Make your Old Home Smart
Thinking that smart home technology is only for new homes? I’m here to show you some simple tips to add smart technology into any home. If I can do it, you can too! While you may think it is all about convenience there are also some great features that add to the safety and security of your home. Let’s get started!
Smart Lighting
Philips Hue White Ambiance Bulb
When I was renovating my 1950s home in Edmonton, the options for smart lighting weren’t as great as they are today. So I’m going to focus on the two product lines I used in my own home: Philips Hue and Lutron Caseta.
If your fixture takes a bulb, you can incorporate smart lighting into your home. Philips Hue now has a great selection of varying lightbulbs with varying features (including filament and lightstrips). The ones I use most: White Ambiance and Basic Soft White bulb. The White Ambiance allows for the selection of different lighting temperatures. This is one of my favourite features because it allows you to change the mood of a space with a quick tap of your phone. Want to take it even further, the Philips Hue White Ambiance & Colour bulb essentially allows you to create any colour you want in a space. This is great for an outside light (orange at Halloween or green on St. Patrick’s Day?) or perhaps you have a space where you just enjoy having fun with lighting colours.
Lutron Caseta Light Switch
The best way to use Philips Hue is by adding the Smart Hub to your space. This way you can control your lights from anywhere you have an internet connection. You can also set different schedules. For example, we have our outside lights come on at sunset and go off at sunrise. When we are away, we can set a schedule for lights to come on and off, randomizing the particular timing for added security. We also have it connected into our Google Home system, so we can easily ask Google to turn off or dim the lights when we’ve crawled into bed.
But what if you have a fixture that doesn’t take a bulb - like an integrated LED fixture? Enter Lutron Caseta. This allows you to swap out a standard light switch for a smart switch. Dimming, scheduling and access from anywhere are best used when you also have the Lutron Caseta Smart Bridge connected too.
One word of caution though, if you have old wiring, you may not be able to use this switch because it uses power itself, it can cause the light fixture to also be just the tiniest bit on, even when you have it “off.” Sadly I learned this the hard way and had to go without the smart features on a few fixtures in areas of the house where we didn’t update the wiring.
SMART Heating and Cooling
Nest Temperature Sensor and Google Home
Smart thermostats are now quite common and extremely helpful for more efficiently controlling the heating and cooling of your home. With some, like the Nest thermostat, you can also incorporate remote sensors in other areas of the house to further customize your heating and cooling routines. For example, in our home, our 2nd floor is always warmer than the main floor. So we keep a sensor in our bedroom and at a particular time in the evening, the temperature setting changes to use that sensor instead of the main floor one so that the bedroom cools down sooner. Then in the morning, it switches back to the main floor so that the house can heat up appropriately for the day.
Since I carry Hunter Douglas, this is where most of my knowledge is when it comes to smart window coverings. However, there are other brands and options available for automating your window coverings too! With Hunter Douglas, you can use the PowerView operating system to customize scenes, control your shades from anywhere, set times of day for them to open and close (because how beautiful is it to automatically wake up to the light instead of an alarm - at least in our summer months!). Once you start integrating your PowerView blinds with other smart systems, you can do even more. For example, if you connect the blinds to your smart thermostat, you can set it so that as soon as the temperature inside gets to a certain point, it will close the windows to help you avoid letting more heat in, saving energy (especially important with older windows and older homes which are generally less energy efficient). Take a look through IFTTT for great integrations between your smart technology items. Again, there are also great security features that come along with this. When you’re away, your blinds can be set to open and close on certain schedules, making it appear as though someone is home. If you’re interested in incorporating this into your home, book me in for a consultation. All shades are custom made for your windows.
SMART Cameras, Doorbells and Locks
August Smart Lock
Even if you don’t have a hardwired doorbell or other spaces for hardwired cameras, you’ve still got options. Ring and Nest are two companies who have options for you. Ring has a battery powered doorbell camera that can then connect wirelessly to a digital chime. Nest has an outdoor camera that can plug into a standard outlet, so all you need to do is run the cord through a small hole into your house to make it work.
I’m also a fan of the August lock system. I first used one at an AirBnB in Vancouver. It allowed us to access the residence without having to meet with the owner and we could come and go as we pleased during the time we had the space rented. We use these on our house too so that we don’t have to give keys to family members and so that our dog walker (shout out to Dog Jogs!) can come in to grab Wallace when we aren’t home with their own access code (using a connected keypad) which only works during the days and times that they are scheduled to be here. It’s also great when someone is dropping something off but you aren’t home. You can see who it is on your camera, unlock the door remotely, let them into drop the item off and lock the door behind them.
Other SMART HOME items
Samsung The Frame TV
One of my more recent purchases is the Philips Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor. It’s battery powered and when it is activated at night, it can be set to turn on a light inside, helping to further keep your property secure. I also use the Philips Hue indoor motion sensor to turn on the strip lights in my closet when I open the closet doors and to turn them off once there is no more motion. We also use the coordinating remote to allow our guests to turn on and dim the bulbs in the plug-in wall sconces in the guest room.
Smart outlets can also allow for more customization. I use a wemo smart outlet to turn on and off the grow light for my fiddle leaf fig tree each day to help ensure it gets enough light - so I never have to actually remember to do so myself (and the plant has never looked better!). You can also use these on the plugs where you use items like irons and curling irons - that way you don’t have to question whether or not you unplugged the item, you can just log into the app on your phone and switch the outlet off.
Speaking of safety, don’t forget about your smoke detectors. A smart detector like the Nest Protect uses technology to give you advance warning of an issue, allows you to hush the alarm via your phone, and connects with others in the home so you know exactly where the issue is. Oh and it tests itself regularly to ensure everything is operating properly! One of my favourite non-safety features about it though is that it can act as a pathway light at night, glowing when it detects someone walking near it and lighting the way.
I frequently have music on in the house and so we have placed smart speakers in almost every room so that I can easily transfer my music between rooms as I move throughout the house or I can give myself some full house surround sound by pairing them all together. (We use Google Home and Sonos).
Our TV is the Samsung The Frame and while it’s “off position” can be displaying art or just being off, it has the ability to only show the art when there is movement in the space. Saving energy when no one is around.
So what do you think?
Any items that you’re going to incorporate into your home (old or otherwise)? Any favourites that I haven’t mentioned? Comment below!
Note: This post is not sponsored, these are just products I’ve personally used in my “old home” successfully and that I love. However, affiliate links are used in this post for products on amazon.ca.
Kierstin Smyth Design
Edmonton Interior Design Consultant