We are very excited to have won the 2024 Badger Craftsman Award for Best Smart Home. We put together a video of our award-winning house (linked below) but we also wanted to explain what home automation systems were added. This home has over 85 smart devices, and since home automation is much more than cameras, we wanted to tell you a bit more about the main systems integrated into this Northwoods family home.
Whole-home lighting system
The majority of smart devices in this house belong to the lighting system. This includes switches, keypads, and remotes. A lighting system allows you to condense a bank of light switches down to one engraved keypad, set the scene by controlling multiple lights with the touch of one button, and control your lights from anywhere. The features of this lighting system also include geo-fencing, voice control, diming, and smart away. The homeowners really wanted to be able to set the ambiance and lighting is key to that from both a practical and convenience point of view.
Automated Shades
One crucial element in this home is automated shades. The owners spoke so highly of these shades and, in their testimonial, mentioned how worth-it they were. These can be controlled by a wall keypad, tabletop remote, an app on a smart device, or voice controlled. Having the right style, material, color, and opacity of shades helps with temperature management, privacy, and entertaining. In this home, they opted for roller shades that preserved some of the gorgeous view but also cut the sunlight to help with temperature management.
Electrical Panel
A smart electrical panel allows you to check the energy consumption of each item in your home. Plus, you can check if a breaker has tripped and turn off a breaker if needed. This is really the item that brings your smart home together.
Thermostats
The owners aren’t always at this home and they wanted a way to monitor the temperature while they are away. A smart thermostat allows you to check, and most importantly change, the temperature of your home from anywhere. If it gets cold or hot, you can adjust the temperature to do anything from keep your pets comfortable to keep your pipes from freezing. You can also schedule your air conditioning (or heat because this is Wisconsin) to turn off when you are at work for the day and turn back on a little before you arrive home.
Security Cameras
And yes there are security cameras. But that is actually the smallest smart system in the house. Security cameras are a great feature if you want to keep an eye on your home or property no matter if you are at work, on vacation, or hear a bump in the night and want to check from the safety of your bedroom. This home includes several outdoor security cameras to watch over the property when the owners are away. But to think that a smart home only equals cameras would be to miss out on so many amazing home automation systems and features!
As always, we hope we’ve made your day brighter! If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please visit www.inthelitellc.com.
