How to Have a Smart Home

A smart home is one that uses technology to simplify and streamline your life. Would you like to be able to turn on or off all the lights and appliances in your house from your bedside? Would you like your kitchen to have dinner ready when you get home from work? Wouldn't it be great to be able to let a repairman in your house from anywhere you happen to be without having to wait at home during that four hour window they all want to give you? Smart technology is the answer.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. The heart of smart technology is a central home management system, usually through a computer. This system will allow you to control your house remotely from miles away. You can check your security system, lock or unlock doors, record your favorite TV show, start your oven, and much more.
   
   Several good systems are on the market today, starting at about $10,000 for a basic set up. You can add features one at a time to phase in smart technology as your budget allows.

2. A basic system allows you to remotely control lights, appliances, locks, and motion detectors. Most people start here because security is a high priority. In addition to keeping you safe, your house can monitor itself to conserve and use energy efficiently. It can even wake you up in the morning by automatically turning on the heat and bringing up the lights slowly to help you wake up when the alarm goes off.

3. The second phase is often the kitchen. A microwave with a built in scanner can read the bar code on packaged foods and set the cook time automatically.
   
   A smart oven can both refrigerate and cook an entire meal so that it's ready when you come home.
   
   A smart refrigerator can sense when you are running low on certain food items and automatically order them for delivery from your favorite market.
   
   You can get the news and weather from your coffee maker as it brews your morning coffee.
   
   You can control all of your appliances, including your dishwasher, from your laptop or office computer miles away.

4. If you have a spa, you can now control it remotely by telephone. If you decide you want to soak in the spa when you get home, you can phone ahead to turn on the motor, heater, lights and jets. When you arrive home, the spa will be hot and ready for you.

5. You can even do many of your landscaping chores remotely. You can control your irrigation system remotely or you can fully automate it, including sensors that will tell it when various areas need more or less water. For the ultimate in automated gardening, you can buy a programmable lawn mower that will cut your grass anytime you want, and then put itself away. You don't even have to be home to activate it.