Getting into smart home
Smart homes are around for some time now but I never really saw much potential in my apartment. This changed when I got my hands on a contact sensor from Eve and I asked myself what could I be doing with this? The most obvious would have been to attach it to my apartment door and get notified when someone other than me enters my apartment. But this is rather boring because it's something that probably will never happen. So I looked further.
When I found out that Eve also sells thermostats I had an idea. I always sleep with my window open and I'm not sure if I should turn off the radiator or not, so I bought myself an Eve Thermo and which turns off whenever I open the window.
This worked really well and now I tasted blood. I realized that my Ikea bulbs can be added to Homekit as well by purchasing their gateway. Said and done and now I can turn the lights in the living room, the office, and the kitchen on and off (and dim and change color temperature) with my iPhone. BUT I also purchased more contact sensors from Eve and a motion sensor from Ikea. (I wanted even more Ikea smart light bulbs but they are not in stock right now).
My office turns on the lights whenever I open the door and it turns them off when I close It. The kitchen light turns on whenever the motion sensor detects motion, which is very practical for the kitchen. And the office heats up every morning and cools down at night, that way I have it warm and cozy during the home office time at home and save energy when there's no need to heat during the night.
I have some more ideas on what I want to do, like installing motion sensors that also measure the light so that the light is only turned on when there's an actual need for it. I also want to equip more rooms with smart lights, like the bedroom, the hallway, and the bathroom because it's fun to add small changes to the apartment and automate certain things.