Imagine a home where you turn lights on and off without flipping a switch. Imagine a house where you receive weather updates without searching the internet. Imagine a home where robots do labor-intensive tasks for you. What looks like something out of science fiction is actually becoming 21st-century reality.
With all the latest, innovative technology coming to the market day after day, it makes sense to apply it to your home. Companies introduce products, such as display assistants, smart locks, and automated refrigerators, making it practical for homeowners to turn their house into a ‘smart’ home. Incorporating smart technology into a home not only makes everyday life more convenient, but it also increases the price of a home when it is time to sell it.
The smart home movement is taking the home improvement market by storm. Here is our list of easy steps you can do to make your home smarter.
1. Get smart speakers for your main hangouts.
It’s easily to get overwhelmed by the sheer variety of smart home devices out in the market today. Get started by purchasing smart speakers for your living room, den, patio, or other popular hangouts around your house. The Sonos One smart speaker supports popular voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google (News - Alert) Assistant. It also delivers superior sound quality and voice assistant access across your home and backyard.
2. Swap your lighting with smart lights.
Do you wish you could change the colors or tones of your lights in an instant? Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could switch your lights on and off with a voice command or even a gesture? Adjust your lighting to your needs at different times of the day with smart lights. Yeelight smart LED bulbs are a popular and affordable choice.
3. Get a smart thermostat.
Turn on your air conditioning even before you step inside the house. Control the thermostat without reaching for the dials or remote control. Adjust your thermostat preferences throughout the day and get valuable insights your energy usage with smart thermostat controls. The Ecobee Smart Thermostat with Voice Control is highly recommended.
4. Keep everything neat with a robot vacuum.
Robot vacuums are the most recognizable of all the smart devices. But in spite of their small size, it doesn’t mean they’re expensive, yet inefficient, specially if you have pets at home. Robot vacuums such as the Roomba can be programmed to run almost autonomously and to clean the house at particular times of the day. You can even set it to clean while you’re out of the house. The Roomba, in particular, learns to find the most efficient way to vacume pet hair and dust in a room while not damaging the furniture. Find which is the best robot vacuum for pet hair to keep your house clean and tidy!
5. Add smarts to appliances with smart plugs.
Transforming your traditional home into a smart dwelling can take time. For one, you can let easily go of perfectly functioning appliances that may not necessarily have the smart features you’re looking for. In such cases, add some smart to your appliances, like your coffee maker, lamps, and TV, with smart plugs, outlets, or sockets. With these smart devices in place, commanding your air conditioner to turn on would certainly be a whole lot easier.
6. Keep an eye on your house with smart cameras.
Most telecommunications providers now offer family cameras and dashboards, but why limit yourself to what these companies offer? Keep an eye on your front door, backyard, and children’s bedrooms with smart cameras. The Nest Cam streams full high-definition wide-angle video to your smartphone or computer. It also sends notifications directly to your smartphone if the camera detects anything suspicious.
7. Track your home’s safety.
Keep your home safe from disasters within its four walls. There are a multitude of smart devices available—like wireless switches and air quality monitors—to ensure that your house is safe and sound even while you’re away. Belkin’s WeMo switch, for example, can wirelessly turn off and on electronic devices. The Awair air quality monitor, on the other hand, checks for allergens and pollutants and advises on how to improve overall air quality.
8. Monitor everything with the right smart hub and assistant.
A home full of the latest technology will be impractical to manage and of little use if the owner cannot control it. To help you manage all the apps, notifications, and settings of your different smart devices, consider investing in three valuable items: a 2-in-1 laptop, a smart hub, and a smart assistant.
The best 2 in 1 laptops offer new physical software features, like touchscreen displays, detachable screens, and multiple user profiles or modes, which most laptop owners can only dream of. These laptops give you several different form factors in one device. With such versatility, you don’t have to switch to another device. Instead, you can simply flip your 2-in-1 to another mode to play an online game or stream video. It also means a lighter load in your backpack and less strain on your wallet.
With a virtual assistant like Apple’s (News - Alert) Siri or Amazon’s Alexa, you can control your smart home products through verbal commands. Hubs like the Wink Connected Home Hub are also simple and affordable devices that allow you to manage a digital home.
Making a home a smart home has never been easier with the wide range of technologies available to both businesses and consumers. Many devices come in price ranges that appeal to any homeowner. By making a home smart, you can save on electricity bills, feel safe and at ease, and boost the home’s asking and selling price. It’s also an amusing way to excite your friends and family.
