Nowadays, building or purchasing a smart home is what everyone is talking about. In a smart home, you can have your blinds going up and letting that morning sunlight in, home speakers playing your favorite music and the coffee maker brewing your cup of coffee all from the comfort of your bed or couch.
With home automation installation, there is increased efficiency, and you also have the freedom to customize all your electrical gadgets to suit your preferences. Here are some of the common ways you can build a convenient smart home;
Smart Lighting
This is the entry point for most people who are working on smart home construction. You want to be able to turn on and off your lights, change their colors or regulate their brightness level all from your phone.
This means you don’t need to get up every time you need to switch on or off the lights; you can use an app on your phone to get it all done. The great thing about smart lighting is that it can be achieved without the need for a central hub to regulate it.
Smart lighting involves using bulbs that can communicate over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, depending on your preference. Bulbs from LIFX, TP-Link, and Cree communicate over Wi-Fi, while other bulbs such as the new Philips Hue Bulbs can be connected via Bluetooth in your mobile phone.
These smart bulbs can be controlled by mobile apps on your Smartphone, tablet, or even iPad. If you already have lights on your ceilings controlled by a switch, you might need to change that to smart switches to integrate the lights with your mobile phone.
Smart Speakers
What is more convenient for your home than speakers integrated with digital voice assistants and can receive commands from you and act accordingly? The Amazon Echo and Google Home Series are leading when it comes to manufacturing smart speakers.
The best thing about these smart speakers is that they come with integrated digital assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant, which you can interact with.
With the help of these digital voice assistants, you can command everything in your home from the security cameras, smart lights, and displaying the feed you need on your smart TV.
Smart Thermostats
During your smart home construction, you have to think about heating and cooling needs, and this is exactly where smart thermostats come in. Smart thermostats can deliver comfort and energy savings to any smart home, which is cheaper than regular thermostats.
Smart thermostats can detect when your home needs to use the HVAC systems and when it does not. Smart thermostats can detect a certain drop or rise in temperature in particular rooms in your house and control your HVAC system accordingly.
Some of the newest trends on smart thermostats include the ability to detect when you’re not home and only operating the HVAC systems when you get back.
Another smart thermostat trend is that now you can put seniors in your rooms you occupy frequently, and it will regulate temperatures in these rooms. This is better than overworking HVAC systems based on their location in the house.
Smart Home Security Cameras
Home automation installation is not complete without the inclusion of quality home security cameras to keep an eye on your home. Smart home security cameras are very important, more so if you have small children and pets or you travel regularly.
They can help you monitor the kids when you’re not around and act as a watchful eye when you’re not around. Some smart home security cameras also come with a doorbell that helps you monitor any movement at your entrance doors.
Smart home cameras also provide you with a real-time feed to help you interact with your visitors when you’re busy inside.
Smart Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
The regular smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are known to have an alarm that alerts you if there are traces of smoke or fire. However, these devices can be a bit redundant if there is no one at home to hear the alarm, and it could lead to damages before someone else could hear it.
Smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors advance this technology by integrating the system with your Smartphone. This means if any smoke or fire is detected in your home, you’ll get an alert on your phone so that you can act accordingly.
Final Thoughts
Building a smart home is one of the most valuable investments you could ever make in your life. However, it’s important to get smart devices easily compatible with the commonly used smart homes hubs.
This will ensure that you can control all your smart home devices under a single user interface on your Smartphone.
If you are still feeling a little muddled up and looking for some help, then check out my Smart Home in 8 Weeks course designed to take you from zero to a fully integrated smart home!