When designing your dream home, smart technology is often viewed as aspirational but not always a priority. At Lightwave, we believe that a smart home is something that should augment your life, but it’s not always easy to know where to start. We’re here to help, we want to show you how to create a smart home that’s right for you.
What is a Smart Home?
Smart technology is everywhere - adverts, movies, and television shows offer us a tantalising glimpse into a futuristic world where we are in control of our homes. And that’s exactly what a smart home does; the aim of a modern smart home is to utilise smart technology to make our daily lives easier, safer, and even more environmentally friendly. With faster connection speeds and developments in technology, there has been a boom in developing and creating smart solutions for the home. This has opened up a plethora of opportunities to design a smart home that affords a significant grade of convenience, comfort, and security for all the family. Let’s take a look at how you can start to design your dream smart home today.
Think Carefully About the People Living in Your Smart House
The first step towards designing your dream smart home is to consider the primary needs of each family member. The home is where the heart is - and the family keeps the heart of the home beating. By thinking carefully about the family’s individual needs and daily routines, you can go a long way to create a smart home that benefits everyone. Also remember to take into consideration any pets that you have. The questions below are helpful to brainstorm which smart technologies could save your family time and money.
What is everybody’s morning routine?
You can design unique sunrise and bedtime smart lighting to maintain your family’s health and incorporate energy efficiency at the same time.
Are there different elements to everyone's evening routine?
If you have children, you may need to think about their bedtime routine. For example, do you need to build in a period of study or reading time before they sleep? It is easy to automate the ambience of all bedroom lights with a phone app. This allows you to have complete control over whether the lights are on or off in your child’s bedroom. You could also create a timer to order the lights to turn off at the same time each night, thus creating a reliable routine that helps both parents and children to get a restful night’s sleep.
Is anybody working from home?
It is easy to open your laptop when you wake up and find yourself still in the same position eight hours later. Consider creating simple lighting and sound triggers scheduled throughout the day to remind you to take regular breaks. You could listen to music or a podcast triggered by a voice command to your virtual assistant (such as Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or Apple Homekit) while enjoying the fresh cup of coffee that your coffee machine made for you.
Where will the home be located, and what security measures should be implemented to create an extra layer of peace of mind?
Many smart security solutions can be installed within the house to protect your loved ones. Consider where cameras and motion sensors could be located to act as virtual security guards. You could create a wireless master switch to remotely control the locking of your external doors, house lighting and alarms, for example.
Will you install a home gym?
Especially since the pandemic, many people take satisfaction in being able to take fitness classes from the comfort of their own homes. Maybe you enjoy the gym but find the commute to the health club eats into your busy day. Think about creating innovative heating and lighting automations that shut off the heating during your workouts, switch the lighting to a more ambient setting and get the bathroom ready for a much-deserved shower. You could even commend your smart assistant to set up a ‘Do Not Disturb’ so you can enjoy your workouts in peace.
Plan Room by Room
Once you have thought about all the household members, the next step is to consider your smart house room by room. Take a piece of paper and draw a plan for each room within the home and any outside spaces. This exercise will help you focus and think more logically about how any smart automation can be linked together cost-effectively and conveniently. It is worth considering making the kitchen the central hub of your smart home, it is the most convenient location for smart speakers. The kitchen also tends to be where you come together as a family to eat, socialise, work and relax. Think about the questions below and list all the essential intelligent elements that would assist you in creating a hands-free, stress-free, multi-functional lifestyle.
What is your budget for smart automation?
Does anybody need extra support due to age or physical ability?
Would all the smart components in the house be linked to one central hub?
How would the lights be linked together?
Do you want to install smart speakers into central locations that everybody uses?
Which smart devices would help regulate energy consumption and improve energy efficiency?
Do all the features that you want to incorporate into your smart home work in harmony with each other?
By now you should have an excellent idea about what features to include within the smart home of your dreams. By incorporating innovative technology that takes care of each member of the family, it can help you to create a happy, safe and fun environment. So what are you waiting for? Lightwave is ready and able to help you on the road to turning your dreams into reality.
