Smart technology has led to a wave of handy new home accessories and created more than 50 million smart homes in the United States. From programmable thermostats to refrigerators that track your groceries for you, there’s never been a better time to start using smart appliances, devices, and gadgets to make life easier and automated.
So far, in our series on how to make your home smart, we’ve looked at the many devices available for your living room and kitchen. This installment will look at smart technology options for your bedroom and bathroom.
The Best Smart Technology for Your Bedroom
Many smart devices are designed for use in the bedroom, and they cover a wide spectrum of purposes and pricing. So whether you’re looking to do a full remodel and outfit your entire suite from top to bottom with the latest tech, or you just want to add voice-controlled blinds, there are a lot of options available. They can work as stand-alone devices, with your phone, or with a virtual assistant like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Let’s look at some of the most popular smart devices that can bring a high-tech touch to your bedroom.
Smart Bed
Smart technology isn’t just about voice-controlled lighting (although that is pretty cool), it’s also about optimizing how we sleep. Smart beds use mattress sensors to gather and analyze your sleep patterns and habits, providing insight into your overall sleep quality like detecting issues with sleep and tips for improvement.
Unsurprisingly, smart beds typically include charging stations, speakers that sync up with other smart audio technology, and custom lighting displays that can be synced with other smart devices. You’ll also find settings for warming, cooling, and even mattress firmness.
Smart Nightstand
What smart bed would be complete without a smart nightstand? Smart nightstands take the standard bedside table and add a whole other level of convenience with smart technology that supports a connected lifestyle. Charging ports, wireless charging, LED lights, and speakers are all common features of a smart nightstand.
Sleep Tracker
If you want some of the benefits of a smart bed but don’t want to spend the money or you just want to find out more about your sleep quality, a sleep tracker is the way to go. These little devices are worn around the wrist like a smartwatch or fitness tracker (some of those even have integrated sleep trackers). They can tell you about your heart and breathing rate, REM cycles, body temperature, blood oxygen levels, and more. Sync and analyze your data with accompanying apps on your phone to get a long-term look at your sleep habits.
Smart Curtains & Blinds
Smart window coverings are one of the most high-impact upgrades you can get. There’s something about the blinds automatically opening or closing depending on the time of day that’s classy. Not to mention that strategic use of window coverings can produce a more consistent temperature in your home and even save money on heating and cooling costs.
Many automatic blinds are available in various styles, sizes, and so on. If you want to take advantage of a budget, check into devices that can bring smart tech automation to your existing curtains.
Smart Alarm Clock
Smart alarm clocks are a distant cry from the old mechanical clocks with their ringing bells. New models are voice-activated, offer a variety of sounds, and can even connect with other smart devices. Wake up to your favorite song or a day-specific playlist. Some smart alarm clocks even sync with your sleep tracker so that the alarm sounds at the perfect time in your sleep cycle.
Smart Outlets
Smart outlets are an easy way to bring many smart device features to regular devices, and a bedroom is a perfect place for them. Imagine this — you’re in bed, almost asleep, but a lamp on the other side of the room is still flipped on. If it’s plugged into a smart outlet, you can turn off the outlet from your phone without getting out of bed and waking yourself up.
Smart Lighting
If you want to go high-tech with your lighting, outfit your bedroom with smart lights. These lights take LED efficiency to a new level with added features like mood-enhanced dimming, different colored lights, the ability to strobe in unison with music, and many other features. Smart lighting — like most smart devices — can be controlled with your phone or voice-controlled personal assistant. Check out the smart light bulbs section next time you’re at the home box store for ideas.
Wireless Chargers
If you’re still messing around with endless cords and adapters for your phone, earbuds, and other devices, do yourself a favor and look into a wireless charger for your bedroom. These little mats work with most smartphones and smartwatches and will charge your devices easily and automatically. Put one in your bedroom and designate a charging area for yourself to use every night (a smart nightstand may even have a built-in charging pad).
The Best Smart Technology for Your Bathroom
No doubt that once you get started with smart tech upgrades for your bedroom, you’ll want to upgrade the adjoining bathroom too. Smart bathroom gadgets offer convenience, safety, less waste, and more. The NKBA Design Trends 2021 report found that areas for device charging, bidets, and smart toilets are leading the pack in popular smart bathroom additions.
Below are some of our favorite smart devices for the bathroom.
Smart Toilets
What would a smart bathroom be without a smart toilet? These handy contraptions are #1 when it comes to a luxurious experience that’s #2 to none. Jokes aside, smart toilets include seat-warmers, touch-free lids, lights, speakers, optimized water use, and self-cleaning.
Interactive LED Mirrors
LED mirrors are a really cool way to connect your bathroom with the rest of the world — don’t worry, it’s better than it sounds. Imagine your regular bathroom mirror, but with a picture-in-picture view with a display down in the corner that contains your notes for the day, the weather forecast, a news stream, or whatever else your heart desires.
Smart Shower
Smart showers typically combine shower heads with a control display to optimize water usage by adjusting the flow, pressure, temperature, and other settings. While this can improve comfort and overall experience, a smart shower might save you money and reduce your overall monthly water use by 3%.
PS — You can also get similar features for your sink with a smart faucet. They have hands-free sensors that automatically turn the water off and on to reduce waste.
Smart Scale
Alright, we get it; not everyone loves the scale. However, smart scales are pretty cool and can give you valuable insight that you can use to manage your health in the way you want. Old scales measure your body weight; smart scales can measure body fat, muscle mass, water levels, and much more. Sync them with your other smart health devices and start giving yourself data for a complete wellness profile.
Energy Texas Is Your Smart Electricity Provider
Smart devices are all about using data to make things more efficient. That’s how we do things here at Energy Texas, and why you might say we’re your smart electricity provider.
Take our Giddy-Up Guarantee, for example. It works like this — when you sign up for an electricity plan with Energy Texas, we’ll monitor your electricity use to ensure you’re on the plan that best aligns with your needs. If it turns out that a different plan would save you money — we’ll let you know so that you can switch.
It’s just one of the ways we look out for you here at Energy Texas. Enter your zip code below to see the plans we have available in your area.