Published September 2020 | Updated April 2024
Written by Level Home Staff
Level lock review with Dana Hamel
Dana Hamel is an award-winning designer in Beverly Hills. His clients come to him with all kinds of projects, ranging in design from contemporary to traditional and everything in between. Throughout his 20 years of professional interior design experience, one must-have element has remained consistent across all of his clients: a design that serves all of their practical purposes while remaining uncompromisingly beautiful.
To deliver on that necessity, every choice a designer makes needs to work in concert together. Once all of the practical criteria are met for a home, the materials they select must integrate seamlessly into the home.
"Not compromising the integrity of the design is something all successful designers stand strong on. Especially in the home."
That uncompromising approach is especially true in the design of Dana’s own home, a 100-year old bungalow in Southern California that is steeped in the Spanish architecture tradition. When Dana told us he was remodeling his home and currently focusing on his front door, we jumped at the chance to have a designer of his caliber give us his view on the Level Lock.
“I originally just thought it would be cool to have an understanding of when people came and went.”
But it wasn’t long before Dana realized something was different. Something had changed.
As an in-demand designer he is constantly on the go. Many times this means driving to multiple sites back-to-back. It’s fast-paced and non-stop, which makes it easy to lose track of the little things, like keys.
“There have been times when I’ve had to call my neighbors to ask them to check if my front door was locked because I’d rushed out of the house in a distracted state.”
He had one of these moments after installing the Level Lock. But this time he didn’t call his neighbors or rush back home. To find out if he’d remembered to lock his door, he simply took out his phone and opened the app.
“When I could confirm with the app that I had locked the door, I suddenly felt this wave of relief. It’s the kind of peace of mind that is life changing.”
Dana soon noticed he was shackled to his keys in other areas of his life too. His office. His car.
“I now get frustrated when I have to pull out my keys for other locks.”
While Dana initially tested the Level Lock through the eyes of a professional designer, he soon began to personally appreciate the experience it offered as an everyday user. He moved through space more freely and it became an indispensable aspect of his life.
“Makes me wonder - how did I live without this before?”
