Mixing Vintage Architecture with Modern Technology

Wireless smart home devices can work wonders in older, vintage homes.

The East Coast has the distinction of having some of the oldest cities in the U.S., and its architecture reflects it. Charming, vintage homes are lovingly preserved by their owners, paying homage to a time long ago. But this doesn’t mean modern technology shouldn’t take up residence in an older home. You just need to choose the right types of products. For homeowners striving maintain the integrity of their historic abodes, or for anyone concerned about the impact of technology on a home’s design, wireless products offer an ideal solution.

Able to be installed without additional wiring, there’s no need to drill holes into the walls or fish cabling around joists and ductwork. Wireless home automation systems, and their connected thermostats, light switches, and so on, can be integrated into your home without compromising its character. What you’ll get in return is greater efficiency, comfort, and convenience.

Lighting is always a good place to start when updating a home. You can swap standard incandescent bulbs for energy efficient LED sources and watch your electricity bills decline. You can gain even greater benefits by using a wireless lighting control system to automate the operation of these LED fixtures. Wireless lighting systems from Control4, for example, include wireless keypads that do the job of multiple individual light switches. From one keypad you can control every light in a room or the entire house. From the comfort of your bed you can tap one button on a keypad by your nightstand to turn off every interior and exterior light for the night or light a pathway to the bathroom. Other keypads can engage a host of other lighting scenes to enhance the beauty of your home.

Even more convenient, you can command a Control4 wireless lighting system with your own voice. You’ll just need to add an Amazon Alexa smart speaker to pass your verbal instructions to the appropriate light switches.

And if you integrate wireless motion sensors, you won’t need to do anything at all to manage your home’s lights. When a sensor detects that someone has entered a room, for example, it can signal the Control4 lighting system to activate certain fixtures. When the room is vacant, the lights can turn off automatically.

Another wireless product that integrates seamlessly into a Control4 home automation ecosystem is a thermostat. The Control4 wireless thermostat can manage an indoor air quality device like a humidifier. This is a great feature for an older home. It ensures that the indoor environment receives the optimum amount of humidity so that your home’s woodwork and furnishings are protected from the damaging effects of excess condensation or dry conditions. The thermostat automatically adjusts your home’s relative humidity based on the outdoor temperature so you don’t have to worry.

Adding to the appeal of these wireless devices is the fact that they can be monitored and controlled from a mobile app on your smartphone—another ultra-convenient wireless element of a smart home. With Intercom Anywhere, no matter where you are—at home, on the road, on vacation—you can stay in constant contact with a Control4 home automation system to ensure that the wireless lights switches, wireless thermostat, and other devices are operating optimally. You remain completely untethered from the technology yet stay in complete control.