GO SMART WITH YOUR HOME

Smart homes used to be something that many associated with the wealthy, but times have changed and many of us are now embracing technology within our homes to make our day to day tasks easier. Growth over the next few years is set to be rapid with predictions indicating that the global smart home tech market will reach in excess of 53 billion by the year 2022.

So, what will our future smart homes look like and how will this technology affect our future lives? We’ve taken a look at the predicted technology trends for our homes for 2020 and beyond.

Kitchens

One of the most important appliances in the kitchen, refrigerators are now programmed to do so much more than keep your food cool. The refrigerators of the future will allow you to set meal schedules for your family members, read recipes to you whilst you cook, let you know when you have food that is close to its expiry date, transparent touchscreens to peer into your refrigerator without opening it and alert you when the filter needs an update. Stove cooking will also be improved with interactive induction hobs utilising magnetic components hidden underneath the cooktop to heat pots and pans.

As the induction heating heats the entire pot, food is cooked faster and more evenly, enabling you to place pots and pans anywhere on the cooking surface and not on one particular heating area. Sustainability will also be a key component of our kitchens of the future with discarded water from sinks and dishwashers being divided into safe and unsafe water to feed plants. Food waste will be composted, and devices of the future will have more functionality in smaller packages.

Bedrooms

A good night’s sleep is essential for good health and smartening up your bedroom won’t just make your life easier it will improve your health. Sleep tracking apps allow you to monitor your sleep, Fitness trackers like Fitbit’s Alta HR can actually monitor your sleep-in addition to all the other activity tracking they already do. They can break down your night’s rest into light and heavy sleep and give you a clear picture of how you’re sleeping. The Fitbit Alta will also give you advice on what could be causing your sleep troubles and provide remedies.

Eight Sleep’s Jupiter mattress monitors your sleep patterns, controls the temperatures of your bed and even knows when to wake you up! And whilst we’re talking of waking up if you need a gentler awakening, a smart aromatherapy alarm clock senses when you are lightest in your sleep cycle and emits a specific scent to give you energy. Sleep Number is working on a connected bed that will automatically adjust according to your sleep (such as raising the head of the bed when you are snoring!) as well as provide other features like instant notifications if a child is sick or gets out of bed.

Smart wardrobes and dressing tables will not only help organise clothes and toiletries but they’ll also help you choose an outfit, hairstyle and make up look!

Bathrooms

We’re still quite a way from these specific features in most homes but spa-like experiences are becoming increasingly popular and are set to become mainstream. No longer will you have to start your own bath, your digital assistant will take care of that for you through your smartphone. Additionally, your smart bath will release relaxing brain waves and aromatherapy from controls on your smartphone. Dimming your lights and embedding tranquil relaxing music and you’ll have your own aromatherapy session in the comfort of your own home perfectly tailored for you.

Smart Living Rooms

TV’s that disappear into our ceilings are currently being worked on, high resolution projectors embedding TV onto our walls are already in existence and changing the mood of our living rooms through different coloured lightbulbs are already being used quite heavily. Our living rooms are rapidly changing and with the rise of augmented and virtual reality we’ll see our living space dramatically changed as an engaging and interactive space for all of the family.

Smart Sales

Many buyers are going to expect homes to have some smart features such as features that help save money on energy bills such as a connected thermostat or smart light switches. In addition, smart technology will be implemented by vendors and estate agents to help sell their homes through beacon technology. This will involve beacons being utilised for sale signs outside of homes. When a potential buyer passes by a home, they will receive a message via the beacon that will connect them to more information about the home and give them a virtual tour.

Sensor Technology

Devices equipped with sensors will be placed in high risk areas where termites could be present so that homeowners can take corrective action. In addition, smart sensors that are already placed in some detectors which can send homeowners alerts when there is an emergency will spread to other devices such as electrical boxes, furnaces and boilers to notify if something potentially damaging or costly is taking place.

Technology in the last decade has evolved rapidly and as we enter the 2020’s it’s set to increase even further. Our homes have enormous potential to embrace technology, make them more interactive, engaging and save us money! It will certainly be interesting to see what happens over the next decade, but one thing for sure we’re certain we’ll be entering 2030 with a totally different perspective of what the home of the future looks like!

 

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