In two years, analysts are confident that there will be 20.4 billion connected things live in the world, and as many as 12.8 billion of those will be catered to homes rather than businesses. While interior design and technology are concepts that are still fairly new, the onset of smart home devices is leading more cutting edge interior designers to incorporate smart tech when designing interiors for residential spaces. Even as more companies continue to market new IoT products, what really lures homeowners to request for smart homes is the promise of new features such as increased comfort, energy savings and home automation.
Smart lighting
Light is undoubtedly the single most important aspect of design. It’s easily overlooked because most people are immersed in it all the time, but get into a dark house and you'll notice the difference. While switching out a lightbulb requires little time and effort, automating this process can make a huge difference in how you interact with your home. IoT technology has led to the development of connected devices such as smart bulbs that allow you to control your lights with your phone or through Alexa or Google Assistant. Plus, you can program them to turn on at any time and dim them at will, even without the use of a dimmer switch. For those with lots of lamps or recessed lighting, smart light switches are recommended. These control all of the lights wired to a smart switch, allowing you to turn lights on and off on a schedule or with a smart assistant, without changing your existing bulbs.
Home Entertainment Systems
There was once a time when, in order to listen to music in your home, you needed equipment. These were mostly in the form of big bulky boxes with wires that caused interior design nightmares since they were so difficult to cover up and took a lot of valuable room space. Thankfully nowadays with the improvement in technology coupled with the opening of opportunities in the smart home industry, there are audio systems that can be seamlessly integrated into the home by embedding them in the walls or ceiling. The integration of IoT in most entertainment devices has also simplified the entertainment experience. For example, smart tech features such as multi-room audio enables one to fill the entire house with music or just one room. On the other hand, smart entertainment systems enable the connection of all the audio and video devices in the home so that you can watch tv, stream video, power up a video game or enjoy your music playlist just by controlling from any device be it Google Assistant or Amazon's Alexa. All these features create incredible acoustics and immersive surround sound that work hand in hand with minimalistic designs.
Indoor Climate Control
Nearly half of a typical utility bill goes towards heating and cooling in a typical house. Luckily, there are smart home tech devices that more efficient and automate the heating and cooling process of your house. A programmable thermostat offers the flexibility and power to control the climate in your home efficiently in order to save energy and lower energy costs. With a smart thermostat, you can set the temperature to different levels depending on the season or weather. For example, during the winter, you can set the inside temperature to a lower level or switch the thermostat off when you are away from home. This can save you a substantial amount on your yearly utility bills depending on factors such as climate and home insulation. This can also be convenient in that you can control most of the thermostat functions from the comfort of your phone.
As new innovations in IoT continue to come up, it's influence on interior design will continue to grow. Not only will incorporating IoT in interior designs become affordable, but it may also contribute to the aesthetic qualities and offer smart functions that make the home comfortable and convenient.
