With the new decade approaching, many are starting to think about revamping the look and feel of their home, and uprooting a ton of old furniture that has outstayed its welcome. Want to spruce up the design and feel of your home in anticipation of the new decade, and the modern trends it will inevitably bring? Thinking about integrating technology into the different rooms in your home in order to future-proof yourself going forward?
Integrating technology with your home
To start with, updating your apartment or house by adding in technology can be a great way of impressing your friends, and while it can be fun to control the lights via voice, or changing the channel on TV without having to lift a finger, smart technology can be much more than just a simple gimmick. Here are a few different smart tech integrations that you might want to consider:
Smart lighting – Decking out your home with smart LED lighting can be a brilliant way of shifting up the mood without even having to change the layout of a room, or how it looks. Depending on the atmosphere that you want to create in that given moment – whether it be at a warm, calm yellow glow while relaxing or a bright, vibrant red for a party – you can change it on the fly using your smartphone. This is a brilliant solution for those that are living in an apartment and don’t have a lot of space.
Further still, smart lighting can be set on timers to automatically turn off, which is extremely helpful if you’re the forgetful type that tends to leave your lights on all day, and you can even set it to come on automatically at certain points in the morning, acting as an alarm and also simulating natural light in the winter months when light can be hard to come by.
Smart Thermostat – Investing in a smart thermostat system might not make your home look any different, but it’s such an efficient piece of kit that’s used on a daily basis, many people wonder how they lived without it once they get it installed. Again controllable through your smartphone, these can directly control your home’s heating system no matter where you are at that current moment. Giving you much more freedom of control over your heating system, it can also save you a bunch of money
Smart assistant – Smart speakers such as the Google Home or Amazon Echo line of products are much more than devices to play your favourite songs and radio stations. One great usage is that these devices can be paired to the above devices – and many more, for that matter – being able to control them more freely, and controlling them in combination with each other to get your home running on automation.
Top Tip – Conserving energy – Many are starting to become a lot more eco-conscious in their day to day lives, and so it can also be a great idea to employ some energy-saving tactics in your home also to help keep it contemporary. Again, aside from purchasing a smart thermostat, which should help with energy conservation and heat preservation, getting a smart meter fitted can be a decent way of saving a few pounds each month, as you can monitor where you’re wasting the most money and act accordingly.
The Perfect Apartment – Nailing a modern look and feel
So, what sorts of trends are popular in apartment these days? Well, got an overcluttered urban apartment, and feel like you could be doing more with the space? Take a look at some modern apartment builds that are popping up all over cities nationwide, and analyse the way that they figure out solutions to issue of space.
If you look at RWinvest, for example, one of the many property investment companies throughout the UK offering city centre apartments to meet the growing demand from students and young professionals, the majority of their property offerings feature minimalist designs and furniture containing draws and cubby-holes as required, maximising floor space while still remaining practical. Dealing with a reduced amount of room is a normalcy in the city centre, and their Poets Place and Reliance House developments both employ these techniques to compensate. If you want to adapt a modern, sleek style in your property, or make sure you’re maximising the floor space, you should take inspiration from these properties.
Evergreen tips
Even when trying to modernise an apartment or family house, it’s important to still stay on track with the basics. Here are some quickfire tips that are always worth keeping in mind when renovating your home:
Starting with what you’ve already got – Especially if you’ve got a small apartment or home that feels overcluttered by, working backwards and clearing out the unnecessary is always a brilliant starting point for renovating the inside of home. Not only will this allow you to think about what new stuff you need to buy and what you can reuse and rework, but it’ll probably save you a bit of money in the process.
On the subject of money, remember to plan as much as possible before you undergo renovation projects and start shifting the whole house around. If you can, spread your budget and allocate an amount to each room you’re working on, to save yourself from the risk of running out of money by the time you finish the front porch.
Sticking to colours that work – The grey on grey colour scheme is starting to decrease in demand as we go into a new decade, and many are starting to want warmer, more inviting colours in their home to fight the dullness of a monotonal style. Introducing some colour into your property can be a great way of upping the vibe and tempo, but be careful that you don’t take it too far with colours that clash too much with your furniture.
Not sure of how to best tackle some of the painting and decorating in your home? If you’re not confident in getting the job done properly by yourself, ask some friends for help or perhaps even hire a professional. You might think that it’s not worth the cost, but if you mess up you’ll only end up spending the same amount of time correcting your mistakes anyway.
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