Now is the time for all generations - Boomers, X, Y and Z - to make the most of the increasing number of smart solutions available to help us live well and manage our homes. With the explosion of  sophisticated technology that is increasingly accessible and affordable, there is in fact virtually nothing that a smart home cannot do.

For example, if you want to check your security cameras while you’re overseas you can do so on your cellphone. At the touch of a button you can now switch on your favourite TV programme or music anywhere in the house, close the curtains, run the pool pump or generate a shopping list. New technologies, such as geyser timers and rotating solar panels, are also making it easy to regulate
energy use in your home and contribute to the conservation of natural resources.

And the automated carpet hoovering is just phenomenal! From a security point of view, video signals can be relayed to any TV or computer screen in the house, allowing you to moderate any security channel, electronic eye or camera, and to see and even photograph anyone on your property. You can also install gates and locks that only open with scanned fingerprints, such as those now often used at
the entrances to secure estates.

On the fun side, a wired-in audio system can send the music from your iPod or CD player to concealed speakers in any part of the house, and sophisticated, subtle lighting can be automatically adjusted to suit the occasion and mood when you entertain.

Outdoors, even a pampered pet can have a smart kennel, or perhaps a stable, where the lighting and the temperature are electronically moderated and water, food and medicine are automatically dispensed.

Indeed, the list of possible is endless, and the bottom line is not only that you can run a
more efficient home, but also that these days you really don’t have to be a multimillionaire like Richard Branson to have smart chips regulating every home comfort.

And you don’t have to be an electronics whizz either. Even elderly folk who need automated
reminders to take medication or an easy way to call for an ambulance are making use of modern technology effectively.

So I say, ‘smart’ is a personality as well as the best home design tip for 2012 and beyond.
Remember, as the wonderful Steve Jobs said, ‘Design is not what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.’

Until next month,
Sandy