Go Ahead: Embrace Your Home Technology
It's time to make peace with the gadgets, wires and TV screens that serve us so well
I write about home technology and shopping, and love both. I'm the Tech Girl in Traditional Home magazine and contribute retail coverage to Forbes, Yahoo! and Dealnews, among others.
I write about home technology and shopping, and love both. I'm the Tech... More »
We live in a world driven by technology, yet so often we’re told to create rooms as though it didn’t exist. Designers turn their noses up at televisions, while shelter publications and coffee table books unplug lamps and airbrush cords, erasing all traces of electronics.
Except that we all have them, use them, want them and dare we say, enjoy them.
There’s no reason to forgo these pleasures or eschew electronic necessities. Let’s embrace the technology and design homes that are both beautiful and functional for how we live today. Over the next few months, I hope to address all these issues and more.
Except that we all have them, use them, want them and dare we say, enjoy them.
There’s no reason to forgo these pleasures or eschew electronic necessities. Let’s embrace the technology and design homes that are both beautiful and functional for how we live today. Over the next few months, I hope to address all these issues and more.
| There’s perhaps no better place in the home for a computer than the kitchen. It’s where we spend the most time and of course, the heart of any home. From accessing shared schedules, video chatting with family and friends while cooking, downloading recipes, news and weather, doing homework, or monitoring a child’s online activity, some form of computing device will serve a family well. Private Comment
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| TVs in the Kitchen are a must for many of us but often sneered at by designers. But the time we spend in that room and the myriad of people who pass through makes the screen a welcome addition. Flat panels today are more like portals through which we view television content, order movies, check email and play games. It’s less about starring at a sitcom while eating dinner instead of carrying on a conversation and more about being connected to what you want in the most popular room of the house. Private Comment
14 Ways to Put a TV in the Kitchen |
| The only place a TV is more controversial than the kitchen is the bedroom. It’s a highly personal space and including electronics here is a highly personal decision. What’s right for one person or couple isn’t correct for everyone, and the same is true about the type of electronics, placement and accessories placed here. Lifts, shades, wireless headphones, docking stations and streaming Internet can help retain the tranquility or add a little spice to our nights. Private Comment
TV in the Bedroom: Thumbs Up or Down? |
| Living rooms and family rooms are the traditional home for home electronics, and while flat panel TVs and slim components have made it easier to incorporate gadgets into a well-designed room, there are still a lot of challenges. How high is too high to place a TV? Is it safe to mount a screen over the fireplace? (Yes, but don't do it. It's the worst viewing angle possible.) How to arrange seating for optimal viewing and sightlines? And the perennial question of whether or not to hide it all. Private Comment
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| Home theaters can be tricky; often walking the line between luxurious and cliché. Once we get past the technology – projectors, drop down screens, surround sound, 3-D – the furnishings themselves present a problem. But yes, Virginia, there is a way to design a home theater without the requisite antique popcorn machine and leather loungers. Private Comment
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| Whether you’re looking to replicate a five-star hotel experience or simply need access to news while readying for work, incorporating electronics into the bathroom is a great way to create the ultimate retreat. Options go beyond TV panels and docking stations to tubs and tiles that emit sound and mirrors that reflect your own image and images of the world as projected from a TV broadcast. Private Comment
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| Home offices are a must for an increasing number of people, but what about the cords? Managing clutter is a constant battle and cord organization a never ending tangle, but new wireless components, home services, cloud based computing and good old-fashioned cord management will help keep the technology working for you. Private Comment
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| For those lucky enough to live in mild climates, outdoor entertainment areas can go way beyond grills and picnic tables. All-weather TVs, sound systems and seating create viewing spaces that give movie night a whole new meaning. Private Comment
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| Sometimes it's the things we don't see that have the biggest impact — an alarm system in the corner, a control panel, in-wall docking stations, whole-home audio systems and speakers, wireless networks. These may be nearly invisible to the naked eye but pose just as many purchasing and design dilemmas as the technology we see. Private Comment
What home tech do you rely on most? Please tell us below! More: How to Manage Messy Cords How to Hide Plugs and Switches The Case for Well-styled Home Electronics 14 Ways to Put a TV in the Kitchen Thanks, Steve: Apple-Inspired Design at Home TV in the Bedroom: Thumbs Up or Down? |
Comments
lyvia says:
My game room has three gaming computers along one wall. Of course it needs a room with little daylight, and go ergonomic for the chairs- office adjustable, not designer. But this way, we game and surf as a family. It's about the little moments - showing each other funny videos - that would never happen if the computers were in separate rooms. Plus I know where my kid surfs.
9 months ago ·
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louzucaro says:
Thanks, Laura, for this post. "Pretending technology doesn't exist" is one of my biggest pet peeves in both design and architecture.
It seems very few architects even consider things like where in a room you'd put a TV (and no, planning to put a TV above a fireplace is NOT a good idea!), and as you said, designers often try to hide or leave out technology.
But the other problem is product design. So much technology is either plain or ugly. Products like TVs, radios and clocks used to be DESIGNED to fit into homes of a specific style. Now everything is almost entirely generic, with very few exceptions.
I really hope that product design has a rennaissance in the near future, but I doubt that will happen until after the economy improves, and even then, only if there's also a renewed GENERAL interest in architecture in this country. As long as people are still striving toward / content with the McMansion, it's not gonna happen. Personally, I think that's a shame.
It seems very few architects even consider things like where in a room you'd put a TV (and no, planning to put a TV above a fireplace is NOT a good idea!), and as you said, designers often try to hide or leave out technology.
But the other problem is product design. So much technology is either plain or ugly. Products like TVs, radios and clocks used to be DESIGNED to fit into homes of a specific style. Now everything is almost entirely generic, with very few exceptions.
I really hope that product design has a rennaissance in the near future, but I doubt that will happen until after the economy improves, and even then, only if there's also a renewed GENERAL interest in architecture in this country. As long as people are still striving toward / content with the McMansion, it's not gonna happen. Personally, I think that's a shame.
9 months ago ·
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burtondunye says:
Vizio xwh200 and Vizio vmt40-55m allowed me to mount my 55 inch flat screen above the fireplace, have a VERY comfy viewing angle also hide most of the wires.
9 months ago ·
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kdoran says:
I have to wonder.... Where are the power cords for the laptop & mixer in the photo chosen to illustrate your point? Were the cords conveniently hidden or airbrushed out of the photo? Are there really outlets behind those devices interrupting the attractive backsplash?
9 months ago ·
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Tricia Rose says:
We have a projector and pull-down screen in the living room in our very small house, and you wouldn't know it was there in daytime. We use it for movies and streaming: I would do ANYTHING to avoid ads! TV (and ads!) in the bedroom - whatever for?
9 months ago ·
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Laura Heller says:
It's nice to hear that this topic is well received. I'm looking forward to writing about all these fun, useful and often unattractive things. It's great to have a beautiful home and even better when it suits our modern needs.
9 months ago ·
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