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Building a custom smart living room in your custom home

We are in the 21^st century, so it’s time to start living like it.  Smart technology is here and easier than ever to purchase, control, and program for your exact needs.  When you’re building a new custom home you should embrace the newest technology and design a custom smart living room to fit your needs.  A smart living room uses a wide range of technology and different devices to create an easy to use entertainment center.  The advantage to designing a smart living room is that you will be able to access a lot of different entertainment media through a slew of devices without having to mess with cords or even leave the couch.

The key to any smart living room is access to television and movies.  The Roku is a great device and is quite popular with over 5 million units sold.  The Roku connects to the internet to stream video content to your television screen.  Roku makes it easy to connect to streaming services, such as Netflix and Hulu, so you can keep up with your shows and movies.  Roku is quickly turning into a strong device as certain versions can read USB devices, and Time Warner Cable has an app that turns the device into a cable box.

Apple TV is another streaming device similar to Roku.  However, Apple TV is geared towards supporting apps and current Apple products.  It was originally a hobby project, but now the Apple TV can access streaming services as well apps, the iTunes store, and can connect to iPhones, iPads and Mac computers for an easy television interface.

Tablets, such as the iPad, have made a strong showing on the market as the easy to use touch screen has opened the doors to many different apps and electronic experiences.  No matter what devices you put in your smart living room, you should get a table that can connect with the other devices.  You should also install a docking station for safe keeping and charging the battery.

Video games have come a long way since the days of Atari and blowing on Nintendo game cartridges.  New console devices, such as Xbox and Playstation, provide top of the line game play as well as media connection.  Gaming consoles that connect to the internet have great media interfaces so you can connect to your favorite streaming service as well as certain apps and downloadable content.  For a change of pace you can check out indie games on smaller devices such as Ouya and Gamestick.  Both of these are open sources and crowd funded bits of electronic goodness as they allow the more technological minded person a fun toy to tinker with as well as provide access to fun games with a different type of game play.  As a bonus these smaller devices are still powerful and can stream on line content.

The future is now! So remember when you are building your custom home to include a smart living room.  You should always use the best people for the job and Glenn Layton Homes is one of the leading experts in smart home technology as they built the HGTV Smart Home 2013 in Paradise Key South Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Florida.  Your custom home and custom smart living room are waiting for you so start designing your plans today.

Categorised in: Custom Builder Tips, Design Tips, HGTV Smart Home, New Home Tips, Tech Tips

This post was written by Glenn Layton Homes