The couple said they use the house "like a neighborhood."
"If we want to go to the movies," said Diane, "we head downstairs to the entertainment center. If we want to go to a bar or play pool, we also head downstairs. Michael has an office here and a library, and there's also an exercise room and sauna."
All of this works as an enticement to bring Michael's three adult children back to Maine for visits.
The main floor consists of a large open living room with two spacious seating areas and a spot for a piano that's integrated into the audio system; a large foyer; a formal dining room; a cozy, paneled library; and immense kitchen with eating area and family room with attached screened porch. There are five fireplaces -- two woodburning, and three gas.
There are three bedrooms and the master suite on the second level. The entertainment room, office, and wine cellar are on the lower level.The house also has an elevator with a phone, and the shaft serves as a main artery for all the wiring as it descends from the upper floors to the electronic heart or control room with its banks of equipment racks.
Although the three touch panels can be carried from room to room, they are most often used in the entertainment room, the kitchen, and the master suite.
"I keep one of the touch panels down here," said Michael, showing off his home video theater with its racks of equipment containing DVD, VCR, cable box, DSS (satellite receivers and all the other electronic components to make up the audio/video system. "We can change the lighting down here depending on what we are watching -- dimmer light for movies, more light for television."
Coded buttons
Lighting buttons are labeled according to activities -- reading, cooking, entertaining, movies, and general illumination.
The security system has fire, gas, and motion detectors. And the communications system includes both internal and external communications. The family can communicate internally by telephone from room to room as well as page the entire house -- dinner's ready -- on the intercom system. There are intercoms in every room.
"We also have hot-water pipes under the floor in two of the bathrooms and the kitchen," said Michael. "So I can come downstairs in barefeet in the morning, walk into the kitchen and hit the touch pad and activate the radiant heat in the floor. We don't have a touch pad to make and pour the coffee," he said with a smile.
The weather station on the roof brings the couple current weather information -- humidity, wind speed and direction, and wind chill -- along with historical data such as how much rain has fallen since March 4.
When the couple goes away on vacation, they hit the vacation button and this replays how the lights were used during the previous week. When they are returning , they can call the house and enter a code that will illuminate the driveway or turn on the radiant heat.
The downsides of all this electronic networking?
"The time it takes to teach a new baby sitter how to turn the lights on and off," said Diane.
"I can spend a lot of time showing them around the house and explaining how to work the lights and the thermostats. Molly becomes almost an afterthought. Oh, by the way, Molly goes to bed at this time."
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