How to Design your Home into a Smart Home

Much like every other part of our technological lives, our homes are getting smarter.

19:50 28 April 2021

This is a way of saying that the devices in them are getting progressively more interconnected.

 

You might, with a voice command, dim the lights in the living room, while setting up your favourite documentary to start playing. Similarly, the thermostat in your hallway might command the heating to switch off once it’s identified that there’s no-one in the house at a certain time of day.

 

Creating a ‘smart home’ might mean installing a lot of devices simultaneously. If you’re going to get the best results possible, then it’s essential that you choose devices that are going to be able to talk to one another and be understood. In many cases, this means locking yourself into the same manufacturer. While it’s possible to make Google Assistant and Alexa simultaneously, it does require a little bit of integration.

 

The same can’t be said of inferior knock-off products, with which you’ll likely spend more time struggling. Do your research and invest in something that will actually do the job well.

 

Kitchen

 

The kitchen is home to a range of appliances, each of which might be equipped with smart technology. You might have a wall-mounted smart screen, where recipes and ingredient-lists can be displayed while you’re cooking. The bathroom scales might issue reminders to the fridge that your body fat percentage has been steadily rising over the last month, thereby discouraging you from snacking on chocolate eclairs while no-one’s looking.

 

If you’re planning on investing in a range of new appliances, then it makes sense to do some preparatory groundwork. Get a custom kitchen fitted to make room for the new smart devices, and that’s tailored to the new ways you’ll be using the space.

 

Living Room

 

The living room is usually where the most entertainment connectivity is to be found. A modern smart TV comes equipped with the ability to accept voice commands, and streamed video from your phone. In many cases, you might not be sending video from your phone, but URLs that your television can then interpret. You’ll be able to control all of your apps, whether it’s Youtube, Netflix, Spotify or Amazon Prime Instant Video.

 

Smart Heating

 

Heating is where a smart home can offer considerable efficiency savings. A smart thermostat can be adjusted remotely, and it’s equipped with sophisticated remote controls, so that you can tailor the heating schedule to your precise needs. You might also look for a model with modulating boiler controls. These come in several forms, from the OpenTherm standard to proprietary versions. Make sure that your chosen smart thermostat matches the boiler with which you’ll be pairing it.