After initially not seeing the point in a smart home or devices when it first came out I've now fully embraced the technology.

It started when renovating the house and needed a new central heating thermostat. British Gas were offering their Hive smart thermostat half price so we had it installed. We then got our first Amazon Echo and linked the 2. Suddenly I could see it was useful. Being able to set the temperature or ask what it was by just asking. Turning on the hot water or setting a schedule.

We then got a couple of Hive's own smart lightbulbs and plugs. One for the hall light so it comes on a dusk, and we have a standard lamp in the lounge where the plug is behind the sofa and not easy to reach

Since then the amount if smart home things has expanded greatly. Most of our ceiling lights are now smart bulbs. And some table lights. Some other plug sockets are now too. Had Christmas tree and outside Christmas lights set up on smart plugs too.

2 of our Smart TVs can be controlled by Alexa too.

And in the log cabin because I ran the home network into it, with wifi, I have smart lights, a smart electric heater, blink security camera and Netatmo smart weather station all working in there.

Other things include more Blink cameras in the house and a Ring front door bell. Plus a few wifi security sensors.

And today we just bought something else, which got me thinking about smart homes. My wife was moaning she needed an extension power strip by the bed to plug her hairdryer, straightens, side table light and phone charger into. But said it was still difficult to turn stuff on and off as the wall socket is low down behind the bedside table.

Solutuon. TP-Link make a smart wifi power strip. You can name each plug socket on the strip and turn them on and off separately using Alexa or the app.

My next planned job is this year to setup some proper mains lighting down the garden that can be smart controlled. Not sure if I will use smart bulbs or just connect them all to one smart plug. We picked up a really cheap garden lamp-post last year that has 3 lights on it. That will go halfway down the garden. I was then considering a couple of those lower pillar lights along the path. Using smart bulbs would be fun though as could have coloued one so can change colour and brightness.

I also have to replace the securiry light outside the backdoor. Might look at making that smart too. And the water pump for the pond.

So do any of you have a smart home?
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