Smart Home – homylike https://homylike.com Like Your Home Thu, 27 Oct 2022 15:20:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 https://homylike.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/cropped-homy-fav-32x32.png Smart Home – homylike https://homylike.com 32 32 Bed in the wall: types, design, examples of reclining transformers. https://homylike.com/bed-in-the-wall-types-design-examples-of-reclining-transformers/ https://homylike.com/bed-in-the-wall-types-design-examples-of-reclining-transformers/#respond Tue, 25 Oct 2022 10:28:57 +0000 https://homylike.com/?p=172 The bed in the wall has a rather attractive design and allows you to radically change the configuration of the entire interior space, which is especially appropriate when there is a shortage of free space.

Built-in bed options

Bed-transformer. Represents the usual single, half-bed, double, bunk bed, or child’s bed, which in assembled form can be part of a set or a separate cabinet.

Folding bed. It is considered the simplest and most practical interior solution. It is mounted on movable joints and special springs, which allow maximum ease of lifting the bed, so even a child or a teenager can easily cope with this design.

Roll-out. Most are often an element of modular furniture. Such a retractable model can be equipped with linen drawers, table tops, or shelves.

Concealed in the wall. With the help of this clever system, it turns out to save as much useful space in the room as possible.

The best solution for a house or apartment is a bed built into wall. The lucky owners of one-bedroom apartments or studios, after buying them, first of all, decide how to make the best use of space in order to place everything rationally and comfortably. The bed, on the one hand, should be spacious, and on the other hand, it should be placed as compactly as possible

When choosing a particular model, take into account the characteristics of the room and how functional the design should be.

Types of lifting devices

  • Horizontal. This mechanism is a sleeper with one side in contact with the wall.
  • Vertical. Rather practical and convenient in its functionality vertical version, combining with the wall in the headboard.

Where to place a bed built into the wall?

Built-in beds in the interior of rooms used beds in the wall in different rooms.

In the bedroom

Due to the huge number of varieties and different furniture characteristics, it turns out especially successful to fit a built-in model for adults in the interior of the bedroom and significantly save in it every square meter during the day.

For the children’s room

For a small-sized children’s room for a schoolboy or girl, a multifunctional bed built into a closet or a set with a superstructure, shelves, drawers, and a workplace will be perfect. In a room for two children, will be an appropriate two-story design in the wall, which can also be equipped with a desk or double model with a second tier, sliding under the first.

In the living room.

In the hall, a bedroom set, built into a closet or shelving unit, is an excellent solution for the rational use of usable space.

On the balcony

For the loggia, this option looks quite interesting and practical. When assembled, the construction can represent a closet or other storage system, and when disassembled – an excellent sleeping place for a full-fledged rest.

Modern bed built into wall – convenience and practicality in one product

Young families should be interested in a hidden bed in the closet for the children’s room, which is made in the form of a dresser, and a child’s bed with a pendulum mechanism. In demand these days is a bunk model that folds into a wide vertical pocket shape.

The ideal choice for quite cramped quarters is to buy a folding bed transformer in the form of a closet compartment, as it is a good solution for a small apartment. The newest idea is Bookcase/bed, which transforms a place to sleep into a bookshelf. The mattress in this case is divided into two parts, which are attached vertically to the bookshelves on the wall.

Bed in the wall – a good solution for small apartments

The owners of two- and three-bedroom apartments also think about how to accommodate visiting relatives, and friends. Need a comfortable place to sleep, but if you put a bed, most of the time it will just get in the way. And if there will be two children living in the nursery at the same time? To place two beds in this case and provide enough space for games is not possible. What is the solution? In all these cases, the best option would be a bed that retracts into the wall.

Strengths of the folding design

  1. Significant saving of space in the room. The free space (2.5 – 3 square meters) is available for eating, working, studying, children’s games, meetings, and conversations with guests.
  2. Creates comfort in the room. A large bed occupies a large area and in a small room, it seems cluttered, cluttered.
  3. There is no need to make and unfold the bed and remove pillows and blankets every day.
  4. Muddy cleaning in the room is simplified.

Weaknesses of such designs

  1. The daily need to raise and lower the design.
  2. Fear of falling in bed.
  3. High price.

Types of mechanisms

Furniture production does not stand still and is constantly evolving. Popular models become obsolete over time and are replaced by new ones that are also gaining wide popularity. Beds, built-in walls, and closets for many years do not give up their position and remain in demand. They have gained their fame thanks to special mechanisms that allow them to be lifted vertically without much effort.

Built-in staircase storage cabinets and under-stairs custom cabinets – https://urbanwardrobes.co.uk/services/understairs-fitted-wardrobes

The lifting device is an important element in the design of the transforming bed. Thanks to these modules, the entire structure, which weighs several tens of kilograms, is easily lifted and turns into a vertical piece of cabinet or wall. There are several lifting devices divided:

  • Manual method;
  • A spring mechanism;
  • Gas Lift.

The first option is the cheapest, but also the most capricious, requiring periodic adjustment and some effort when raising the furniture product. The mechanism does not contain additional springs and shock absorbers, the lifting is performed entirely by hand.

The second method is less labor-intensive. The spring version already has special shock absorbers in the form of coil springs, allowing you to raise the bed base without much effort.

The coil springs are made of durable carbon steel wire. The service life of such mechanisms reaches 70 years, and that is with the daily transformation of furniture. The only disadvantage is the appearance of noise during operation. The springs can stretch over time and require replacement.

The third option is the most convenient and complex. The work of the module is based on the action of piston devices filled with compressed air. When you change the position of the folding bed, the lifting mechanism smoothly changes the position of the furniture. In this case, it is not necessary to make any special efforts, the device itself will do everything. Gas elevator today is the most expensive of all types of devices.

There are models of devices equipped with an electric drive with remote control. This is a great way to transform furniture for people with disabilities or those who appreciate everything technogenic.

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Optimizing Your Own Smart Home – Four Tips https://homylike.com/optimizing-your-own-smart-home-four-tips/ https://homylike.com/optimizing-your-own-smart-home-four-tips/#respond Thu, 22 Jul 2021 08:22:49 +0000 https://homylike.com/?p=96 Excellent WLAN quality for flawless use

A stable and fast WLAN connection is essential for smart home use. Without the right networking, smart home is simply worthless. To achieve or improve this quality, you can use a few simple tricks. In particular, the location of the router is important here. The WLAN router should always be positioned centrally in the home and free-standing. A windowsill or an empty, open shelf area are ideal for this. It is important that no objects are placed in front of or directly next to the router. These reduce the signal, which weakens the WLAN strength.

It is also important to ensure that the router always has the latest firmware installed. Updating the firmware is therefore a necessary evil, but worthwhile. This is the only way to ensure that the connection continues to run quickly and stably.

Increase energy efficiency

While incandescent bulbs or LED lamps used to be used for lighting, nowadays more and more households are using smart home lighting systems. But that’s not all: the more smart devices are placed in the home, the higher the energy and power consumption becomes, of course. If you do not pay attention to efficiency, the electricity bill can become very expensive.

To be able to save electricity with smart home, it makes sense to network individual devices with each other. This means not only linking similar systems together, but also thinking outside the box. For example, a motion detector could be networked with the heating and lighting. The scenario would look like this: If the motion detector detects movement, the light switches on. At the same time, the heating in the room is regulated so that it stays nice and warm. However, if the motion detector detects that no one has entered the room for a longer period of time, the heating is regulated downwards accordingly and the light remains off. So you no longer have to turn off the lights or the heating yourself – the smart home takes care of this step for you. In the long run, this is guaranteed to lower your electricity bill.

The best locations for voice assistants

Voice assistants now have a permanent place in many people’s everyday lives. But then you don’t need an assistant in every room. Sure: Alexa and Co. can be transported and moved around at will. But many people have always placed the voice assistant in a specific place in the home.

According to a study by Statista, the most popular location for voice assistants is the living room. After all, that’s where life happens, and the voice assistant can answer questions as well as provide entertainment options. In addition to the living room, voice assistants are also particularly popular in the kitchen and the study. Depending on individual preferences and your own way of using the technologies, you should therefore consciously choose the location for the voice assistant. This way, you can optimize its use independently.

Exploiting the full potential of smart home use

Smart home offers a number of benefits for your life. It makes everyday life easier, can partially do the thinking for you, offers entertainment and the entire house can be regulated with a suitable app on the smartphone. To make your own smart home particularly efficient, it is advisable to equip as many areas of the house as possible with smart technologies. This is the best way to network different technologies and achieve economies of scale in their use.

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Save Energy in the Smart Home: How You Can Reduce Electricity and Heating Costs https://homylike.com/save-energy-in-the-smart-home/ https://homylike.com/save-energy-in-the-smart-home/#respond Wed, 24 Mar 2021 16:56:06 +0000 https://homylike.com/?p=70 You’ve equipped your home with smart devices to reduce your electricity and heating costs. But how exactly can you save energy in the smart home? Which products make sense and how do you use them? In the following, we have the most important tips ready for you.

Saving energy in the smart home: Is it possible?

Energy waste often happens without us noticing it. Examples include overheated rooms, TVs in standby mode, and lights that are on even though no one is in the room.

In these cases, you can already optimize your energy consumption and save electricity with simple smart home solutions – and without having to think about it all the time: thanks to intelligent networking and automation, smart gadgets keep an eye on the energy consumption of appliances, lights and heating and regulate it independently when necessary.

So the answer is clear: Yes, energy can be saved in the smart home.

Save electricity with smart sockets

There are many devices that you use only occasionally, but which are constantly connected to the power grid and thus consume electricity. This applies, for example, to the television, the printer and the fully automatic coffee machine. All of these devices usually remain in standby mode when they are not being used, thus permanently consuming electricity.

This is where the use of smart sockets comes in handy. You plug them into the normal socket and then connect the respective end device. Many of these smart gadgets support the creation of time schedules. That is, you set periods of time when the connected device is available in standby mode. Outside of these time slots, the power to the device is cut off, it is turned off and no longer consumes power.

Some of the smart sockets also offer an analysis function. This allows you to evaluate the power consumption of the connected devices via the associated app.

How You Can Reduce Electricity and Heating Costs

How to optimize smart heating

You can also save energy when heating your smart home. Intelligent thermostats, sensors and so-called control profiles are particularly helpful here.

Radiator thermostat: simple and efficient

A radiator thermostat is very easy to install: You remove the existing thermostat and attach the smart thermostat instead. Depending on the type of heating system, adapters are required for this, which are also quick and easy to install.

Then you integrate the smart radiator thermostat into your smart home system. Then you can control your heating smartly: For example, you can regulate the temperature individually via app or voice command from the couch or on the go. Or you can set intelligent heating schedules so that, for example, heating only takes place during certain time windows – or only when someone is at home.

Another option is to network the smart thermostat with door and/or window contacts. Then, for example, you can set the heating to turn off automatically as soon as the windows or doors are open.

Room thermostat: Versatile and flexible

You can use a smart room or wall thermostat, for example, for smart control of your underfloor heating. The principle is the same as for radiator thermostats: You can control your heating from anywhere via app and thus, for example, turn it off when no one is home.

You can also set up intelligent heating schedules for smart room thermostats and, depending on the day of the week, determine when heating should be used and when it shouldn’t – or even which minimum temperature should never be undercut.

It is also possible to control several radiators with one wall thermostat – for example, all the radiators on one floor of a house.

Many devices can also be combined with a humidity sensor. The thermostat uses this to control the temperature so that no mold develops.

Door and window sensor: Attentive and reliable

Special sensors can check whether a window or door is closed or open. You can view the current status at any time in the corresponding app.

Combine these sensors with radiator or room thermostats to save energy. For example, by setting your heating to automatically turn down or turn off when a sensor detects an open door or window. In addition, you can usually specify when exactly the sensor should transmit signals.

Humidity and temperature sensor: Sensitive and well connected
These special sensors measure the temperature and humidity inside and/or outside. They regularly send the respective data to the central home control system.

In combination with a roller shutter control system, there is also energy-saving potential here: If the temperatures outside fall or rise, the roller shutters automatically lower. This means that less energy is needed to heat the room in winter and less electricity is needed to cool the room with air conditioning in summer.

If you couple an air humidity sensor with your heating system, you can also heat your home in such a way that mold does not develop.

Heating control profiles: Smart planning and saving

If you control your heating with smart thermostats, you can usually define heating schedules or heating profiles that help you save energy. They ensure that certain actions run automatically. For example, you could program the bathroom heater to run for a certain amount of time in the evening and morning so that it’s nice and warm when you use the bathroom. After that, it turns off again to save energy.

Most systems allow you to set up different heating schedules per day or separately for workdays and weekends. During the week, your heater might shut down during the day to save energy because you’re at work anyway. On weekends, it will run longer because you will be home longer.

Some manufacturers combine their smart heating systems with the GPS function of smartphones: If all the occupants of the house (and therefore their smartphones) are outside the home, the heating can automatically shut down and save even more energy.

Better light control via WLAN/Bluetooth

You can also save energy with smart lighting solutions. It’s very easy, for example, with smart light bulbs. You simply screw them into the existing sockets of your lamps. Now you can control the lamps via app, i.e. switch them on and off remotely. Depending on the model, you can also determine the light color and brightness. In addition, you can synchronize many smart lamps with other devices and even set schedules – for example, that all lights in the house are switched off by 11 p.m. at the latest.

Do you want to bundle your lamps into groups and control them centrally or create and automate entire lighting scenarios in several rooms? For this you need a control center.

Such a control center connects to the individual smart lamps via radio, WLAN or Bluetooth. You can control the control center via app or PC and set automations for all rooms. Depending on the manufacturer, you can also operate such a control center via voice control.

Saving energy in the smart home: Simple or complex

Anyone who wants to save energy in the smart home has a wide range of options. In particular, electrical devices in standby mode, heating and lighting control offer a lot of potential.

It’s up to you how much effort you want to put into it: Some solutions, such as smart sockets, can be installed and ready for use in a single step. For complete smart home systems for heating or lighting control, you need several devices that work together. In addition, you should concern yourself with setting up smart plans and profiles.

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Smart Clothes: What Can Smart Clothing Do? https://homylike.com/smart-clothes/ https://homylike.com/smart-clothes/#respond Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:25:20 +0000 https://homylike.com/?p=65 Today, clothing is primarily supposed to be fashionable and look good. But in the future, smart clothes or e-textiles, as intelligent clothing is also called, could play an increasingly important role. Sweaters and jackets would then, for example, act as a powerbank alternative to charge your smartphone or record your vital signs. Here you can read what smart clothes are exactly, what they can do and what else may be possible in the future.

What are smart clothes?

Wearables such as smartwatches, fitness trackers and sensors for better posture have long since become part of everyday life. It’s high time that clothing also became smart. So-called smart clothes, for example, are equipped with sewn-in sensors that allow them to collect data and/or trigger actions.

Alternatively – or additionally – smart fibers and conductive yarns are used to make smart pants, sweaters and the like. They integrate the digital functions directly into the fabric, which is why smart clothing is also known as e-textiles.

To make it all work, a wide variety of experts collaborate in the production of smart clothes. In addition to materials researchers, fashion and textile designers, electrical engineers, computer scientists, interface designers, clothing technicians and artificial intelligence specialists, among others, are involved in developing and improving smart clothing.

What processes are used in the production of smart clothes?

All of these experts are working to integrate technical components such as solar cells, batteries, touchscreen elements and more into the fabric in such a way that they can perform their functions as unobtrusively as possible and without causing a disturbance.

Despite all these advanced technologies: Conventional processes are primarily used in the manufacture of smart garments. The smart fibers are woven and knitted together with regular yarns. Well-known printing processes such as screen printing are used, for example, to print special pigments that can change color and are used for textile displays.

Things are a little more unusual when, for example, LEDs or vibration sensors are integrated into smart clothes. The individual parts are soldered onto textile conductor tracks. In some cases, the conductive materials are etched to enable tiny microelectronic circuits.

Are smart clothes suitable for everyday use?

In everyday life, smart clothes still have to overcome a number of challenges. Probably the biggest problem: Like all fibers, the smart yarns and conductors in smart clothes can shift or wear out with wear. Washing also puts a greater or lesser strain on the technical components over the long term, as does perspiration. Over time, they lose their functionality or oxidize, which impairs their conductivity and thus their function.

Developers still need to make significant improvements on this front to make smart clothing truly suitable for everyday use. Although there are already smart clothes that survive washing undamaged, this is not the rule.

Smart clothes: What is already possible?

Today, smart clothes can already be manufactured that, for example, measure the pulse of their wearer and the distance he or she has traveled or access the smartphone. Depending on the garment, however, smart clothes offer many more functions.

Smart sportswear

Smart clothes in everyday life

In everyday life, smart clothes can score points in a wide variety of ways. Integrated heating and cooling mechanisms, for example, ensure that even very sudden temperature fluctuations don’t bother you. The intelligent fibers counteract overheating of the body as well as excessive cooling – and do so completely independently.

More and more manufacturers are incorporating solar cells into their smart clothing, turning it into a power bank for your smartphone. The integrated battery charges itself during a walk with the help of solar energy. The energy is transferred to your mobile device as needed or used to meet the power needs of your clothing’s other smart functions.

Touch-sensitive fabrics and conductive fibers, for example, turn jacket sleeves into a kind of touchscreen that lets you operate your smartphone without taking it out of your pocket.

Some users also see the light thanks to intelligent clothing – figuratively speaking. In the fashion sector in particular, garments are equipped with LEDs and light-emitting diodes that make dresses, tops and skirts glow. The radiant effects can be controlled via automated routines, movements or gestures and guarantee an appearance worth seeing.

With normal clothing, the light effects can ensure greater safety, for example by increasing visibility in road traffic. For cyclists and car drivers as well as pedestrians, such self-luminous smart clothes could be very practical – and perhaps even save lives.

Smart clothes can also offer real added value for people with chronic diseases. The vital signs recorded are usually accurate enough to be evaluated by a specialist and used for treatment.

Used properly, smart clothes can also prevent chronic diseases from worsening: For example, there are already smart stockings for diabetics. They use special fibers and sensors to measure the temperature, pressure and joint angle of the feet in order to detect problems at an early stage.

Smart children’s clothing

Smart clothing is now available even for the youngest children. Special pajamas, rompers and even socks for babies are equipped with vital sensors that record data on breathing, heartbeat and movement. The values are transmitted in real time to the associated smartphone app. If something is unusual, the app immediately draws attention to it – and parents can react. The app also warns immediately of any irregularities, such as breathing or heartbeat, and can thus ensure greater safety at night, for example.

What are smart clothes

Smart sportswear

Smart clothing is gaining ground in the sports sector in particular. Here, smart shirts with woven-in biometric sensors measure the pulse of their wearer. The data is forwarded to the paired smartphone, where it is analyzed.

In addition, smart clothing for athletes can record distances covered and calories burned or measure the intensity of movement. The smart sensors also record stress levels.

The intelligent technology even keeps an eye on the posture of its wearer. For example, there are yoga leggings that use integrated sensors to check whether you are performing a pose correctly. If this is not the case, the smart garment alerts you by vibrating at the appropriate point. The associated app provides additional information and instructions.

Professional athletes use the collected data to optimize their training. Integrated cooling and heating mechanisms also make longer and more intensive training sessions possible.

Outlook: What else is coming in smart clothing?

Currently, smart clothing is being produced with a strong focus on the fitness sector and health issues. In the future, the focus is likely to shift increasingly to everyday clothing.

To take this step, one hurdle in particular must be overcome: Smart clothes must withstand the effects of sweat and numerous washings over the long term without damage. This would require, among other things, the large-scale integration of waterproof and flexible solar cells and conductor elements.

It is likely that all the technology in smart clothes will increasingly be incorporated directly into the fibers. Without adhesives and larger electronic components, smart clothing will remain more flexible – and thus more comfortable, durable and washable.

Once these hurdles have been cleared, there is really nothing to stop smart textiles moving into every area of clothing: everything from smart bras to smart jackets could be on the way.

As smart clothes become more widespread, manufacturers will in turn have a duty to guarantee reliable data security on a permanent basis. After all, the health data collected by smart shirts and other items of clothing is highly sensitive – and should therefore not fall into the wrong hands.

Smart Clothes: From technology trend to everyday product

Smart clothes are still in their infancy. Intelligent clothing that monitors vital data such as heartbeat, breathing and stress levels or tracks the distance traveled is already available, especially in the sports and medical sectors. In some cases, jacket sleeves can be used to operate the smartphone in the pocket.

This is made possible by microscopic technology integrated into the fibers. This technology now needs to be further optimized to make it more resistant to sweat and the washing machine cycle. Once this has been achieved, smart textiles should continue to conquer everyday life.

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