The thought of a “smart home” may invoke images of the Jetsons or Star Trek. The truth is, many of the modern smart tech options can be seamlessly integrated into your existing space with little to no change in the look of your home.
Here are several subtle-yet-impactful ways that you can outfit your home with smart gadgets in order to benefit from their numerous helpful uses.
Home Essentials
Let’s start with the essentials. Here are some of the ways that smart tech can revolutionize your home’s functionality and maintenance concerns.
1. Lighting
Smart light bulbs, lamps, and power strips have made it easy to control your lights remotely, from presets and dimmers to even remotely turning on or off the lights while you’re away.
2. Heating and Cooling
Smart thermostats have been around for a while now. They allow a homeowner to remotely adjust the temperature of the home at the touch of a button. In addition, many newer models can learn and adapt to homeowner behavior to keep the home comfortable in an efficient, eco-friendly manner.
3. Appliances
From microwaves to washing machines, refrigerators, and even grills, there are plenty of smart appliances that can increase your home’s efficiency and take a large portion of work out of cooking, dishwashing, laundry, and other appliance-focused activities.
4. Cleaning
If you feel like you need a hand with the household chores, a smart vacuum can make it easy to keep the floors spotless day in and day out.
5. Lawn Care
You can keep your lawn neatly cut with a smart lawnmower and make sure the lawn gets watered regularly with a remote smart sprinkler controller system.
6. Smart Plugs and Power Strips
Along with specific devices and appliances, there are many smart plugs and power strips that can regulate the power consumption and on and off functionality even for “dumb” devices. Just make sure to keep those cords tucked away in a safe, inconspicuous place.
Smart Entertainment
Along with the basics, smart tech has streamlined entertainment in countless ways.
7. Speakers
There are many different smart home gadgets that can improve your home’s audio capabilities, from Bluetooth speakers to full-blown home assistant systems.
8. Smart Televisions
In the past, a television had to be connected to an external apparatus like a VCR, a DVD player, or a streaming device to operate properly. Now, smart TVs can do all of the work on their own, from connecting to the WIFI to pausing in the middle of a movie.
Security Systems
Smart technology can also help to keep your home safe in multiple ways, such as using a doorbell camera or smart door locks. If you do choose to utilize these smart home technologies, though, it’s important to take the necessary precautions to guard the tech itself against hackers or any other unwelcome intruders.
9. Surveillance systems
From mounted security cameras to doorbell assistants, there are many smart devices that allow you to keep tabs of who is trying to get in and out of your home. They can also often provide a speaker that lets you respond to guests and visitors directly through your smart device.
10. Door locks
While cameras are helpful to identify strangers, smart door locks are that extra line of defense that keeps them out of your home. They also enable you to lock and unlock your home even after you’ve left the premises.
Bringing Your Home into the Future
Whether you’re looking to simplify a single activity like regulating your home’s temperature or you’re interested in setting up an entire Smart Living Ecosystem, there is a myriad of different technologies available to help.
The best part is, most of these options don’t dramatically alter the appearance of your home but still enable you to feel like the king or queen of the castle as you control your living space on your smartphone from the comfort of your favorite armchair.
Author Bio: Noah Rue is a freelance writer.
