If you’re thinking of getting into the world of home automation, you may wish to plan which devices you wish to automate in different rooms. In this blog we talk about the things you may wish to automate to create a smart living room.
I started off with a home automation kit called Samsung Smart Things which at the time of writing is around £200. Within the bundle you get a hub, smart plug, motion sensor, door/window sensor and presence sensor. It is a great way to get started and begin automating your home. It also allows you to bring multiple products together and create routines.
Below we take some of the most common objects in the lounge which we can automate.
Lighting
Lamps – The easiest thing to automate within your living room is a lamp, by attaching a smart plug or alternatively a smart light bulb. You can take control of you lamp and have it respond to your actions.
Main Light – Again there are two options here, simply replacing the light bulb or bulbs with a smart bulb can give you the ability to control your light. Alternatively you can take an existing light switch and embed a micro smart switch or dimmer within the wall. This is a little more complex and may require extending the wall switch deeper into the wall.
LED Strips – A more quirky approach to your designing your living room could be adding LED lights. These could be used as back lights for your TV or other creative ways. You could use a smart plug to get them to turn on and set them via a remote or a RGBW or full control such as choosing a colour.
Bulb options – You can choose to add a normal smart white bulb or a smart colour bulb. The white bulbs tend to be much cheaper, but they restrict you on the moods you can set.
Estimated Costs Per Item
Smart Plug: £30 – £50
Smart Light bulbs: £30 – £70
LED Strips: £20 (requires smart plug) – £70
In wall Dimmer Switch £30 – £50
Speakers
If you find yourself often listening to music within your living room or wish to turn your surround sound into a smart solution, smart speakers are a great solution. It is worth researching which speakers are compatible with your solution. However Bose, Sonos and Samsung make wifi based speakers which are compatible with SmartThings.
Estimated Costs Per Item
Single Speaker: £150+
Surround Sound: £1000+
Voice Control
One thing to consider for the future, would be adding voice control. You have the ability to run routines with the power of speech. This could be simply asking for the weather, turning off the lights or asking for the spelling of a word.
Amazon Echo (not yet released in the UK) is a popular solution; it allows you to ask for information, music, news, weather and more.
Estimated Costs Per Item
Voice Control – (TBC)
Fireplace
Depending on what type of fireplace you have, you could use a smart plug to add this to the things you can control. This will only allow you to turn the fire on, you will need to set the correct switches in order for it to start heating.
Estimated Costs Per Item
Smart Plug: £30 – £50
Motion Sensor
Motion sensors are great additions to any room, you use them to detect if rooms are empty or not. Your smart system can then respond to power down lights and lamps if the room is inactive. This can help save you money, as people often forget to turn lights off when they leave a room.
Estimated Costs Per Item
Motion Sensor: £30 – £50
Hope this blog adds food for thought, when planning out your smart living room. If you have any recommendations or need any advice, don’t hesitate to get in touch on our contact page.