Easy Upgrades for Wherever You Live
If you and your friends don’t have the privilege of living in pre-built smart home luxury apartments, you might find yourself wishing you could bring your domicile up to modern times without spending a bundle.
Smart apartments allow residents to control features like lighting, door locks, heating and cooling, and more with their voice or smartphone app. And while some are rented out full of these incredible capabilities that make living there a pleasure, most apartments are not.
Because smart home features simply replace less-high-tech ones that are already installed in your apartment, you can swap them out when you move in, and reinstall the old ones before you move out, without violating your lease.
Follow these tips to learn how you can transform your regular, boring apartment into a smart one.
Install Smart Lighting
One of the easiest ways to transform your run-of-the-mill apartment to a smart one is to put in smart lighting.
This is as easy as swapping out your standard light bulbs for those that are wifi-enabled. You can use these light bulbs in your overhead lights or lamps.
Smart electrical plugs insert into your outlet, and will operate the lamps plugged into them. This can be a cost effective alternative to replacing every bulb in your home, and it’s the perfect way to control holiday lights, too.
Upgrade Your Thermostat
Most apartment rentals are outfitted with very basic thermostats to control the heating and cooling. You can consider yourself lucky if you have one that is programmable.
But swapping out your existing thermostat for a smart one is easy enough to do, even if you’ve never done it before. Choose a thermostat that allows you to control it from your smartphone, or that comes with a virtual assistant, like Alexa, built-in.
You can then program your smart thermostat so that it follows a schedule that aligns with when you are home or in bed. Having the temperature in your home automatically adjusted can deliver significant savings on your energy bills.
Install Smart Door Locks
Before changing the locks in your apartment, you might want to check with your landlord. However, if they’re agreeable, a smart lock will make both of you quite happy.
With a smart lock, you can lock and unlock your front door using your smartphone. The convenience this provides is immense; if you’re already in bed and forgot whether you secured your home before you crawled under the blanket, you can quickly check on your phone.
You can also quickly lock or unlock your door while you approach your home with heavy groceries, so you don’t have to fumble with keys.
Smart Window Dressings
Carefully uninstall the miniblinds that no doubt grace your apartment home’s windows, and stow them under your bed or in the back of a closet. Instead, hang smart shades, which you can raise or lower using your smartphone, a virtual assistant, or by programming them just like your thermostat.
You’ll never have to get up to adjust the blinds to better see your TV screen, and you can give yourself privacy at the touch of a button. These smart shades are ideal for apartments with extra-tall windows or a lot of windows that would take a significant amount of time to adjust.
Splurge on Smart Appliances
If your landlord is very hands-off, or if you have extra storage space for the existing refrigerator, you could purchase and install smart appliances in your apartment kitchen.
A smart refrigerator includes a touchscreen tablet on the front that is capable of performing an incredible amount of tasks for you, like showing you what’s inside without opening the door, capturing to-do lists and family schedules (in lieu of the ever-common dry-erase board on the fridge), and even suggesting recipes that include ingredients you already own.
Many people find them convenient, and they lend a space-age feel to any kitchen.
Ready to Get Your Own Place?
If you’ve ever wondered “Where should I find listings of apartments near me?,” you can get a lot of information online.
Once you’ve found a few apartments that are located in neighborhoods you’d like to live in, like luxury apartments in Overland Park, schedule a tour to see your potential new home in person. During your tour, ask the property manager whether you’d be allowed to integrate smart home tools into the apartment if you switched everything back before move-out.
If they’re agreeable, you can keep the apartment on your list of new future homes. If they aren’t, and you’re set on living in a smart apartment, you should keep looking.
