Garage To Guest Room: 5 Home Automation Highlights

This guest post comes to us from Jamie Dalzell, freelance writer, tech-lover and avid gamer.

From a gadget that safeguards our garages, to tech that takes the tedium out of entertaining, there’s just no denying it: home automation is changing the way we live. And with a Control4 system at the helm, this revolutionary technology is transforming every room in our homes into a hub of home automation.

How, exactly? Today we’re exploring just that! So join us as we take a tour of the 5 rooms where home automation is making our lives that much easier, secure, and enjoyable!
 

The Garage

Our tour of a Control4 home kicks off in the most unlikely of places, the garage!

Sure, the living room may be full of flash gadgets and even flasher flat screens. But when you think about it, many of us spend quite a lot of time in our garages. We tinker. We toy. We make, paint, or even create. Not to mention the numerous—often expensive—possessions we store within.

With home automation, keeping these possessions safe has never been easier. The days of misplacing a garage door remote, or driving away with the worry that you forgot to put the garage door down, are behind us. Instead, the smartphone in your pocket is the new go-to gadget for controlling your garage. Simply fire up the Control4 App and see instantly whether or not the door is shut—and in the case that it was forgotten—shut it remotely, without having to turn back around.

And with notifications delivered directly to your smart device, even if you forget about the garage all together, you can be notified after, say, 10 minutes if it has not been closed. Better yet, the benefits of home automation allow your system to automatically shut the garage door after a certain amount of time, so no need for a notification at all should you choose.
 

The Living Room

Ah, the living room! A place to kick back, relax, and enjoy some well-earned down time. Chances are, though, you’ll spend most of this down time upending the couch in search of a multitude of remotes. The television. The DVD. The AppleTV…the list goes on! Yet with the addition of a Control4 SR-260 Universal Remote, you can control all of these devices with just ONE remote!

And if the big game isn’t going your way? No worries. With everything from your Roku to Netflix connected via Control4, you no longer need to sift through your DVD collection for something to watch. In fact, with a network attached storage device, you can stream what you want, whenever you want.

With easy access to this much entertainment, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a reason to leave the couch! And you really won’t have to because that same remote can control the lights, blinds and temperature as well. Ok, so you WILL have to get up to use the bathroom, but Control4 takes care of most of the work.

The Kitchen

Whether you’re preparing Thanksgiving dinner, entertaining guests, or simply grabbing breakfast on a lazy Saturday morning, the kitchen is the true multipurpose hero of the home. And with Control4, utilizing this space has never been easier.

Cooking? It’s a cinch. With a Wolf oven, you’re notified via your smartphone when preheating is complete. And once your food’s cooking, you can return to entertaining with the knowledge you’ll be notified once your meal is ready to eat.

With home automation the age-old “It’s not burnt, it’s just brown” is a thing of the past!

And the oven isn’t the only appliance to go smart. In fact, soon enough new supporting technologies like wireless power will be ridding us of power cords in the same way Control4 cuts the need for cables. With the way this technology works, the smart home of the future could power these devices from the very bench they’re placed on.

Also, with a Sub-Zero fridge you’ll never run out of ice on a hot day with its “Entertainment” mode engaged. With notifications sent directly to your smartphone whenever the fridge door is left open, there’s no chance of that specially-prepared banquet of yours going bad.
 

The Bedroom

Does the following story sound familiar?

Pajamas on, good book in hand, you’re settling into bed when you realize you’ve forgotten something. Did you lock the front door? Are the lights off? How about the TV?

Rather than climb out of the comfort of your own bed, with Control4 you can lock down for the night with the press of a single button. By activating one of your pre-set “scenes”, you can switch off the lights, lock the front door, and brighten your bedside lamp for a touch of reading before you sleep.

And if you’re a parent, that good night’s sleep likely eludes you. But with Control4's video intercom, you can check in on the little one as easily as you can check who’s at the front door.
 

The Guest Room

Just because they’re visiting doesn’t mean your guests have to go without when it comes to the conveniences a modern home automation system provides. Your guests can enjoy their own tunes streamed over the Control4 network while you rock out to your own playlist in the room next door. And with labeled keycaps, they always know what they are getting—from a specific light to a predetermined scene. And with one remote to control everything, there is no learning curve when it comes to controlling their temporary domain.

So there you have it! 5 rooms where home automation is a must-have. Do you have a favorite room of your own? A room you couldn’t imagine using without home automation? Let us know!