How to Build a Smart Home from Scratch: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
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We spend a lot of time in our homes. It’s not just where we lay our heads—it’s also where we make special memories with friends and family, host parties and game nights, celebrate birthdays and holidays, cook meals with loved ones, and so much more. And for as much as you do for your home, your home should work hard for you, too. That’s why so many people are turning to smart home devices to help their everyday run a little smoother.
Creating a smarter home doesn’t have to mean a futuristic, Jetsons-like remodel with a bunch of gadgets and sensors all over the place. Sometimes, it’s as easy as introducing smart light bulbs or a smart thermostat, and swapping out older models that don’t work anymore with their more efficient counterparts.
There are a ton of smart home devices out there, and they all range in scale, need, and price. So, where do you start? To help you on your journey to building a smart home from scratch, we made a comprehensive guide that outlines how it works, where to start, and what gadgets are truly worth it to include in your smart home setup. We’ve gone room by room, identifying the best thermostats, toasters, shower heads, mattresses, and more, so you can make your home work better for you.
So, what’s up with smart home devices?
Where anything is lacking, we can rethink and optimize. Whether that’s something as simple as painting walls, changing up light fixtures (or finally switching to LED bulbs), or investing in landscaping, there are plenty of smart ways to upgrade our current setup. And although the idea of the “smart home”—where your lights can be controlled by your voice, or your fridge can text you when you’re running low on milk—can feel futuristic, the tech has actually been around for more than a decade.
At first it was just out-there ideas for early adopters, more about cool points than functionality. The latest generation of smart-home products aren’t that. The technology’s had time to mature, so there are better ideas, fewer bugs, fewer fancy functions you don’t need, and a solid track record of security (these things are linked to the internet, remember!) And they’ve only gotten easier to use. If you can download an app on your phone, you can handle most smart tech. In fact, you might not even realize how smart your home is already. A lot of us started making our homes “smarter” with the rise of digital assistants like the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, or the Google Home. But that’s just the beginning.
How to Set Up Your Smart Home
1. Optimize Your Wi-Fi
Most smart devices you can buy today will connect to your network wirelessly, which makes your Wi-Fi network security and ability very important. Make sure you have a solid network setup, and consider investing in a mesh Wi-Fi network system to avoid potential dead zones.
2. Set Up the Ecosystem
Before you jump into the fun stuff, start with your ecosystem—that is, a central hub for all of your smart devices. There are plenty of brands to choose from, but the three most popular and widely known are Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, and Google Home. All your accessory devices will connect to this.
3. Then, Start With the Basics
There are plenty of smart gadgets to choose from, but you don’t necessarily need all of them. Common starter gadgets include smart speakers, smart plugs, and smart lighting or bulbs.
4. Create Groups and Automation
One of the most convenient parts about a smart home is that you can automate just about anything. You can group devices together by room or by type in your smart home hub app, which makes for a more seamless day-to-day. For example, it allows you to say things like, “Turn off the office lights,” instead of, “Turn off light group 3.”
5. Add Accessories You’ll Actually Use
Smart alarm clocks, robot vacuums, smart thermostats, smart door locks—the options are truly endless here when it comes to additional smart home accessories you may want to add into your hub. Evaluate which ones you think are most beneficial for you, and go from there. You don’t have to do it all at once. You can always add things on over time, and adjust according to your needs and budget.
Best Smart Home Devices and Which Ones Are Worth It
Smart Home Hubs
Google Nest
The Google Nest hub is integrated with Gemini, which offers an AI assistant to help control your home base. If you’re heavy into the Google ecosystem (using Gmail, Google Calendar, YouTube TV, etc.), then you might prefer to work with a Google Nest as your main service hub.
Amazon Alexa
The Amazon Alexa system is nice because it works with a variety of third-party gadgets, as well as both Android and iOS users, so mixed households can both benefit from its usability. It’s easy to set up, easy to use, and functions well with many smart home gadgets you throw its way, regardless of brand.
Apple Home
The Apple Home offers a similar functionality to Alexa and Nest, but there is currently no model with a screen. It works best with homes that have all Apple products (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, etc.) since it has deep iOS tie-ins that can function seamlessly with the Apple Homepod.
Kitchen Appliances
Smart Ovens
Smart ovens will answer the dreaded “What’s for dinner tonight?” quicker than you can order a pizza! The Brava smart oven cooks with infrared heat and can handle three different foods at a time—even if they require different temperatures. Just put in a main and two sides and hit a few buttons, and your space-age oven senses the types of foods inside and cooks them, serving dinner for up to four people. The Tovala smart oven uses similar tech but it’s based on a meal-subscription service. Each dish comes with a QR code, so you don’t have to hit buttons: Just scan the code, put the food inside, and relax until dinner’s ready.
Composters
Composting is a few obvious things: It’s good for the environment because it reduces waste, and it’s good for your garden because it makes the best fertilizer there is. What it’s usually not? Fast. But with the spacious Lomi 3 composter, you can turn everything from banana peels to chicken bones to yard waste into nutrient-rich compost in as little as three hours—no smells or mess required.
Smart Toasters
The Revolution toaster uses infrared heat to give everything from bread to waffles to Pop-Tarts a crunchy outside and a perfectly warm inside. It uses a simple touch screen, so all you have to do is find the picture of what you want to toast and press it. And when you want to go beyond bread, there’s an available panini press insert (that also makes quesadillas) and a warming rack above the toaster for muffins, croissants, and other larger baked goods.
Bathroom Gadgets
touchless Soap Pump
A touchless soap pump inside your own home? Yes, please! It’s the little things that make life easier that are the most appealing. The simplehuman rechargeable sensor pump is sleekly designed, with an adjustable output and USB-chargeable battery that lasts for months.
Automatic Trash Can
We don’t know about you, but we could deal with never touching a messy trash bag again. The MRBIN automatic trash can uses a sensor to automatically raise the lid by three ways: hand wave, knee activation, or a 15-minute open time via the home button for a custom disposal experience. And because it’s made of a durable alloy steel, you can rest easy knowing it’s an investment that’ll last.
waterproof Shower Speaker
If you’re a podcast fan or a morning person with pep in her step, the Kohler Moxie incorporates a Bluetooth speaker into a 1.75-gpm shower head. The speaker, made in partnership with Harman Kardon (an exceptional audio brand), is held by magnets, so it’s easy to remove to charge—or to bring to the bedroom to keep the music going while you’re getting dressed.
Living Room Appliances
Smart Speaker
Google Home and Alexa are the best-known smart speakers, offering music playback and voice control over any of your home’s connected devices. But they’re made by tech companies. The Sonos Era 100 smart speaker is made by one of the best audio companies around. It does all the same stuff the other guys can do, with nearly studio-quality sound. Plus, if you have other Sonos speakers, it’ll pair with them seamlessly for stereo sound.
Smart Plug
Once you start using smart-home products, you may be disappointed by some of the regular ones. A smart plug like the Kasa Smart Plug lets you turn any device into a smart device. It plugs into a traditional outlet, and anything you plug into it is controllable through an app or your smart speaker. You can set a schedule for any old lamp, or turn it on and off with your voice, right from your couch. And the next time you get hot and don’t want to walk to the fan, Alexa will turn it on for you.
Dog Camera
After 18 months of having their owners around all day, pets will be dealing with serious withdrawal once everyone is back at school and work. The Furbo dog camera lets you check in on Fido any time you have your phone and an internet connection. There’s a bark alert to tell you when your fur baby is stressed, and a talk feature that lets them hear your voice so they can calm down. You can even use the app to dispense treats for pup being the goodest boy!
smart Thermostat
If there’s a gateway smart-home device, it’s the Google Nest Thermostat. Not only does it feature a sleek design and low price (and the simplest thermostat setup we’ve seen yet), it’ll also help you lower your energy consumption by automatically going into an “eco” mode when it notices no one is home. It can even give you a heads-up when your AC or heater is acting funny and might need a service call.
CO2 Alarm
If you don’t mind shedding a little more money, the Google Nest Protect is a combination smoke-and-CO2 alarm that goes above and beyond. If you’re at the office and someone burns toast at home, the Protect will beep and tell you the degree of danger. Plus, instead of chirping incessantly if the battery is low, the Protect tests its own power and tells you when it’s going to run out. And when you walk under it at night on the way to the bathroom, it’ll turn on a little light, which is nice.
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Bedroom Gadgets
smart cooling Mattress Pad
Got sleep issues? It might be your body temp. Humans sleep best in cooler conditions, and when your body gets too warm at night, you’ll sleep restlessly and wake regularly. Trouble is, the ideal temp is different for everyone. Orion has a science-backed solution: a mattress pad that automatically adjusts your temperature, tracks your sleep (and provides valuable insights), and provides personalized temperature controls for both you and your partner. It fits right on top of your regular mattress, too, so setup is a cinch. Best of all, it adapts to your unique needs and sleep habits, so it only gets smarter over time.
smart ALARM CLOCK
If you’re over there saying “But I already have an alarm clock built into my phone!” then it’s clear you haven’t tried the Hatch Restore Sunrise Alarm Clock yet. Because once you do, you’ll never go back to your old ways. The Hatch has a ton of features that’ll make your sleep (and your waking) far easier. Supporting your natural circadian rhythm, it includes a variety of white noises to help you drift off, as well as an alarm that mimics the sunrise to gently help lift you out of bed.
automatic WINDOW Shades
Opening the bedroom shades in the morning is kind of like making the bed: A lot of us don’t bother since we know we’ll just be undoing the effort some hours later. While it won’t make your bed for you, the Smith & Noble Scott Living line offers dozens of options for custom voice-controlled shades. Set up a schedule via an app, or use your smart speaker to command them to do the work for you. Check them out at a local Smith & Noble store near you to see all your options.
Laundry Room and Garage Appliances
automatic Water-Leak Sensor
Water damage is one of the biggest dangers to your home—and one of the most expensive issues to diagnose. Instead of hoping to catch a leak in time, put a PHYN smart water sensor in the laundry room, under the water heater, or anywhere you’re worried about potential leaks. The second it senses water, you get an alert on your phone so you can stop it before the damage is done.
smart Garage Controller
If you’ve ever gone to the grocery store or left for vacation only to suddenly think you might have left the garage door open, the ADT garage controllers (as part of the Command and Control security package) or the LiftMaster Smart Garage Control Hub can put your mind at ease. Just pull up the app to see if the door is open or shut. You’ll get alerts when it’s left open, and you can open it for the dog walker while you’re away.
smart Electrical Panels
The Span Smart Electrical Panel is beyond smart—it’s brilliant. It lets you control every circuit in your home from an app , which is useful if you’re traveling and a fuse blows or the power goes out. But it also future-proofs your home for any electrical or tech innovation, like solar, and it includes a lot of the equipment you need for it, which will net out in savings.
Originally published in Reveal Magazine by Ian Beasley
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