Get Smart: 5 Awesome Ways to Make your House Smarter

How smart is your house? It might seem like a silly question, but with so many technological advancements over the past few years, our homes now have the capability to get smarter and smarter. While we’re not quite talking about a robot butler for every household, there are some new, neat ways to control the systems in your house. If you feel like getting a little space-aged in your home, check out the cool gadgets below.

1. Baffle burglars - Lock your door with your smartphone using the Goji Smart Lock. See who comes to your door, share key codes with guests (permanently or for a specified amount of time), and lock and unlock your door from anywhere in the world.

Image via Goji

2. Light up your life - Use your smartphone, tablet, or computer to adjust your lights with Philips Hue. Hue's wireless LED lights and multi-platform app let you take your home lighting to a new level. Turn your lights on, off, to a different setting, or to a different color altogether. The free app makes it easy to do from anywhere, so you can always set the mood.

Image via Hue

3. Be "thermosmart" - Heat or cool your home the better way with the Nest Thermostat. The Nest Thermostat learns your heating and cooling habits so it can anticipate the temperature you'd like, and power down when you aren't home. It boasts being able to, when properly programmed, reduce your heating and cooling bills by 20%. You can also access it remotely using your smartphone or tablet.

Image via Nest

4. Chill out - Cool your small space with the Aros smart window air conditioner. Aros works a lot like Nest, where it learns from your schedule and preferred settings, so it can quickly conform to your needs. You can also use it to not only save money by being more energy efficient, but also to stick to your budget - you can set it to stop cooling beyond a certain dollar amount.

Image via Aros

5. Lighten your load - Do laundry the better way with 6th Sense Live. 6th Sense Live lets you start and stop your laundry anywhere, anytime, with your smartphone or tablet. It will also advise you of the best times to do laundry based on energy prices, let you know whether or not you should be adding more detergent to your load, and notify you when your laundry is done. Whirlpool also offers 6th Sense Live technology for dishwashers and refrigerators. 

Image via Whirlpool

Need help keeping your home looking as smart as the appliances in it? Get inspiration at any Marketplace Events home show. Check out the shows coming up in your area - US shows and Canadian shows.

It's also a really smart idea to like us on Facebook. Not only will you get updates and information on our home shows, you'll also get access to exclusive ticket deals. Right now when you like us on Facebook you can get two tickets for the price of one to the home show of your choice.