As the saying goes, good interior design is all about balancing form and function. How we design our living spaces’ interiors has always been a beautiful combination of culture and lifestyle. A well-designed interior is beautiful and reflects the personality of the owner while also successfully catering to their needs. With smart devices gradually becoming a regular part of interior design, there is another layer to the success of a good interior—automation. While many smart devices are designed in an aesthetically appealing manner, it can be a challenge for interior designers to seamlessly incorporate them with the rest of the design elements to tell a cohesive story.
In this article, let’s explore how interior designers are welcoming smart home technology into their designs and in turn how the combination of the two are changing how our homes look as well as how we live.
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Innovative Homes with Smart Technology
Minimalism is one of the most popular trends in modern interior design. As the world beyond the walls of a home started to become more and more cluttered and noisy, people began moving towards keeping their homes as minimalistic as possible.
However, with smart home devices becoming more prevalent, designers have to find ways to incorporate tech devices into homes without being too obstructive or cluttering up the space. Modern homes often do not have large enough storage spaces, making it difficult to keep things neat and organized. There are smart storage solutions that help maximize whatever small storage space you have at home.
Moreover, smart technology allows interior designers to widen the scope of their creativity by allowing even more options to customize a space to the liking of its owner. There are options to include lights that change their intensity according to the time of the day, smart blinds that adjust by themselves, and many more similar useful smart devices and features.
The Living Space
There are a variety of smart devices that can improve any room in the house. As the hub of many homes where most of the socialization happens, the living room is a great place to incorporate smart devices that improve the quality of life.
Smart Entertainment
Smart TVs are perhaps the most used smart devices nowadays, which can be coupled with smart sound systems that also have voice activation capabilities. This combination means that you get to fully relax on your couch while you binge-watch your favorite movie or TV show with amazing surround sounds, without having to get up and grab the remote if it is out of your reach!
Smart Lighting
Many major electrical lighting manufacturers now offer smart options that allow you to remotely adjust the brightness and the color of lights. This allows for a lot more creativity in interior design on top of the convenience. The entire ambiance of the living space can be changed with a few touches to suit different moods.
The Kitchen
As the heartbeat of the homes, kitchens are becoming more and more central locations in houses. It is a place where there is a high concentration of electrical appliances, which makes it a great location to upgrade with smart devices.
Smart Appliances
Almost all of the major kitchen appliances have smart options nowadays. The refrigerators can keep track of the groceries and send expiration alerts, there are ovens and stoves which can be controlled remotely, and even coffee machines that can be timed to have a nice cup of coffee waiting for you by the time you wake up. Smart kitchen appliances are designed in a way to saves you plenty of time and energy. Many interior designers are opting for built-in smart appliances to create a cohesive look for modern kitchens.
Sustainable Kitchen Spaces
Incorporating smart appliances makes it easy to create an eco-friendly kitchen where there are systems to reduce waste and conserve energy. Most smart appliances come with ways to monitor and control their energy consumption sustainably. There are also smart systems that can be integrated into the kitchen to help manage water usage. The overall layout of built-in smart appliances can also be designed more energy-efficiently.
The Bedroom
A bedroom is all about comfort and rest. There are smart home devices that help transform a bedroom space to be more restful with a relaxing ambiance.
Quality Sleep
The bed is of course the centerpiece of a bedroom. With smart home technology, your bed can now be upgraded with smart mattresses that feature adjustable temperature and firmness along with sleep trackers that can be controlled remotely.
Better Ambience
It is commonly known that being exposed to too much artificial lighting and screens can cause people to have poor sleep. Smart lighting systems in a bedroom can mimic the natural circadian rhythm of the environment to provide a better sleep environment. Many innovative smart lighting systems brighten in the morning with the sunrise and dim automatically in the evening to create a natural environment for better sleep.
Sustainable Homes
With smart thermostats that automatically adjust the temperature and lighting systems that switch off automatically when not in use, smart homes are often more sustainable due to their energy-efficient nature. With each generation, homeowners are becoming more environmentally conscious, increasing the demand for smart homes. Designers are now working with architects and engineers to make sure new homes are as energy-efficient as possible. This includes adding solar panels, smart windows using energy-saving materials whenever possible, and more.
Smart home technology is changing the way we think about our living spaces. Interior designers are increasingly keeping pace with the technological evolution that is closely integrated with their craft. It is now not sufficient to create beautiful and functional spaces to live in, but also spaces that are sustainable and technologically up to date. The future of interior design looks bright since it will be a seamless blend of comfort and aesthetic appeal with technological convenience.