Oh boy! Here we go! The ultimate world of Smart Home technology…
When looking at our lighting plan, I asked the Mr. what his thoughts were on a smart home and if there was a place he wanted it to go. He laughed with a quick reply, “that just seems lazy, why would I not just get off the couch and turn the light off.” We talked a little more and kind of brushed it off, but I left him with this thought, “what if the ambiance was just set every night, without having to think about it?”
Well, this question must have left him wondering because not even an hour later he brought up the conversation and off the deep end we went. We started looking at switches and bulbs, how they communicated, what we could do with each feature and was it going to match our goals for this house, or was it a complete waste of money? At first glance the entire thing seemed to be out of this world, a completely futuristic thing.
After hours, and I mean hours, of research along with multiple nights of YouTube bingeing after the kids went to bed, our brains were exhausted! This new world was a lot to take in! The lingo, networks, compatibility and deciding what were our goals for the system, took a lot of patience. We did eventually catch on though!! One thing we did notice quickly that appealed to us was the ability to change the overall experience of being home. You know the feeling when you walk into your childhood home and the stressors of the world just melt away… with having a smart home we could essentially take away the thought process of what lights should be on or off, at certain times of the day. When I sit down at night are completely different from what lights need to be turned on to “set the mood”. Essentially this integrated smart home system will help put me “in the mood” or at least thats the story I used convince the Mr. After all, his priority was our marriage! Hehe
Not to mention, I am one to lay in bed wondering if I locked the door, even though I just checked it minutes before climbing in the sheets. This constant stressor does indeed affect how quickly I am able to get to bed, and how well I sleep!
What about using lighting as a way to help unwind for the day… or signify it is time to put the phone away and just relax. My goal with our smart system is that our house will help up live the life we want, through subtle, maybe even subconscious triggers, and visual indicators.
As we were researching this new to us idea, I did find that I was adding lights in that probably wouldn’t have added if they were just on a regular switch, because realistically, I would probably never use them between wiping off dirty buttons and the normal go-go day-to-day. Inevitably, I would one day turn them on and remember how beautiful it is to have the glowing light under my bed and try to incorporate another thing into my daily routine. Now, with a smart system, I don’t need to remember this! My home can do it for me, and give me all the good feelings of an under bed glow every day, without taking any more brain-space.
The opportunity to have a built in routine, using lights to help unwind, and creating the “perfect for us” ambience throughout the entire home, were the top three winning factors for why we decided on a smart home integration.
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