A 10 Step Gift Guide to Upgrading to a Smart Home

Christmas is around the corner and with all the new gadgets and electronics coming out this shopping season, now is the time to start thinking about upgrading your home to a smart home. Use this as a gift guide for yourself or to help someone you love upgrade their home!  

With all the different smart speakers, smart plugs, smart devices, and even automation software, you can create a smart home that lets you operate several different appliances and devices with a voice command or your mobile device.  

Here are the 10 steps and items we recommend to upgrading your luxury home to a smart home. So put a few of these on your list and see if Santa will help you out.

1. It All Starts With A Voice-Activated Assistant 

It all starts with a voice-activated assistant, also called a smart speaker. There are a few devices to choose from, including Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod.

We recommend picking one device model — for example, the Amazon Alexa — and then getting a few models to put around your house. Whichever device model you choose, all will work pretty much the same, although there are more skills and apps available for the Alexa and Google Home than the HomePod, so make sure you take that into account when choosing your speaker.

We also recommend getting a smart speaker that has a decent audio speaker. The Alexa Echo Dot will work and give you some basic sounds, but the regular Echo has a better speaker. Stick one in the kitchen or living room to listen to music or your favorite podcasts.

You can even get an Amazon Echo Show, which is the Alexa with a video screen. You can not only manage your smart home, you can make video calls, watch the news, or watch YouTube and Prime videos. If you install security cameras, you can even monitor them from the Show. Finally, display photo slideshows, check your to-do list, or check the weather and traffic.

2. Start Slowly With Smart Plugs

You may want to start slowly when upgrading to a smart home by getting a few smart plugs that can connect to your smart speaker, like a Wemo WiFi Smart Plug. You can plug in a couple lamps or your holiday decorations, name the plugs, and tell your smart speaker to operate them.

For example:

"Hey Google, turn off the Christmas lights." 

"Alexa, turn on the study light."

You can use these plugs for most devices: lamps, stereo receivers, kitchen appliances, irrigation systems, pool filtration pumps. You can even plug in a curling iron or straightening iron and then shut it off with your phone, for those times you worry that you forgot to before you left the house!

3. Next Step: Smart Bulbs

Next, get some smart light bulbs, like the Philips Hue White LED Starter Kit or Lifx Mini. These are regular light bulbs that actually have the same kind of wifi device as the smart plugs. Only, instead of operating your device through a plug, you can install the bulbs in ceiling lights or ceiling mounted lights, places that don't normally have a plug.

Bonus tip: You can also get smart switches that respond to smart speakers, so rather than climbing onto a 20 foot ladder to change the bulbs in your cathedral ceiling, you can replace the switch instead.

4. Connect Your Audio

If you have any kind of home stereo system, you can connect most styles of smart speakers to your stereo as long as it has a headphone jack. Then, if you have a favorite terrestrial or Internet radio station, you can ask your device to play it. If you like jazz, check out WWOZ, New Orlean's jazz station. If you like classical music, try WDAV in Davidson, North Carolina or even All-Classical Portland (Oregon). And for eclectic music, try KCRW's Eclectic 24 station. Or if you have a SiriusXM subscription, you can tell your device which channel to play. Play the speaker through your stereo and you can listen to your favorite music throughout the house.

You can also control the speaker volume with your voice command: turn up your receiver/amplifier up to a somewhat loud level, and then tell the speaker to turn itself up or down to a volume that suits you.

5. Control Your TV and Watch Your Favorite Programs

With an Amazon Fire Stick or Amazon Fire TV Cube, which is basically an Amazon Alexa plugged into your TV, you can control your TV by telling it to play a particular streaming service or show. And if your TV is plugged into your home theater, you can make voice adjustments that way.

Since the Fire Stick/Fire Cube is also an Alexa-enabled device, it can serve as a smart speaker as well. You can even use your regular Alexa to control what your Stick/Cube does. Also, the Stick or Cube comes with a remote that lets you enter voice commands directly into it.

6. Set Your Temperature With Google Nest Thermostat or Ecobee Thermostat

Google Nest and Ecobee are two smart thermostats that let you schedule temperature changes for different times of day or even different outdoor temperatures. You can control the temperature with your phone or smart speaker.

You can also adjust temperatures based on your physical location through a process called "geofencing." For example, if you're two minutes from home (based on your phone's GPS), the temperature can shift from the "at work" temperature to the "at home" temp. Finally, you can monitor your overall energy usage to see if there's a problem with your home's HVAC system.

7. Secure Your House with a Smart Lock

With a smart lock, you can lock and unlock your home with your smartphone, let people in with guest "keys," and monitor whether the door is locked or not. (No more wondering if you locked it after you left the house!)

You can also see who has unlocked the door and when they actually opened it. That way, you can let out-of-town family and friends get in when you're not at home, and then receive an alert when they do arrive. And you can pair the lock with Amazon and Google smart speakers so you can check the status of the door and lock or unlock it via voice command.

8. Install Smart Home Security Cameras to Monitor Inside and Outside

There are a number of different security cameras, including the Ring doorbell camera, as well as other security systems you can install outside and inside your home.

You can use your phone or smart speaker to arm and disarm your camera, notify you if it detects motion, or turn on and off when you're in a certain part of the house. It can also start recording or take a photo and send it to your phone, Echo Show, or Dropbox when it senses motion.

9. Use Skills or Routines to Listen to News, Audiobooks, and Podcasts, and Play Games 

Alexa offers “skills” and Google Home offers “routines”, which are voice activated programs that run automatically. For example, a basic one is to ask your device to "play my morning briefing." You would have previously set up your favorite programming snippets like the local news, stock report, and highlights from the Orlando City or Orlando Pride game. 

Other skills or routines can be things like checking your credit card balance with Capital One or a stock price on Opening Bell, adding items to your grocery list or favorite to-do app, or pre-ordering your favorite beverage from Starbucks for pickup right before you leave the house. There are thousands of skills or routines to choose from or create, and you can activate them via your phone to use whenever you want.

10. Control Smart Appliances with IFTTT

This one's a little advanced, but if you use it, you can do some amazing things with your smart home that most other people have never even thought of. There are certain smart devices you can purchase, which are controllable with voice commands, like an LG washer and dryer, a Bosch dishwasher, or a Home Connect coffee maker. All you need is your smart speaker and an account on IFTTT.com.

IFTTT stands for "If This, Then That." It's an automation software website that lets you execute certain commands based on other things happening. For example, "If I post a photo to Instagram, then post it to Twitter as well." Or "If it's raining in my zip code, then send me a text message."

So you can use your smart speaker and IFTTT to start your coffee machine or dishwasher, raise and lower your shades as the temperature gets cooler or warmer, turn on lights when your security camera recognizes someone's face, or control your outdoor lights via voice or have them turn on and off automatically.

With a smart speaker, smart appliances and plugs, and an IFTTT.com account, you can do some very smart things with your home, from adjusting the lights and music, turning certain appliances off and on, and making sure the doors are locked and certain appliances are turned off and on.

If you’d like a referral for a smart home professional, or to learn more about luxury homes in Central Florida, talk to our Listing Specialist Linda Sitek or our Buying Specialist Steven Ritz. You can also subscribe to our email newsletter or call us at (321) 300-4750.

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Linda Sitek, Listing Specialist - Call 407-963-6544 or email here 

Steven Ritz, Buyer Specialist - Call 321-277-8271 or email here