Smart living room
New tech can help make the room you relax in even more pleasant and comfortable, and can actually replace classic furnishings with more capable connected alternatives. And it’ll keep you safe and save you money, too
Smart lighting is an easy and effective way to smarten up your home
There are so many connected home devices available to buy, and that are specially designed for your living room, that it’s harder not to overload your coffee table with fancy gadgets. Instead, here are some top smart products that look good, are genuinely useful, and are guaranteed to fit in well with your whole family.
Smart lighting is an easy and effective way to smarten up your home. The GE Sol C smart lamp ($149.99/ £105.80, cbyge.com) is a great-looking alternative to boring lamps. It has Amazon Alexa built-in, which means you can use it to set timers, adjust light levels and control devices by using your voice. It can also adjust its brightness depending on the time of day, lulling you and your family to sleep before bedtime with soft, warming light. If you like quirky lighting, you could try the award-winning 1 Aircharge Z- Bar Mini Wireless
Charging Lamp (£297.99, air- charge.com). As well as making one bold style statement, the lamp has wireless Qi charging integrated into its base, which enables you to juice up most of the latest smartphones right from your coffee table.
Speaking of coffee tables, while you’re upgrading your living room, give the centrepiece a modern makeover. The 2 Skye Coffee Table (£189, amazon. co.uk) is Bluetooth-enabled and fitted with great-sounding speakers, enabling you to sync up any smart device and play music without cluttering up your living room with a bulky extra sound system.
Most of us know that smart devices are handy for taking the faff out of simple tasks, which is why the Somfy range (from £129, somfy.co.uk) of remotecontrolled smart blinds are a useful staple for the modern-day living room. They’re super effective when it comes to blocking out bright light throughout the day and with an added system you can open and close them using your phone. Not only will this keep your house cooler throughout the summer months, but it could also be used to conserve heat energy, saving money throughout the winter months too.
The Amazon Echo may have been a game-changing smart speaker when it first launched, but the 3 Amazon Echo Plus (£139.99, amazon.co.uk) is an upgrade with improved Dolby speakers for more immersive 360-degree sound, as well as an added smart home hub that allows you to say, “Alexa, discover my devices” and control your connected tech with ease. It does all of the things the original Echo did too, such as enable you to check the weather, the traffic, set timers, play music and so much more, all with your voice.
If you’re going to spend good money on home gadgets, make sure your house is secure. The 4 Hive View (£189, hivehome.com) is a smart security camera that’s designed for indoor use. It provides HD live streaming to its accompanying app, as well as motion and sound detection technology, which sends you a notification straight to your phone with a snapshot if it sees someone who shouldn’t be there. And it’s a gorgeous bit of design.
For more options than a security camera, the Bosch Security Starter Kit (£349.95, bosch-smarthome. com) is a one-stop-shop for protecting against both fire and intruders. It comes with a door or window contact, motion detector, smoke alarm and controller to manage how all of the kit works together. You can also use the Bosch app for access to the security system and manage how the products work to protect your home whether you’re just around the corner or away on holiday and want to keep an eye on things.
For saving money on your bills, the 5 Nest Learning Thermostat (From £219, store.nest.com/uk) conserves energy when you’re away and programmes itself to suit your needs over time. You can use it to control the temperature in your house wherever you are from your smart device, which is perfect for heating up your home on a chilly night out before you get in.
When it comes to connected furnishings, the 6 Mondaine stop2go Smart Clock (£159, mondaine. com) is a stylish wall clock that updates the time from its app – no more faffing around when the clocks go forward or back. If you like a variety of art, then the futuristic 7 Meural (£799, available from Smartech at selfridges.com) digital art frame is for you. It enables you to switch the art that’s displayed all from the app, or even with a swipe of your hand.