Room by Room Ideas and Applications

As our lives revolve more and more around technology our homes too are becoming smarter and smarter. Technology is making our lives more efficient, giving us more time to do the things that we want to do. Apart from an improvement to your lifestyle, home technology can also help the environment by reducing energy consumption and also helps increase your homes security.

Home Automation products from Envious Technology can help you to implement these benefits in your home, however sometimes the applications may escape you or the number of products creates confusion. In order to help, we've made a room by room list of home technology applications which will help you to better understand what can be achieved and to help you get started in planning your high-tech home!

Living Areas
Home Theatre
Kitchen
Bedrooms
Bathroom
Outdoor/Garden Areas

Our living areas are were we spend the most time with our family, however they are used for many different functions - including watching TV & movies, playing video games, board games, reading, exercising and more. For that reason they need to be able to adapt to our different needs.

With Envious Technology, you can add push button or automated control of mood lighting, heating, automated curtains, A/V components and more. Your A/V components such as dvd player and Stereo equipment can be hidden away in cupboards. Your plasma TV can raise up when required by using motorised lifts controlled by your home control system.

With pre-programmed lighting moods you can have dimmers installed on all of the lights in your living areas. However, instead of having to walk around and adjust the dimmers individually - simply press the 'dinner time' button on your remote or wall mounted touch-screen and the lights will automatically adjust to the correct levels. At the same time, the TV may turn off and a relaxing music playlist commence.

Home Theatres are the new 'room to have' and are creeping more and more into new and existing homes. With large format TV's and monitors coming down in price, it's never been more affordable to bring the experience of the cinema into your own home. Envious Technology have a variety of Home Theatre products which can be found in our Home Theatre category. Below is some information about whats important to a Home Theatre system:

The image is the first thing to consider when deciding upon your Home Theatre system. TV's, monitors and screens vary in size and technology so make sure you do your research first on what is best for you. Projectors in combination with a screen will give you the biggest picture and a great Home Theatre experience, although the picture is more vulnerable to ambient light so you'll need a darkened room. Plasma and LCD monitors are stylish, can be hung on your wall and work better than projectors in a well lit room.

Audio is 50% of the movie experience, if not more. A quality system that can fully reproduce the film's audio as the director intended it is important to the success of your Home Theatre system. Dolby are the digital sound leaders, offering up to 7.1 discreet channels. The most common format is Dolby Digital, a 5.1 channel format that is used in nearly all theatres. DTS is another digital sound format which although is not as common as Dolby Digital, it offers a less compressed digital sound with extra grunt. Look out for DTS when your purchase DVD's and make sure you select the DTS option in the menu before watching a DTS enabled DVD. Note you'll need a DTS compatible audio system to process DTS sound.

Most people turn the lights off when watching a movie, so that everyone can focus on the action. With Envious Technology, you can integrate our home control products into your home theatre to dim the lights automatically when the movie begins. It's not only cool, it's convenient and adds to the excitement!

Envious Technology have Universal learning remotes which let you replace all of your other remote controls. So instead of having 8 remote controls on the coffee table you can have just one! With our home control products you can also control your lights and appliances from the remote controls or maybe you'd like to install a touch screen and control everything from there - simply press the 'Home Theatre mode' button on the touch screen and the screen and projector will come down, the DVD player will start, the audio system will kick into digital surround and the lights will dim down.

The kitchen is often the hub of activity in the home, whether it be preparing meals, working out what's needed at shopping or sharing a cup of coffee with a friend. It makes sense to have a touch screen or other interface to your home control system within close reach from the kitchen allowing you to activate your 'Dinner Time' lighting scent, prime the Home Theatre before the popcorn is ready or to warm up the spa before pouring the chamagne.

With smarter and smarter technology creeping into kitchen appliances, consider catering for the future needs of these products. Installing a data/phone outlet into the kitchen won't cost much during construction but may save many headaches in a few years time when you just have to have that new internet stove (pre-heat the oven as you leave work) or pantry utilsing RFID technology (so your computer can keep track of what's in the pantry).

Computers are creeping more and more into kitchens, whether it be to manage shopping lists or to look up recipes. A web tablet is basically a scaled down computer that wirelessly communicates with a main computer elsewhere in the home. Allowing you to surf the net and control your home control system, it is a great addition to your home if the idea of purchasing a dedicated computer for your kitchen seems a bit much.

HAL software available from Envious Technology can be used just by picking up a phone in your home. Simply say "Open shopping list" and then "Add Apples" and HAL will keep track of everything you need. When it's time to go to the shops, simply print out your shopping list!

Many master bedrooms now have a TV or flat panel monitor for watching TV and movies. Instead of having a separate DVD/VCR connected to the bedroom TV why not just send the signal from your lounge room into the bedroom with one of our Wireless A/V Senders (found in the Home Theatre category). The inclusion of a data point in the bedrooms will allow kids computers to access the internet for homework etc and also allow the central media centres to feed movies, music and pictures onto expansion modules.

Bedroom lights can be grouped in different zones and ambient moods programmed which can be controlled via the home control system. You may have an 'All on', 'Reading mood', 'Relaxed mood' and 'All off' scenes programmed, activated by pressing one button on a bedside remote or touch screen.

The master bedroom is an important room from which to control thermostats, security, lights and other elements of your home control system. You can mount a Leopard touch screen on a wall or on a bedside table. Alternatively a small remote kept on each bedside table or an MT10 bedside timer could be used to control your home.

Home Technology should not escape the bathroom. To unwind and relax in the bath, consider installing in-ceiling speakers for piping in radio or other music into the bathroom. Add a flat panel TV for the ultimate experience!

Bathroom lighting can automated in separate zones and let you set a range of scenarios at the touch of a switch. For a switch-less solution a Hawkeye motion sensor can be installed to turn the lights on to 5% when you enter the bathroom. The same motion sensor can also turn off lights when no one is in the room, saving money and energy.

Your home technology system does not have to be contained inside. Entertaining area lighting, fans, feature and flood lighting, spa heaters/pumps, music and water features can all be controlled with the home control system and have mood scenes associated with them. Highlight sculptures and create subtle lighting changes whilst entertaining, all by simply activating the 'entertaining' mood from your touch screen.

A multi-zone irrigation system can be automated to only operate at night during the times allowed by applicable water restrictions. Water sensors and internet enabled software will enable the sprinklers to only operate when it is required and when rain is not forecast.

An Intelligent home control system can also turn on/off your outdoor lights at programmed times, for example your front porch lights can turn on after dusk and turn off again at 9pm. This will also add to security by having lights turn on and off even when you're not home - as it will give the illusion that you are.

A 'welcome home' senario can be programmed into the system so that a simple press from your in-car remote control will turn on the exterior and interior lights (to your pre-programmed settings), unlock the front door, turn on the heater and commence the CD player - a much more welcoming way to arrive home.