Kitchen & Bathroom Design Blog

Enhancing your home means making changes to increase your quality of life. Fewer improvements can achieve this goal than adding smart home devices and upgrading your outdoor living spaces. Consider these eight ideas to enhance your home.

Smart Home Devices

Living in a smart home means having at least three network-connected electronic gadgets designed to manage specific aspects of your property — including temperature, safety, and security. Smart home devices can talk with one another and are controllable through voice commands, mobile apps, or a central hub. They can perform autonomous context-aware computing, which means they can sense elements in the surroundings and adapt their behavior accordingly.

The list of smart home devices grows longer by the day. Prioritize these pieces of technology to experience the joys of smart home living.

1.    Doorbell

A smart doorbell is like a personal intercom system with more fantastic features. It supports two-way audio, enabling you to speak with whomever is at your doorstep without moving a muscle. This device has a camera that can take snaps and record a video in 1080p resolution, which is handy when trying to identify and catch criminals — such as burglars and porch pirates. You can wire it into your home or use batteries to power it.

Moreover, a smart doorbell can support motion detection and alert you when there’s an activity in your yard via a real-time push notification. With night vision capability, it can see clearly in the dark. More sophisticated models can do facial recognition using artificial intelligence.

More than 30% of American households have camera-equipped smart doorbells. At least two-thirds of homeowners consider them indispensable.

2.    Door Lock

Smart door locks take home security to new heights. They eliminate the need for keys and let you lock and unlock your door with your phone through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or both. Some models can support multiple keyless entry options, including voice commands, numeric codes, and biometrics data. Their companion apps display entry and exit logs, enabling you to monitor activity at home anytime.

3.    Garage Door Opener

A smart garage door opener turns your smartphone into a remote to make your house a more challenging burglary target. Its companion app alerts you when it’s open, so you can immediately close it when you forget.

This device allows you to grant entry access to anyone without giving them a duplicate key to your house. It’s beneficial when telling couriers to place your packages inside and keep thieves at bay. You can even program it to open at specific times and match your estimated arrival from work.

Choosing a smart garage door opener with a battery backup system can boost home safety. In places like California, this extra feature may be mandatory. It helps keep anyone from getting trapped inside the garage during emergencies. Considering you can expect four hours of outage yearly, a garage door opener that can function when there’s no electric service is better than one that stays locked while the power is out.

4.    Thermostats

Smart thermostats can regulate indoor temperature levels by learning your preferences to ensure your heating, ventilation and air conditioning system works optimally. Many models use geofencing to sense when you’re home and automatically adjust your house’s indoor climate to your liking.

If you buy a Wi-Fi-enabled one, you can control its settings through your smartphone from anywhere. It can also go to standby mode to consume as little electricity as possible when inactive.

5.    Range Hood

Smart range hoods belong to a new crop of home appliances designed to improve indoor air quality. The kitchen is one of the most polluted rooms in the house. Cooking can release fine particulate matter into the air. Using a gas stove can emit harmful gases such as nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide.

These advanced hoods come alive and ventilate the kitchen when they detect pollution. Their functionality is a vast departure from air quality monitors, which only record contaminant levels to help you recognize patterns and make informed decisions to address them.

Many models work in tandem with typical smart speakers and remotely control them through Amazon’s Alexa and other digital assistants.

Outdoor Living Space Improvements

Extending the comforts of your indoor living spaces to the outside can make you fall in love with your home more. Pulling this off takes more than finishing an area in your yard. Add these features to lend more functionality to your outdoor living spaces.

6.    Pergola

This structure can add shade to your unprotected patio or deck. It uses latticework to brighten the covered space while reducing sunlight’s intensity. Its rafters provide additional space to grow vegetation, bringing your garden’s serenity to the sitting area.

Growing climbing plants can be high-maintenance, for untended vines can run rampant, damage wood and ruin pergola decor. Still, greenery is a net positive for your outdoor space. If you can keep its growth manageable with regular pruning, your patio or deck will be lovelier and livelier.

7.    Gazebo

This outbuilding makes sense if you have a spacious yard with no clear focal point. It’s a roofed structure meant for entertainment and relaxation, so outfit it with comfortable furniture.

Gazebos tend to have raised deck floors to keep them dry when it rains. Most designs offer little protection against the elements, but you can build an enclosed one if you live somewhere prone to inclement weather.

8.    Kitchenette

Constructing a second smaller kitchen for your patio or deck is a terrific idea if you love hosting cookouts. A kitchenette makes a natural spot for a grill and a smoker, especially when paired with side burners for heating sauces and side dishes for your barbecue.

Many gravitate toward these additions due to budget constraints. However, you can make your kitchenette as functional as a full-blown kitchen with areas for food preparation, cooking, refrigeration and washing. You may only be able to fit in some zones when you’re short on space, but you can install an awning to enjoy it all year round.

Enhance Your Home Life with Practical Additions

Smart home and outdoor living space projects are less disruptive than indoor renovations. Focus on them to improve your home’s livability.