10 Smart Home Remodeling Ideas

Home Improvement • Karen • 0 Comments

Remodeling your home is always a good time to add some genious inventions and add-ons that make your home not only look more beautiful, but that make life a bit more easy. So why not take the chance and add some smart home solutions to your planned project?

So what exactly are those smart solutions we’re talking about?

Generally speaking, any type of appliance that helps you do things easier or more effective is a smart solution.

But the more contemporary definition of smart home solutions goes a step further – smart solutions are those that make use of technology in some way, shape or form to help you do things easier and make your home more secure.

Still not sure what we are talking about? No worries, just read on and everything will become a lot clearer. And on top of that, you will get a bunch of great smart home remodelling ideas that will ultimately make your life a lot easier and a lot more fun!

USB Outlets

Let’s start out with the easiest (and probably most useful on a daily basis) smart remodeling idea.

If you are anything like us, you are juggling at least three devices needing USB-chargers at any given time. And this can be a constant source of frustration if you find yourself wanting to charge your phone next to your bed over night, but your adapter plug is in use charging your smart watch in the living room. Or whatever.

The smart solution to this dilemma is as easy as it is cheap – instead of investing in a multi-port USB charger that will invariably end up in another room anyway, re-fit your power outlets with USB outlets.

Basically, those outlets allow for USB and “normal” outlets sitting side by side, or exchange little used “normal” power outlets for USB outlets.

Home Automaton System

Before you start out with thoroughly planning and searching for those smart appliances you want to use in your home remodeling, you should think about the one thing that connects them all – your home automaton system.

Basically, this is the hub that allows you to control your smart appliances, and while this sounds like a big, costly investment, in most cases it really isn’t.

In fact, it is highly likely that you already have such a system at your disposal!

Most contemporary voice control assistants, like the Amazon Echo for example, are up to the task of being connected to most smart solutions (for example via the Control4 home automaton system). There are, of course, dedicated “professional” solutions that basically fulfill the same task, but in 9 out of 10 cases you’ll do just fine with a voice control assistant and some smartphone app(s).

Built-In Speakers

This smart remodeling idea seems so obvious and is still something most of us would just overlook while planning our remodeling project: add built-in speakers to your home!

There’s nothing more annoying than having to find the perfect place for speakers in your home, particularly when you end up loosing shelf space because you need it to house the speaker.

No more!

Add built-in speakers that can be remotely controlled to your room(s) and enjoy the freedom this simple additions offers!

Smart Locks

A few weeks ago we had a “I’m locked out and the only other key-holder is out of town” situation in the family. As one does, from time to time.

You probably know how annoying this situation is. Add in bad winter weather and a small child, and the situation very quickly turns from bad to downright horrible.

Thankfully, our problem got solved via lovely neighbours that opened up their own home for the night, but there’s a much easier way to get out of those kind of situations without needing to bank on the help of others: a smart lock.

Smart locks allow for easily locking and unlocking your front door via your smart phone, no matter where in the world you are right now.

This allows for much more than just the obvious solution to the “locked out/left my keyes” problem. Just think about the dogsitter that can pick up your lovely pooch at any time, your trusty house-keeper that has been held up in a traffic jam, or your friends dropping unexpectedly by while you’re still out running errands. A quick call or text to announce they’re in front of your house is all that’s needed from now on to let them in from wherever you are.

Smart Doorbell

To go with the above mentioned smart lock, it’s always a good idea to have a smart doorbell as well.

Why do you need something like that you ask?

Because you want to see who’s knocking. Particularly when you’re frequently away from home.

Studies have shown that quite a big portion of burglars actually do ring the doorbell before entering a home to make sure they haven’t overlooked someone being at home.

Most smart doorbells, like the Ring!-system, connect directly with your smart phone and allow you to not only see who is in front of your door, but also allow you to speak with them.

This alone is often enough to prevent from someone entering your house.

And even if break-ins are no big deal where you live, a smart doorbell also comes in very handy if you’re waiting for a delivery but can’t be at home. More often than not, delivery people are happy to follow your remote directions on where to put (read: hide) your parcel instead of having to come back at some later date or needing you to pick it up somewhere a few days later.

(And let’s not mention the times you really don’t want to see anyone but maybe the pizza guy or your best friend, and a quick peek on who’s in front of the door helps you prevent opening the door for the annoying family member popping round unannounced for the 100th time.)

Motion Sensors and Surveillance System

Not that we have covered your front door, let us turn to the house as a whole, all right?

If you are living in an apartment, this point might not be relevant for you, but for house owners, having a good surveillance system becomes more and more important.

Many houses already have some type of burglar alarm these days, and that’s a great start. And would usually suffice for most people – if it weren’t for the fact that we are humans and therefore forgetful.

If you have an alarm system, think back on the last time you have forgotten to turn on the alarm when you were in a hurry leaving the house in the morning. Or the last time you stayed out way later than you thought you would (that spontaneous after work dinner that turned into a couple drinks after, which turned into you hitting the dance-floor with your favourite colleague…) and therefore had to leave your house un-secured after nightfall.

You do remember, right? Probably multiple occasions in the last couple of months.

A smart security system that allows you to remotely control both the burglar alarm and to check into a live feed when the motion detectors alert you to suspicious movements in your garden, is a great way to prevent those situations from happening again.

And they do make for a much more relaxed vacation time, when you know that you’ll get an alert the moment something is happening back home.

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Let us stick with the safety of your home for one more smart remodeling idea.

This time, we are concerned not with threats coming from the outside, but those hidden killers that wait inside our very own rooms.

According to the CDC, hundreds of people die from non fire-related carbon monoxide poisoning each year in the US, and that’s just the number of times emergencies turn lethal. On average, fire departments across the country respond to 70,000+ carbon monoxide alarms each year.

Ideally, you don’t want to find yourself in any of those groups, but at least you can make sure that if push comes to shove, you’re among the thousands of alarms, rather than among those ending up in the morgue.

Smart carbon monoxide detectors do not cost a fortune, they are easy to install and use, their alarms are reliable and thorough, and they add an immense feeling of safety to your home.

Similarly, (smart) smoke detectors are affordable, and save thousands of lives each and every year.

Both fire and carbon monoxide are the most deadly external killers that threaten you inside your home – don’t give them the chance to touch you and your family!

Smart Thermostats

The day started out mild, but temperatures dropped to an unseasonal low during a completely unexpected weather-change in the early afternoon? The drizzling rain has turned first to sleet and now to a flurry blizzard and you’re worried about coming home to an absolutely freezing house? Or a rather cold morning turned into a surprisingly hot day after the sun broke the cloud cover for good and you’re sure you’ll miss sleep tonight since your bedroom must have turned into a sweltering nightmare by now and will probably feel like a sub-saharan desert by the time you arrive home?

If you have ever struggled with a scenario like that, we have good news!

Smart thermostats allow you to control your heating or AC, whenever you need to change settings, wherever you are at that moment.

Smart thermostats are a great way to make sure your home is always at your desired temperature, no matter what mother nature, unexpected delays at some airport, or an over-night trip cut short decide to throw at you.

Smart Window Blinds or Curtains

Another smart way of controlling temperatures in your home is investing in motorized window blinds and/or curtains.

Basically, the only difference between them and their non-smart siblings is the fact that you can lift or lower, open or close them remotely via your phone.

Why would you need that? Think about those days the sun suddenly broke through persistent cloud cover, its midday heat bearing down through your unshaded glass front, heating up your whole home to near-boiling just because you didn’t draw the blinds in the morning. No more!

And the best news? There are easy ways to upgrade your already existing blinds and curtains to being smart ones, for example via the Axis Gear shown in our example picture.

Lighting Control

And last, but not least, why not control your lights remotely while you’re at it?

You might think that you really do not need a way to turn on the lights remotely, since you can just as easily get off the sofa and maybe grab a snack or drink while you’re at it anyway.

That’s certainly true.

But what about the times you’re running late and really do not relish the idea of coming home to a dark apartment? Or those times you are away on vacation but still want your home to appear as lived in? (And we all know that most standard solutions to the latter problem run on a pattern that easily becomes apparent after a couple of days.)

It’s those times that you will really cherish the possibility of turning your lights on or off remotely from wherever you are.

And, let’s face it, sometimes it’s also incredibly nice to not have to stand up from our comfortable snuggle on the sofa just to turn on that pesky light! (We are human and a tad lazy after all!)

Which smart solutions are you currently using (and can’t live without any longer)? Which will you incorporate during your next remodel? Tell us below!