6 Top Money-making Smart Home Upgrades for your Vancouver Condo
January 23, 2015
Add these top 6 money making smart home add-ons to your Vancouver Condo
Living in Vancouver, for many of us, means living in a condo–you can pack a lot of living into a small space, if you do it right. The real estate game here isn’t easy, so any way you can add value to your home is a practical investment. It’s even more practical when these value added pieces make your life easier too. We’ve got 6 smart home add-ons that will add to your quality of life while also enhancing the asking price for your home when it’s time to sell.
Beautiful Controls with in-wall iPad / Touch-screen Control
It wasn’t long ago that home automation was out of reach for most consumers–and it was complicated too! We’ve seen all of that change with the rise of the smartphone; putting an intelligent touch-screen computer in the palm of your hand turns out to be one of the best ways of controlling something as dynamic and customizable as your automated home. With the release of the iPad in 2010, home automation integrators saw an opportunity to replace older, less responsive touch-screen wall panels with well designed, well-built tablets.
There are a number of ways of adding an iPad to your smart home as a control centre. One of the easiest ways is by retrofitting with an iPort docking station. iPort docking stations come in two flavours: the ControlPort and the LaunchPort. The LaunchPort is the simpler of the two installations: cut a hole in the wall to feed a power connection through, mounting a circular “collar” to the drywall. The power will need to be routed through to a space close to a regular power socket; the LaunchPort kit comes with a wall plate that the included AC Adapter plugs into. The “collar” has two plastic components snap on to it, giving you a nice looking finish. Finally, your iPad is secured in a custom case with a magnet attached to the back. It includes induction charging, to that you’ll never run out of power, and a comfortable grip so it’s easy to pull off and return to the wall when needed.
The ControlPort is an in-wall solution, so it takes more work to get it installed. You can start by cutting a square hole in the wall using the included template, installing the ControlPort box, then installing the iPad into the semi-permanent frame (we say semi-permanent because there are about two dozen screws securing it into the frame–you can get it out, but it’s going to take the better part of five minutes to do so). The ControlPort has similar requirements for power and wiring as the LaunchPort; an interface inside the ControlPort box connects to the 30-pin or Lightning connector on your iPad. That frame that we were talking about sticks to the ControlPort box through the use of four magnets–enough to hold it on the wall securely while still letting you remove it if you need to.
The final option here is the Rolls Royce of in-wall iPad mounts, called TruFig by Dana Innovations. To get the best look and feel it needs to go in when drywall is being installed. It’s a lot like the ControlPort, except that it sits flush with the wall, with no bezel hanging over the edge. A plastic piece of trim lets you mud right up to the frame, and tears free after you’ve painted right over it, giving you a smooth, seamless result. It’s a premium product with a premium look… and a premium price to match–not for the faint of heart or wallet.
Smart switches automate control of your lighting
Adding intelligence to your plugs and switches isn’t hard. There are plenty of companies out there who make this sort of gear, and you can’t go wrong with a well-reviewed brand. For us, we work with Lutron with a focus on their Radio RA2 or HomeWorks whole home system.
A system like this lets you control your lights from in-wall keypads, table top controls, touch-screens, tablets and phones (both Android and iOS), or through dedicated controls, like Lutron’s garage door opener.
Switches and plugs like this are built to help you live more comfortably and organically. By creating “scenes” that join lights and other devices together, you can tap one button and have your home respond instantly. Scenes are great for highlighting art, setting the stage to enjoy TV, or creating a mood that’s perfectly matched with a tasty meal. We’ve created thousands of “scenes” since we started building them, with names like “arrive”, “leave”, “entertain”, “watch a movie”, “relax”, “read”, and “wake up”. The only limit to what you can do with scenes is your imagination–and even then you’ve got our experience to pull from, so don’t worry if you’re drawing a blank!
Automating your lighting is more than just setting a scene, however–you can schedule too! Many of our setups include lights that activate automatically for sunset and sunrise, based on the established times for those events on a given day, all without you having to do anything. As the days get longer in the summer your system will adjust automatically, likewise when the days get shorter in the winter. You can also tie into home automation systems like those from RTI, letting you adjust to other conditions like weather.
Living in a secure Vancouver condo generally means you don’t have to shoulder many of the concerns that standalone home owners do, but having a “coming home” scene set up means you don’t have to worry about walking into a horror movie moment–we all know that nothing is there, but it’s still a relief to walk into a brightly lit space. Which is something that you have control over from anywhere in the world. We use routers from Custom Integration Solutions that create secure connections not just for smart switches but for other intelligent smart home devices. It’s a great way to protect your home in the era of the “internet of things” (it has Virtual Private Network security built right in) and ensures that if you’ve used an integrator like Pure Image that they can service your smart appliance connections without having to come to your home.
Smart switches are a far more elegant solution than a traditional bank of switches. In the case of a Lutron-powered system, a single six button keypad can replace a 6-switch panel – you can centralize your switches elsewhere in your home, making it easy to access everything you need while keeping a clean, seamless look everywhere else.
The wow-factor of smart switches can’t be beat; they’re impressive when you first seem them, and they’re the kind of upgrade that you have to have once you see what they can do. It’s a nice hook for someone who might be into your place and needs that final push into making a buying decision.
Thin displays enhance your entertainment experience
Looking back over the last twenty years we’ve seen a drastic shift in the tone of interior design; the television, while still a focal point of many living spaces, takes up a fraction of the space that it used to. When mounted correctly on a wall with the right attention to detail paid–including in-wall wiring for audio/video and power–a thin display can enhance a room’s entertainment and design potential while raising its value. Want that one more time in easy-to-understand english? It makes your living room more fun and raises the saleable value of your home.
We’ve worked with a number of thin panels over the past ten years, and some of our current favourites include the Samsung 8550, a 4K smart display that comes in sizes up to 85”, and the Sony X900c, a newly-announced model from CES 2015 that offers some pretty incredible 4K performance thanks to its new processor, the X1 chip.
Choosing a cutting-edge 4K display is a smart move for anyone who may be moving in the next five years: it puts you ahead of the technology curve and lets you enjoy incredible picture quality in the short term, while adding the value of a modern display to your resale proposition. Thin displays also consume less energy and take up less space, maximizing the viewing potential of the room while minimizing the impact it has on the space. You get to see more without having to worry about working around the TV, and that’s pretty great. Look to Quantum Dot displays and OLED displays to lead the way in the near future, offering the best return when integrated into your smart home space.
IR Panels warm your space for less with infrared heat
Wouldn’t you love to heat your home at rates up to 50% lower than what you’re getting now? Infrared Heating Panels can make that difference for you; infrared heat is a new technology that uses IR light to heat objects in the room rather than the air. Those objects (tables, floors, even people) then give off that heat, creating a much more efficient conversion of electricity to heat energy over other available systems.
IR Heating Panels are thin, light, and connect to regular power. While you’ll want to take some time to use an online calculator to see how many panels you’ll need, they’re easy to install and easy to use, making energy saving something simple that anyone can accomplish in a few hours.
IR Panels add value to any Vancouver smart home: they’re good looking, tuck away on your ceiling, and they can save you a lot of money. There’s no reason not to upgrade, and it’s a great bullet-point when you’re trying to sell your place: “cut your heating costs by up to 50%” really resonates with buyers.
Smart locks are convenient and they impress
It’s hard to beat a smart lock for curb appeal and cool factor. When you’re looking to sell your place there’s nothing more stylish than your realtor walking up to the front door and having it unlock itself, completely hands-free, to let prospective new buyers in. Smart locks can look like regular locks (like the Kwikset Kevo) or they can have a futuristic look that also includes a smarter handle–Samsung’s recent entries in the smart lock market include a “push/pull” handle, integrated keypad (that auto generates two numbers every time you unlock your door with it so that fingerprints won’t give it away), and both NFC and Bluetooth capabilities… it’s pretty slick.
A smart lock is a good addition for you in the meantime; not only do you eliminated fumbling with your keys, but you can also get reports from your locks as to who opened it and when, in addition to being able to instantly issue and revoke keys. That’s great for everyone, including those with housekeepers and family members who like to visit unannounced; being able to send a digital key to their smartphone then remove it when it’s no longer needed is convenient and cool.
Handing over the keys when you sell your place is as simple as changing hands on the smart lock account. All it takes is deregistering your account, registering the lock with a new account, and it’s as secure as can be.
Enjoy music everywhere with zoned audio from SONOS®
Having music throughout your home is something that you don’t miss until you’ve had it; it allows you to seamlessly enjoy relaxing music or to rock out from room to room with a single source providing a soundtrack that follows you throughout your home. You can also choose to create audio zones, wherein each zone gets its own music based on who is using it. One of the simplest ways to accomplish this is with SONOS® wireless speakers, like their Play 3.
Wireless? Yes, SONOS is one of those upgrades that can add value to your home right now, and could be a deal-sweetener when you are ready to sell your home… if you can bear to leave it behind!
We’ve installed a number of SONOS systems in the past because they’re super-flexible and perform very well, while still being available at reasonable price point.
In-Wall / Invisible Speakers add sound that you hear but don’t see
The last point that we’ll come to start with quality of life for you and continues on by providing a value that you just don’t see in many Vancouver condos: in-wall sound. We’ve talked about the potential of wireless sound with SONOS, but what if you don’t want the speakers around while still having the convenience of the SONOS system? That’s where the SONOS Connect or Connect:AMP come in, paired up with in-wall speakers.
In-wall audio is an investment. It needs wiring to be run to your speakers in each room, for the speakers to be installed in your drywall, for them to be mudded, sanded, and in some cases painted for a seamless look. You also need to consider, with invisible speakers like those from Sonance, that seamless look is taken to an extreme: they blend perfectly in to your wall–unless you know where your speakers are supposed to be, you won’t be able to find them. Having music flow out of your walls with no apparent source can have an incredibly impressive effect.
Enjoy it now, add value for later
The point of each of these upgrades is that it makes your life better right now, in the space where you’re living, while also adding serious value to your space for when it’s time to make a sale. Better entertainment, better warmth, better access, better control–all of these things are points that new owners are looking for. They help you differentiate your space from other homes on the market. So go ahead, give yourself an edge, and make an upgrade that you’ll love… both now and when it’s time to sell!
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