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It used to be we put up posters or paintings on our walls and called it décor, but these days, decorating involves not just static artwork, but connected devices that can literally light up a room.
From app-controlled lighting to magic mirrors, there are so many ways to subtly enhance your home living experience with the help of some neat technology. Let’s take a look at some of the coolest pieces of smart decoration.
These flat, geometric lighting panels (in a variety of shapes) are stuck onto your walls or ceiling and can be arranged in a so many patterns. A truly personalized lighting experience, the arrangement connects to one central control box, which is plugged into a power source and controlled via an app on your mobile device, letting you dial in colours or moving light patterns.
With thousands of customizable designs, the Nanoleaf panels can support 16.7 million colours, so you’ll definitely find a combination you like! The app allows you to set the colours, tones and hues and change them with the touch of a button and you can set your design according to your own whims or take inspiration from the Nanoleaf design database, as well as other users’ panel arrangements.
There’s also an add-on Rhythm module that causes the light panels to react to sounds or music in the room via a built-in microphone; be it your music, a movie or even a game.
Philips Hue is the original in smart LED light bulbs and fixtures. The range comprises both indoor and outdoor lighting and was a total game changer in the smart decor world. Basically, you can install as many Hue light bulbs and fixtures as you like across your home and they all communicate wirelessly with the Hue Bridge, which plugs into your home router. From there, you can control all the lighting in your home via an app and even use voice commands via Siri, Alexa or the Google Assistant.
This lets you customize things like the brightness and colour of your lighting, as well as schedule your lighting to turn on automatically at certain times of the day. You can even set up features such as having the lights blink when you receive an important email or connect them to a motion sensor so they turn on as you enter the room.
Connecting Google Assistant lets you program wake-up settings that will slowly fade your bedroom lights up in the thirty minutes leading up to your alarm.
A smart mirror is essentially a digitally-connected two-way mirror; you can look into it, and behind the panel is a screen that can display information to you.
Powered by an internal computer, it can be connected to your phone via Bluetooth or WiFi and allows you to receive information such as the news, weather and traffic updates. They also have LED lights that can be adjusted to provide optimal lighting for whatever you are doing, particularly useful in products like the HiMirror beauty mirror, which can also provide you with personalized data about your skincare and makeup routine.
Other smart mirrors can basically function like an extra phone screen, letting you make calls, play music and access smartphone apps.
Smart gardens, such as the Click & Grow indoor garden, are amazing indoor gardens that fundamentally take care of themselves. Like a coffee pod machine, you insert biodegradable capsules full of plant food and seeds that can produce herbs, fruit and vegetables all year round.
These gadgets come with their own perfectly calibrated lighting and watering systems and look beautiful sitting on your kitchen counter or on your desk. They also have their own app so you can learn more about your plants as they grow.
This piece of decor is as gorgeous as it is powerful. An amazing wireless charger that charges your phone in lightning speed, Native Union’s Marquetry Wireless Charger has a handmade design, meaning it looks stunning sitting on your nightstand, too. It’s even designed to age well, thanks to it being crafted from consciously sourced Italian leather. You can use it to charge iPhones, AirPods and other Qi compatible devices.
Another fantastic wireless charger, the Google Pixel Stand is made to look like a small sculptural easel. This minimalistic piece of smart decor will charge any smartphone super quickly, but works particularly well with the Google Pixel 3. Once paired with your phone, the stand provides highly responsive access to Google Assistant, even while charging.
For art and photography lovers, the Meural canvas is an indispensable piece of smart decor for your home. An extremely high-resolution digital frame the size of a painting on your wall, the Meural has an AHVA (Advanced Hyper-Viewing Angle) LCD display panel that can display 16.7 million colors and has an anti-glare coating to prevent reflections.
You can choose curated images to display on your canvas, from classic masterpieces to contemporary works as well as photographs and even GIF animations, or you can upload your own photos.
For those looking to upgrade their home with some smart decor, look no further than these ingenious pieces of home tech.
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