Home Automation – How to Bring Your Home Into the 21st Century

Upgrading your home isn’t just about not wanting to appear out of touch when your neighbours pop round. Smart tech can put you in control of your bills, reduce your property’s environmental footprint and provide a talking point at dull dinner parties. From voice activated appliances to the gadgets that wise up your waste and the robots that ace the chores, increasingly tech is taking care of our life admin, so all we have to worry about is whether our WiFi connection can handle the extra load.

Gadgets That’ll Save You Pennies (After the Initial Splurge)

It’s 2019, which means your smart home wouldn’t be complete without a smart thermostat. Beyond a not-at-all yawn inducing conversation starter, the main reason for installing a smart thermostat is to slash your energy wastage and lower your bills. After a week of ‘living’ in your home, Google’s clever Nest device will adjust the temperature of your house according to your habits. Plus, the motion sensor detects when people have left your pad, meaning you don’t have to fret over whether you’ve left the heating on or not. Worried about your carbon footprint? You can keep an eye on your energy usage via the app, which will also learn how to help you save. Lucky enough to have 20 rooms and a second property? The Nest can control them all.

“Google’s clever Nest device will adjust the temperature of your house according to your habits.”

Gadgets to Promote Wellbeing That Are More Wholesome Than Your Nana’s Cooking

Clever thermostats aren’t just about saving energy, some can even save lives (or at least monitor and clean the air that sustains life). While many London dwellers are rightly concerned about outside pollution, a recent study found that air pollution is more than three times worse indoors. When you’ve run out of space for air purifying plants, invest in an Awair Glow. Not only does it track all the nasties (toxic VOCs released by burning gas, wood, coal and cigarettes and climate-wrecking carbon dioxide), it’s also in tune with your home’s humidity and temperature levels. While other monitors just highlight the problem, Awair Glow offers solutions. For example, if plugged into a fan or dehumidifier, it will switch them on when pollution levels are high. Pair with a smart air purifier and allergy sufferers will soon be breathing easy.

Getting a good night’s kip just got a lot easier thanks to a whole host of tech innovations surrounding the humble mattress, including one created by car maker Ford to keep “selfish sleepers” on their side of the bed. If you’d rather be cradled than controlled, there’s also the Bryte smart bed. Launched in April this year, the bed’s sensors are so in tune with the human body they can adjust the temperature between the sheets, provide support to various body parts and even rock you to sleep. Some have questioned the intrusive nature of a smart bed but we say bring on the duvet days. 

Gadgets That Are Good for Your Home and the Planet

Fed up of the weekend fridge purge when half your groceries are relocated to the bin? Ovie Smarterwear’s Kickstarter-funded range of internet-connected Tupperware allows you to keep track of your food’s lifespan. Once you’ve tagged the contents of your fridge, you can plan your meals according to a simple traffic light system. A freshly tagged item will have a green tag, while yellow means you better put this in a recipe pronto and a red tag means you should chuck the item (into a compost or food waste bin obviously). Stuck for recipe ideas? As well as keeping track of the contents of your fridge, the Alexa-compatible app will suggest meal ideas based on what you’ve got in stock. 

“Once you’ve tagged the contents of your fridge, you can plan your meals according to a simple traffic light system.”

If you’re someone who uses the #foodporn hashtag on the reg, you might prefer the Smarter Fridge Cam. Every time you close the door, its wide angle lens captures what’s inside. Though the results probably aren’t Insta-worthy, having a visual inventory of your groceries will come in handy next time you’re in a supermarket and you forgot to write a list (again), or when you’re trying to suss out who used all the milk and put the empty bottle back. With research suggesting UK households bin the equivalent of £500’s worth of food every year, splashing out on food-waste-reducing tech now could help you make savings in the long run.

Gadgets for the Style-Conscious

How many functions has your bed-side lamp got? If its only purpose is to ensure you don’t trip over your stuff when you need the loo in the pitch black of night, then my friend, you need to get with the times. IKEA regulars will know you can now furnish your home with a sleek phone-charging lamp, while party people can opt for the lamp that will pump out your fave tunes from disguised Sonos speakers. If you’re feeling flash, you can even pair the lamp’s sound system with IKEA’s bookshelf speaker. (The great thing about Sonos is the speakers can be used individually or synced for seamless listening between rooms.) Designed for people who don’t want their digital devices to spoil their decor, the range is part of IKEA’s wireless charging furniture collection, which also provides an antidote to the universally-felt panic of having low battery and no plug sockets free.  

“the speakers can be used individually or synced for seamless listening between rooms.”

All this talk of tech got you thinking about how to make the most out of your property? Drop us a message on the contact details below.

mark@daviesdavies.co.uk – Sales Manager (contact for sales, new homes and surveying)
alex@daviesdavies.co.uk – Lettings Manager (contact for lettings and property management)

020 7272 0986
Davies & Davies Estate Agents, 85 Stroud Green Road, London, N4 3EG

Article by Kyra Hanson at Barefaced Studios

Photography by Odera Okoye at Barefaced Studios