With around 63 million smart homes in 2022, the United States is trailblazing when it comes to home automation. It is something that can set any homeowner ahead of their neighbors, making them the talk of the community. So, what is smart when it comes to home automation and what should you do to improve your sanctuary?
Below we have defined what a smart home is, and by the end, you should have a long list of ways to improve the automation in your own home. Read on for some of the best ideas moving into 2023 and beyond to stay ahead of the curve.
What Is a Smart Home?
If you do not have a smart home and want to undergo home renovation to create one, you should have an understanding of what one is.
A smart home is a conventional house or apartment in which a user has installed many automated electronic devices or appliances. Said user or someone else can then control these devices by using a mobile phone or any other internet-capable device.
All the devices in a smart home should connect to a home network and/or through the Internet. This allows the owner or user to control them, giving them access to change aspects of the home. Examples include light, air conditioning, any entrances, heating, or entertainment systems.
The following are some examples of the kinds of things you can install in your home that can give it that "smart" style. Each one has different elements of how it activates and what it can do for you. So, read on to learn more:
Smart Curtains and Blinds
As the evening sets in, you can often forget to close the curtains, meaning that your internal life is on display to the dark world outside. This is antithetical to privacy.
After installing smart blinds, you can set them to open and close at specific times of the day. This helps your home maintain a set amount of light and gives you separation from people outside when you need it.
Some smart curtains and blinds even do this at different times of the day. It changes the time depending on the amount of light outside or based on the current sun-up or sundown. This means that you do not need to change the time as the seasons change.
Smart Garage Doors
A garage door is where many people enter the home. As they are so large and heavy, it can be a hassle to exit the car and open them yourself or even to wait for them to open via a remote garage opener.
Instead, you can connect your vehicle to a garage door and have it begin to open when your vehicle is nearby. This electronic fence area can be a set distance from your home or even only your road, depending on the product that you buy.
This also allows for a level of safety. It means that you do not have to interact with the large, mechanical device that is your garage door yourself.
Smart Heating
A smart home can link its thermostat straight to your smartphone or a central home control system. This lets you change the temperature without even getting up from the couch.
You can even change it while you are away. If you want to come home to a warmer or cooler house, you can do so from your digital device.
Smart Lighting
Smart lighting requires that you buy special bulbs for the task. They will connect to your home wifi and accept commands to turn on and off via any input. Many people now have their bulbs activated or deactivated via Alexa, or other remote voice devices.
Advanced bulbs also allow for a range of different colors. This means that they can be more blue or yellow depending on the time of the day, with more yellow light shown in the evening. This can help with sleep schedules.
Smart Security
Home security is a priority for many people. Ensuring that only you or those that you allow in can enter your house has led to a drive in smart home devices.
Google Home and Ring are two groups that have made many advancements here, with locks on doors only unlockable using smart devices. They even allow a homeowner to see who rings their doorbell before approaching the door. Finally, they can let people see the door itself via webcam and respond on their phone or another device.
Many online sites have promoted such smart doorbells by showing their various uses.
Smart Speakers
When you are relaxing around the home and listening to music, sometimes you do not want to get up and change the volume of the album that you are listening to. You also do not want to have to move your music as you travel through the house. This is where smart speakers and similar technological advancements come to the fore.
Many of these devices now allow you to change the volume with only a voice. For those who still want physical interaction, you can instead link to your smartphone so that you can do so with the tap of a finger from any distance.
Some even track your movements around your smart home. As you move around, some speakers will dim and others will start to increase their volume. This prevents excessive noise from inside your home and retains the high audio quality.
Learn More About Home Automation
With all these tips, you should both understand home automation a little bit more and have learned what you can do to improve the place you live. If you want to know more, though, so that you can start the process, we are ready to help with one element of it.
Our garage doors are second-to-none. If you want to know more about what we can offer you, we can talk to you and help guide you to get something that suits your wants and needs. So, give us a call today and start the process to bring your home into the 21st century.
AG Smart Garage serves Northbrook, Deerfield, Highland Park, Glenview, Buffalo Grove, Winnetka, and surrounding North Shore communities.
Call (224) 306-2985 or book online for same-day service.
The Pros and Cons of Home Automation
A smart home earns its keep — but it’s worth going in clear-eyed. Here’s the honest ledger.
The upside:
- Convenience that actually adds up. One tap (or one voice command) to close the garage, dim the lights, and drop the thermostat. Small on their own; genuinely nice when they stack.
- Lower utility bills. Smart thermostats and lighting stop heating, cooling, and lighting rooms nobody’s in — that shows up on the bill month after month.
- Stronger security. Cameras, smart locks, and sensors are the obvious win, but the quiet one is occupancy simulation — lights and blinds that run their normal patterns while you’re away, so the house never looks empty.
- Peace of mind from anywhere. “Did I close the garage?” stops being a U-turn on the highway. You check your phone, and if it’s open, you close it — from wherever you are.
The trade-offs:
- Upfront cost. Devices and professional installation are a real line item. Good gear pays back over time, but the first bill is the first bill.
- Setup and troubleshooting friction. Getting everything connected and talking to each other takes some patience, and occasionally a device needs a reboot on a bad day.
- Data and privacy exposure. Connected devices collect data and live on your network — worth using strong passwords and keeping firmware updated.
- Over-reliance when it’s offline. If the internet or power drops, you want to know your essentials still work the manual way. (A good smart garage opener still opens with a button and a key.)
- Cross-brand incompatibility. Not every device plays nicely with every hub. Mixing brands without checking can leave you with gadgets that won’t talk to each other.
The takeaway: don’t automate the whole house on day one. Start with one or two high-value wins — a smart thermostat that pays you back on utilities, and a smart garage door opener that covers your single biggest, heaviest, most-used entry point. Nail those, then expand.
Ready to make your garage the smartest entrance in the house? Explore our smart garage door solutions — we install them every week across Deerfield, Northbrook, and the North Shore. Call (224) 306-2985.