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Tell your friends and families to clear their weekend schedules throughout the entire summer—your house is the place to be for fun all season long.
If you sloughed through winter with visions of making your house the hangout spot of the summer, you’ll want to bookmark this page. We’re outlining the gadgets you’ll need on hand to turn your home into a modern entertaining destination!
1. Keyless Door Lock
No one wants to be kept inside on door duty when the party is in the backyard. Give trusted guests the freedom to enter on their own by installing a keyless door lock. By swapping a traditional key entry with one of the many keyless touchpad lock options, not only will you avoid always rummaging around the house itself searching for the keyring, you’ll also be able to create temporary codes to give to guests that unlock the front door. While they can come right in and enjoy the party, you won’t have to forfeit any sense of security, since those access codes can later be changed once the party’s over.
2. Smart Thermostat and Energy Monitor
You know the drill. When temperatures go soaring, the air conditioner plummets. However, there’s a better way to keep your home’s climate comfortable than constantly blasting cold air. Instead, opt for a smart thermostat that learns the heating and cooling patterns of your home and adjusts energy usage accordingly.
Install something like the Nest Learning Thermostat and you’ll not only get a better idea of how you’re currently using energy at home and how that affects your bills every month, but you’ll also have the option to control your cooling system with a smartphone app. Picture this: you ran out to the store for one more item before friends arrive, and you realize you didn’t turn on the air conditioning. Before you hop into the car, open the Nest app and tell it how cool you’d like the house to be by the time you return home.
3. Water-Resistant Bluetooth Speakers
While you’re hanging outside and listening to music, splashes and spills will happen, we can guarantee that. What can’t be guaranteed is whether the music will stop because of these splashes. Keep the tunes playing by arming your festivities with water-resistant speakers that won’t fritz out with the smallest splash. Plus, most portable speakers have Bluetooth connectivity, so you’ll be able to keep the smartphone or tablet you’re streaming music through with you up to 30 feet before interfering with the connection range.
4. Party-Ready Lighting System
As the sun dips in the sky for the night, you have the perfect opportunity to showcase one of our favorite smart home gadgets—colorful and very intelligent lights! Creating ambient lighting does not involve black lights or scarves thrown over lamps anymore. The electronics brand Philips has made itself the leader in colorful solutions for relaxing at home that can also be synced across Wi-Fi systems. The Philips Hue family of products offers everything from movie theater-style light strips—how great would those look along window panes?—to long-lasting LED light bulbs that can be controlled via smartphone app and programmed to nearly infinite color combinations. Keep the party humming well into the night by getting creative with smart lighting’s endless color palette.
5. Smartphone-Controlled Irrigation and Watering System
In between traveling the world, splashing in the pool and catching up on a long list of reading material, the last thing you want to check off your to-do list in the hot summer months is tending to your garden. However, you don’t want all your hard work to turn into weeds or dry up from neglect.
To keep the yard looking in tip-top shape whatever your hosting or travel schedule may be, install a smart irrigation system in the backyard. Devices like the Rachio Iro Intelligent Irrigation Controller allows you to control your sprinkler system via its smartphone app. You could be in another state enjoying a friend’s backyard party and still turn your sprinklers on or off with a few taps of your phone. Look for other types of smart gardening sensors, specifically ones that can be inserted right into the soil, which will alert you when it’s time for a water refresh on the plant.
6. Security Camera
Of course, we’re going to have to add a touch of practicality to your gadget arsenal. With all those people streaming in and out of your house through a variety of entrances, accidents may happen and a door can be mistakenly left open. Create some peace of mind without helicoptering around the doors or your guests by installing a security camera on the exterior or interior of the house.
Choose a smart security camera option with Wi-Fi viewing to keep an eye on what’s happening in your house from the convenience of an app on your smartphone, tablet, or computer browser. Indoor camera options are ideal for homes that have small children or pets that you may want to check in on from another room or when away for the day. Opt for an outdoor camera when it’s a crime deterrent you’re after or if there’s a pool or other item you’d like to monitor on your property.
Stock up on these tech gadgets and you’ll be ready to party all summer long.
Kelly Schwarze is a tech geek who writes about the latest gadgets and also provides tips on how to use them. She especially likes to give advice on how the new smart home technology and Security can be used to improve your live. To see a large selection of security cameras, Kelly mentions in this article, visit The Home Depot.
