Months
Project Type
Wine Bar Upgrade
Project Summary
Stuart recently purchased his new home with a pre-installed home theatre automation system in the basement. He wasn’t a keen lover of movies, so the home theatre was rather useless for him. However, his passion for wine was evident through the amazing collection of drinks that he had accumulated. To better utilise the basement, he wanted to convert it into a home wine bar where he could organise and display his beverages.
Since we carried out the original installation for the developer from whom he bought the home, he contacted us to explore his options of retrofitting a custom wine bar design into the existing space. The idea was to create an intimate cocktail lounge in the basement where he could enjoy and relax with his close friends and family.
Our Approach
01. Consultation and Planning
We began by arranging a detailed meeting with the client where we carefully assessed the project requirements and his budget. We also shared some trending home wine bar ideas with him for inspiration, outlining potential challenges that could arise while installing wall boxes and wine fridges, and discussing possible solutions to overcome these challenges.
02. Pre-Installation Stage
Once we got the go-ahead, we created a wiring schematic for the wine bar and determined the best possible approach to deliver the desired outcome. Since it was a collaborative project, we worked closely with the cabinet maker to come up with a suitable joinery design where we could install smart lighting within the feature wall boxes to accentuate the wine bottles.
The next step was to negotiate with the wine fridge manufacturer to alter the fridge lighting so we could integrate it with the lighting control system. Once these arrangements were finalised, we proceeded to the pre-wiring phase, installing power and lighting cables through the walls and preparing the site for joinery and wine fridge installation.
3. Off-Site Arrangements
4. Final Installation
After making the final arrangements and sourcing the required materials, we returned to the site to carry out the installation work. Our home automation electricians installed the control board and LED strip lights, and wired the new lighting control system to the wine fridges. We also made some modifications to the existing programming of the original theatre room. The new setup accommodated for smart lighting automation with the ability to adjust or dim extra lights as needed. This also enabled the client to stream his favourite music according to his mood.
The Challenges That We Overcame
Here are some of the challenges that we faced and overcame successfully:
As it was a retrofit project, we had to ensure that we caused minimal damage to the existing system while making the alterations, thus limiting the repair work.
The original wiring facilitated the home theatre automation, so we had to utilise the wireless lighting system to locally control the relay board as hardwiring the lighting control system was not possible at this stage.
Since we had previously worked on this property, we were well aware of the limitations that could arise while wiring and protecting the power circuits for the wine fridges due to the hard-to-access location of the switchboard.
Lastly, to get the approval and not void the warranty of the wine fridge manufacturer, we had to provide him with a design indicating all the alterations that we wanted to make within the fridge lighting circuit.
If We Could Start This Project From The Beginning, What Would We Have Done Differently?
Top Three Things We Are Most Proud Of
After overcoming all the major obstacles, we were finally able to deliver the finished product to the client, and seeing him overjoyed with the amazing results made us proud of the work that we did. We managed to make alterations to the fridge lighting control according to the client’s specifications, ensuring no damage was caused to the wine fridges themselves.
Overall, it was an outstanding opportunity to be a part of this project. Creating a wine bar design and retrofitting it into the existing system was a true demonstration of our expertise in the field. This was only made possible thanks to the creative thinking of our team members who left no stone unturned to bring the client’s vision to reality.
