Sunset Hill · Country Club District
Sunset Hill · a mile from the Plaza, and nothing on the walls.
IntegrateIT is a smart home and AV installer serving Sunset Hill in Kansas City, Missouri, a straight drive north of the design center at 15108 Glenwood Ave, Overland Park, close enough that this stays a market we work continuously. Masonry, plaster and original interior millwork set the method: concealed routing through existing chases, lighting control into existing boxes, and architectural speakers finished flush to the ceiling. Control4 Platinum Dealer, Crestron Elite Partner, Lutron Certified Dealer, CEDIA member, HTA Certified. Five-year workmanship warranty. (913) 804-7575.
Walk a mile south of the Plaza and the streets settle into Sunset Hill, one of the stateliest stretches of Kansas City's Country Club District, laid out in the nineteen-tens and twenties and built out in Tudor, Colonial Revival and French Provincial. The houses are masonry and plaster with slate or tile roofs, deep landscaped lots and interior millwork that nobody wants touched. Neighborhood homes associations keep the streetscape consistent. Our design center in Overland Park is a straight drive south on the Kansas side, close enough that this stays a retrofit market we work continuously rather than occasionally.
Installing in Sunset Hill
What is different about Sunset Hill houses
Installing in Sunset Hill is different because the finishes are the asset. Plaster over lath cracks in sheets when it is fished carelessly, original fire blocking stops a drop halfway down a wall, and the millwork in these houses cannot be replaced convincingly. So we route from the basement up and the attic down, use closet stacks and butler's-pantry chases, and accept wireless lighting in rooms where a switch leg cannot be reached cleanly. Every proposed opening is shown to the owner on the walk before any tool comes out.
The exterior is as sensitive as the interior. Masonry and slate mean a surface-mounted camera or a bracket on the stone is close to permanent, so placement is decided once, at grade or under eaves, and cable routed through existing penetrations wherever they exist. Landscape lighting and buried audio go in with the plantings rather than after. The general rule on these houses is that anything visible has to look like it was specified by the architect, not added by a contractor.
Tall, dry basements in this vintage make excellent equipment rooms and often decent media rooms. Massive foundation walls isolate sound well, but ceiling height, ductwork and mechanicals decide whether the room takes projection or a large display, and moisture decides whether a rack can live there at all. Upstairs, architectural speakers that finish flush and keypads chosen to match the original hardware do more for these rooms than any additional capability. The goal is a house that behaves modern and reads unchanged.
The kind of work we do in Sunset Hill
- 01
Concealed retrofit wiring routed around original plaster and period millwork
- 02
Lighting control with keypad finishes matched to original hardware
- 03
Whole-home audio using architectural speakers finished flush to the ceiling
What we install in Sunset Hill
The full integration stack — designed to disappear.
Before you call anyone in Sunset Hill
We wrote down the parts most people learn the expensive way.
How to choose a home automation company
The questions worth asking before you sign with anyone — including us. What a dealer tier actually buys you, and what happens in year four.
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Lutron HomeWorks vs Control4 lighting
Written by a dealer authorized for both. Which one fits depends on the house rather than the budget — here is the framework.
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The 25-year home tech plan
A kitchen from 2002 is still a kitchen. An automation system from 2002 is in a landfill. That asymmetry is a design choice.
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Questions from Sunset Hill homeowners
Can you wire this house without damaging the plaster or the woodwork?
- That is the design brief here, and it drives the method. Cable comes from the basement and the attic rather than through the middle of a wall, closet stacks handle the vertical work, and rooms we cannot reach cleanly get wireless lighting instead of an opened wall. Every proposed penetration is walked with you first. We would rather revise the plan than repair original plaster.
Will the keypads look wrong next to the original hardware?
- Not if they are chosen carefully. Lutron keypads come in finishes and engraving options that sit correctly beside period switch plates and door hardware, and we select them with your designer rather than from a default. Where a room cannot take a keypad gracefully, the scene runs on a schedule or from a phone and the wall stays as the architect left it.
Is the basement a good place for a theater or the rack?
- Usually for the rack, sometimes for the theater. These basements are tall and their masonry walls isolate sound well, but ductwork, mechanicals and ceiling height decide between projection and a large display, and moisture decides whether equipment can live there safely. We measure and check both on the walk before recommending a room.
How do cameras work on a masonry house with slate?
- Carefully and permanently. A bracket on stone or slate is not something to reposition later, so placement is settled once, generally at grade or under eaves, using existing penetrations where they exist. Coverage is planned around your entries and drive with the aim set on site. Recording stays at the house and joins the same interface as the lighting and audio.
We also serve
Sunset Hill consultation
Tell us about your Sunset Hill project.
Consultations are by appointment. We'll spend an hour walking through your space, talking about how you live, and sketching what's possible — at no cost, no pitch.