Early next year Erica, the scamp, and I are likely to be moving house. As part of the move we would both love to turn this house into a smart home.
Now, when I say “smart home”, I don’t mean this:
We don’t need any holographic dogs. We are however interested in having cameras, lights, audio, screens, and other elements in the house connected and controlled in different ways. I really like the idea of the house being naturally responsive to us in different scenarios.
In other houses I have seen people with custom lighting patterns (e.g. work, party, romantic dinner), sensors on gates that trigger alarms/notifications, audio that follows you around the house, notifications on visible screens, and other features.
Obviously we will want all of this to be (a) secure, (b) reliable, and (c) simple to use. While we want a smart home, I don’t particularly want to have to learn a million details to set it up.
Can you help?
So, this is what we would like to explore.
Now, I would love to ask you folks two questions:
- What kind of smart-home functionality and features have you implemented in your house (in other words, what neat things can you do?)
- What hardware and software do you recommend for rigging a home up as a smarthome. I would ideally like to keep re-wiring to a minimum. Assume I have nothing already, so recommendations for cameras, light-switches, hubs, and anything else is much appreciated.
If you have something you would like to share, please plonk it into the comment box below. Thanks!
