The idea of owning a “smart home” used to seem like an extravagant impossibility. Recently, however, it’s not only become reality, it’s also a major focus for the tech and home building industries. In an effort to serve modern homeowners, software developers and engineers are coming up with more and more ways to make a home work harder for the people who live there.
Today there are hundreds of different smart products you can utilize in your home, which can make it feel overwhelming to get started. Here is a room-by-room overview of our Smart Home Package – the foundation that we set for you at Schuber Mitchell – and how you can expand upon it to make your home that much smarter!
Kitchen
In a place where so much work is done, it is nice to have an extra set of virtual hands to help out! Smart assistants are devices that can access information and perform tasks for you, making them the perfect addition to any kitchen space. These devices can tell you what step comes next in your recipe, set timers for what’s in the oven, and even place a grocery delivery order without you ever having to put down your project.
Here at Schuber Mitchell, we give our buyers the choice between Google Home or Amazon Alexa assistants, so that you can choose which platform will serve you and connect with your existing devices best!
Take it a step further
Beyond being an awesome helper in the kitchen, a smart assistant device can also connect with smaller satellite devices placed in different rooms. For Google, these are called Nest Minis . For Amazon, these are called Echo Dots . Installing these can take the voice command capabilities from just the kitchen to other rooms in the home as well!
Living Room
One of the simplest ways that we make our homes smarter is by including what we call a “smurf tube” – AKA, a recessed audio/video box and cord path behind the drywall in your living room. The tube runs from above the mantle of your fireplace down to the cable box, allowing you to mount the TV above the fireplace with no cords showing.
Take it a step further
If you want even more smart capabilities in your living room, check out the Samsung Frame TV. Like the smurf tube, it protects the beauty of your living room by appearing to be art when the TV is off. When you are ready to watch, the TV turns on with a glare-free QLED display. The smartest part of all is that the Frame TV also has both Amazon and Google voice assistants built in, so it will integrate seamlessly with the smart assistants in your home.
Bedroom
There is nothing worse than getting all comfy and cozy in bed, then realizing that you want to change the thermostat. Our Smart Home Package includes an Ecobee smart thermostat that can be changed from any smartphone or watch to your desired temperature.
Take it a step further
Just in case you are seriously comfy and don’t want to reach for your phone, Ecobee also offers SmartSensors that can receive voice commands. They come in packs of two and can be placed in different rooms so that you can experience this convenience throughout your home.
Laundry Room
We all know the feeling of carrying a load of laundry that is way too big and doing everything that we can not to lose any socks on the way to the laundry room. To make this chore a little bit easier, SMH includes a motion detecting light in the laundry room. That way, if your hands happen to be full, you won’t have to worry about finding the light switch.
Take it a step further
If integrated lighting sounds like something that would interest you, check out Phillips Hue . These smart lights can not only be set to change with motion detection, they can also connect to your smart assistant to receive voice commands. To top it all off, you can change the color and intensity of the lights to create the perfect ambiance throughout the home.
Exterior
Your smart home wouldn’t be complete without integrating the exterior as well. Our Smart Home Package includes your choice of a Ring or Nest video doorbell , along with a wifi-enabled garage door opener . The doorbell will allow you to preview visitors at the door, and record activity happening on your porch, while the garage door opener will allow you to control and monitor your garage door with a smartphone no matter where you are.
Take it a step further
Keep the your home safe from the inside out with a smart home security system. SimpliSafe is compatible with both Google and Alexa so arming your home is just a voice command away.
This is scratching the surface of smart home capabilities, but the basics are all here! We think our Smart Home Package gives buyers the very best launching pad to customize their homes’ capabilities. Read more about Smart Home Package and other home features here.
Call one of our New Home Advisors to learn more about what we have to offer.
