The 15 Best Home Automation Ideas for Your Smart House
If you want to turn your house into a smart house, then check out this blog for the 15 best home automation ideas to upgrade your house.
Imagine a home that anticipates your needs and meets them before you even step foot in the door. A new style of living that blends into your daily routine. An in-home experience that meets your preferences and expectations, all at the touch of a button.
2019 will be the “year” of the smart home, as it’s expected that 1.8 billion automated home devices will get purchased.
Smart homes offer added security, comfort, and efficiency. So which features are best? Read on for the top 15 new home automation ideas.
Now, imagine if your home was able to…
1. Send You Security Notifications
Yes, all security systems protect your home while you’re away. But a smart home can sense motion, alerting you of any change in activity. If anything seems amiss, you will receive notifications right to your phone.
Your home can also act on your behalf when you’re not there. It can lock doors or greet visitors through an interactive doorbell camera feature. You can even respond to them in real-time, which can be helpful to communicate with delivery men.
Another cool automation feature is “lived-in” security function. This can ward off intruders by acting like someone is home. Your lights, tv, and radio will flick on and off.
A safe home leaves you and your family with a peace of mind. Here are a few other home security options to keep you safe.
2. Tell You That You Left the Garage Door Open
Did you forget to close the garage door when you left for work this morning? With home automation, you can leave this anxiety behind.
You can operate your garage door when away from home. This is helpful for deliveries, as you don’t have to leave packages at the front door. It’s easy to let in a neighbor, dog walker, or babysitter.
Alerts will also let you know if a front or back door has been left open. Or you can set your garage to automatically close if it’s open for a certain amount of time.
3. Light Your Way Home After Work
Another late night at the office? For added safety, turn on landscaping lights before you pull in the driveway. Your home will further welcome you by turning on all the light’s inside.
This cool automation feature goes both ways. Before leaving for work in the morning, you can turn off all your lights as you head out the door. Or control lighting from the comfort of your car or desk.
Trigger lights to turn on and off as you move from room to room in your home. This technique works well with night lights. You won’t disturb sleeping family members during your bathroom break or midnight snack raid.
Landscaping lights can also be in sync with the sun’s natural patterns. Set them to turn off with sunrise, and on during sunset.
4. Start Your Shower Before You Wake Up
There are no cold showers in a smart home. Your shower wakes up before you do and sets the water to your preferred temperature and pressure. You can even program different settings for different family members.
Smart shower heads are also great at conserving and filtering water. You can even program your shower fan to automatically turn on (and back off) when it senses high humidity levels.
5. Mimic a Real Movie Theater Experience
People pay to go to the movies for the ambiance and larger than life screen. With an automated home theater system, you can have the same experience.
Stream a new release as your seats recline and the lights dim. Sync your sound system for exceptional audio quality, like in the movies.
You can even have an app help you pop the popcorn. It will analyze the heat of your kernels to make sure you don’t burn the bag.
6. Monitor the Weather Before Turning Your Sprinklers On
Will today be a scorcher or thunderstorm all day?
A smart sprinkler system will read the weather report and act on your behalf. It can shut off when rain is in the forecast, helping to conserve water.
Moisture sensors in your soil can also measure whether you need to run the sprinkler system.
7. Give You a Warm Welcome Home
Before you get home for the day, your home automation system can adjust the inside temperature to your liking. Or it can cool it back down on a hot summer day.
You can also control temperatures in individual rooms of the house. This is helpful when you’ve been cooking in the kitchen all day and need to cool things down.
A smart thermostat can monitor energy levels, and reduce your energy consumption by up to 30%. It can close blinds and curtains when the sun’s glare is strong, conserving energy further. Your home can also remind you when it’s time to change those filters.
Eco-friendly home automation ideas, such as the Savant home automation system, can reduce your energy bills. Learn more about why green living is on the rise, and other ways to contribute.
8. Monitor Pet Behavior and Feed Fido
60% of people own a pet and can use smart home technology to keep their animals happy and healthy.
Features include pet monitoring and interactive cameras. Use remote access to entertain pets with interactive lasers or operate pet doors. You can even dispense treats when Fido’s been a good boy.
When you are away from home, use an ecobee geofence feature. This ensures your motion sensors won’t pick up pet movement and trigger an alarm. The feature uses thermal energy to tell the difference between people and pets.
You can also use geolocation features when your dog is playing outdoors. It will ensure your four-legged friend stays in the yard.
9. Detect Safety Hazards
Insurance companies are on board with smart home technology, because it can prevent home hazards.
A smart home can detect leaks, and even turn off your water to prevent damage. It can monitor carbon monoxide levels and send you an alert to contact emergency services.
Smoke, cooking fire, and moisture sensors can increase the safety or your home. Smart batteries can send you notifications when they need replacing. This is a better alternative than emitting a high-pitched beep for hours on end.
10. Get the Party Started
It’s Friday night and you forget that you’re having a dinner party after work. Smart home technology to the rescue.
Your home can set the mood with the perfect playlist and ambient lighting. It can even start your hot tub so it’s the perfect temperature when guests arrive.
To set the scene further program outdoor string lights to turn on. Your summer nights and weekends will be full of entertaining, so here are more ways to enhance your backyard living space.
11. Sync up Your Morning Coffee with a Playlist
How do you wish you could begin each day? How about with the smell of fresh coffee brewing while your perfect morning playlist pulses through your speakers.
As you get ready for work, control audio settings and stream different playlists in different rooms. This will ensure each family member wakes up on the right side of the bed.
You can even link your phone to what’s playing on your grand piano (if you happen to own one). You won’t miss a thing as the little ones practice their piano lessons.
12. Begin a Goodnight Routine
As you’re washing the dishes and putting away leftovers, let your home set the stage for a good night’s sleep.
The lighting will dim and baby’s favorite lullaby will play from the nursery. The sound machine or night light can also activate.
The only thing that’s left for you to do is to read the bedtime story. Unless you want Alexa to do that of course.
Routines can also be set for different times of the day or different family members. Alarms, lights, and temperature adjustments can all be controlled through one convenient system.
13. Tell You When the Laundry’s Done
Family laundry, it always seems to be an afterthought. You end up with wet clothes sitting in the washer for hours. Or have to re-fluff your clothes dozens of times.
Smart washers and dryers will alert you when the laundry’s done. Or if you’re looking for a cheap home automation feature, you can set your phone to coordinate with your washer and send you an alert.
Certain models allow you to remote control your laundry cycles. So you can start or pause laundry while away, or upstairs. It will also monitor usage, and set a laundry cycle to “quiet mode” when people are home.
14. Notify You That Your Mail’s Delivered
Say you don’t have a dog that barks every time the mailman stops by. So you’re often clueless that “you’ve got mail.”
You can make your mailbox smarter by adding a mail delivery notification. A simple sensor in your mailbox notices when the mailman opens your box and then sends you an alert. This will save you endless trips outside when you’re waiting for important packages in the mail.
15. Keep the Kids out of Trouble
Thanks to smart home technology you can always have an eye in the sky, and on your kids.
Use motion sensors to keep teenagers out of the liquor cabinet. You’ll receive an alert if it seems like someone is trying to break in for a nightcap. This smart feature will put a damper on any house party plans when you’re out of town.
If you own firearms, it’s a smart idea to sensor your gun cabinet as well.
Home Automation Ideas to Fit Your Lifestyle
Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Savant, Nest, Wink Hub, WeMo smartthings…
With so many systems, devices and interfaces on the market, it’s important to research home automation ideas to fit your lifestyle.
Things can get pricey. So, if you don’t have the budget to integrate a full system, consider adding smart home technology piece by piece. But be sure to invest in products that interface together.
Your home is an extension of your lifestyle. From smart home features to rearranging furniture, there are many ways to add comfort and convenience. Learn more about other ways to improve the living spaces in your home.