smart home gadgets

Blending Smart Home Gadgets with Chic Interior Design

Take a moment to picture this: You’re in the kitchen making dinner; your hands are busy kneading homemade pizza dough. Your spouse comes home, and you hear them call out in greeting. You quickly say, “Alexa, lower volume,” and return the greeting to your partner. Or perhaps you’ve had a very long week. As you crawl into bed, you realize you left the living room light on. You sigh as you consider getting out of bed to turn the lights off or leaving them on all night. Then you remember, “Alexa, turn living room lights off,” and the house goes dark. That’s the beauty of a smart home.

Smart home devices take comfort and convenience to an entirely new level. The issue is, smart devices mean messy cords and modern esthetics that may clash with your interior design style. Luckily there are many ways to blend high-tech gadgets and chic interior design. 


Blending into the design of a space

Source: Trica Furniture

Modern high-tech devices for the home now come in various colours, shapes, sizes, and finishes. That means it can be easy to choose devices that blend into the background. It’s also effortless to hide small-sized smart home gadgets. Using baskets, hollow books, and stylish cabinets is a great way to tuck a smart speaker out of sight while keeping it within earshot for voice activation. 

Blending in isn’t just about hiding devices. It can also be about incorporating them into the design of a space without highlighting them. Smart lights are a great example of how high-tech devices in the home can be hidden in plain sight. These lightbulbs can be voice-controlled or linked to apps so you can dim lights, change colours, or turn them off room by room. High tech gadgets for the home can help elevate any space from a design perspective without stealing the show. 

The one unsightly issue with smart home devices are the charging cables. It’s hard to find a way to incorporate charging cords into the decor of a space, so it’s best to find a hidden solution. The best way to do this is to use chic furniture to set up a hidden charging station for devices. Consider the rooms in your home that have the most smart devices and set up a home base for charging somewhere out of sight. Cabinets, media consoles, and desks with closed drawers are the best way to create a tucked-away spot for charging your numerous smart devices. 

smart home
Source: Four Hands

No matter what your style is, you can find a contemporary or unassuming finish to help your modern smart home devices fit the aesthetic. The Echo Dot can be slipped into leather or suede cases, and smart thermostats such as Hive offer a few options for the colour of the band and the stand. You don’t need to hide all smart home devices if you can customize their appearance to match your decor. 


Standing out in style

Source: Bang & Olufsen website

Some smart home devices are not meant to blend in. A smart TV is one such example. The size of these devices makes it near impossible to tuck them away. However, you can hide them in plain sight and make them a focal part of the decor. You can buy empty frames for smart TVs to look like art on display rather than a large TV on the wall. Many high-tech gadgets also factor in the design and aesthetic right alongside usability. 

Other large smart devices such as speakers are now being designed in such a way as to appear like a kind of modern art. A great example of this is Bang & Olufsen-designed speakers. 

No matter how you use smart home technology, there is always a way to decorate with it to avoid disrupting the style of your home. If you’re struggling to find a solution for mixing modern technology into your home without compromising on the chic aesthetic of a space, our designers can help. Our complimentary design services are here to help you create the perfect marriage between modern smart home devices and the historic architecture in Victoria or the mid-century decor trend we love. Get in touch today to bring your home into the modern age in style.

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