The Best Smart Home Devices, Chosen by an Interior Designer

by Rachel Blindauer

The best technology in a home is the kind you barely notice. It dims the lights at sunset, cools the bed before you climb in and hides the television behind a piece of art. These are the smart home devices I recommend to clients because they earn their place twice: once for what they do, and again for how they look in the room.

At a glance

• Best for sleep: Eight Sleep Pod 5
• Best for hiding the TV: Samsung The Frame
• Biggest everyday upgrade: Lutron Serena smart shades
• Best for aging in place: Delta Trinsic VoiceIQ faucet
• Best whole-room control: Lutron myRoom with Alisse keypads

Eight Sleep Pod 5

Sleep is where smart tech pays off most. The Pod 5 cools or warms each side of the bed independently, from 55°F to 110°F, so partners stop arguing over the thermostat. The new version adds a base that raises the head of the bed when it detects snoring, plus a built-in speaker for wind-down audio. It disappears under your bedding, which is exactly what I want from bedroom tech. For the rest of the room, see my guide to the cozy bedroom.

Samsung The Frame and Frame Pro

The Frame is still the easiest answer to the black-rectangle problem. When it is off, it shows art from a library of more than 5,000 works, and the matte, glare-reducing screen reads like a canvas. The Frame Pro sends its signal wirelessly from a box up to 30 feet away, so there are no cords running down your wall. Choose a custom frame bezel that matches your other art for the most convincing look.

Shown here: my Aurora Color Field Canvas on the screen and the Monolith Table Lamp on the credenza.

Samsung Bespoke AI Refrigerator with Family Hub

The Family Hub screen turns the refrigerator into the household command center: shared calendars, grocery lists and a camera inside so you can check what you have from the store. In a design-forward kitchen, I like the Bespoke panels in glass or matte finishes, which let the fridge sit quietly beside custom cabinetry.

Delta Trinsic VoiceIQ Faucet

Ask for exactly one cup of water and the Trinsic VoiceIQ pours it. It also works with a tap anywhere on the spout, which helps when your hands are covered in dough. It is a small luxury that becomes a real help for anyone with limited grip strength, one reason I recommend it for homes designed to age well.

Mr. Steam Steam Shower

A steam generator turns an ordinary shower into a spa you use every day. Mr. Steam controls let you preset temperature and length, add aromatherapy, and start the steam from your phone so it is ready when you walk in. Plan for it during a remodel: it needs a sealed, sloped ceiling and a vapor-proof enclosure.

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Balance

Most speakers look like equipment. The Beosound Balance looks like a piece of furniture in oak and knit fabric, and it fills a room with sound from every side. Place it on a console or side table where it can be seen.

Shown here with the Westcott Arc Table Lamp from my shop.

Lutron Serena Smart Shades

Motorized shades are one of the best upgrades for a sunny room. Serena shades run almost silently, follow a schedule with the sun and come in fabrics that hold their own beside custom drapery. Battery and wired options mean you can add them without opening walls.

Philips Hue Lighting

Hue bulbs let you shift a room from bright and cool for work to warm and low for dinner. My advice: keep the color effects for parties and use the warm whites daily. Pair them with beautiful lamps so the fixture looks as good as the light; my designer table lamp picks by room are a good place to start.

iRobot Roomba Max 775 Combo

The newest Roomba vacuums and mops in one pass, then washes its own mop pad with hot water at the dock. It quietly keeps floors clean between deeper cleanings. Tuck the dock into a mudroom or a cabinet with a ventilated toe kick so it is out of sight.

Husqvarna Automower 435X AWD NERA

This robotic mower now works without a buried boundary wire: you draw the lawn edges in the app and it navigates by satellite. All-wheel drive handles steep slopes, and it can mow in straight stripes for a manicured look.

Click and Grow Smart Garden

Fresh herbs on the counter all year, with no gardening skill required. The pods are pre-seeded, the light is on a timer and the water lasts for weeks. Choose the white or beige finish so it reads as a planter, not an appliance.

Lutron myRoom and Alisse Keypads

Lutron’s myRoom system runs lighting, shades and temperature in the best hotels, and the same thinking works at home: one elegant keypad by the bed controls the whole room. The Alisse keypad, with its metal finishes and backlit engraving, is the one I reach for when the switch plate should look like jewelry.

Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)

The latest Nest has a larger, crisp display and learns your schedule to save energy. It comes with a room sensor so the temperature is right where you actually sit, not just in the hallway. The polished finishes look at home in a refined room.

Smart home in my projects

Most of my clients come to me for beauty, not gadgets. The tech-forward homes I have designed belong to people who work in technology all day and want their homes to run the same way. A few ideas from those projects that I would use again:

• One master control panel for the whole house. Lighting, shades and climate run from a single place instead of a wall of switches in every room.
• Motion-activated lighting under the bed. A soft glow comes on when your feet touch the floor at night, with no lamp to fumble for.
• Color-changing LEDs as party decor. In large white modern homes, we have used the lighting itself as the decoration. For Valentine’s Day, the whole house glows pink.
• Automatic shades that filter the brightest, hottest part of the day. I have used them on Le Corbusier-style glass-box homes, where they keep rooms comfortable and protect the furnishings without giving up the view. They are a good idea in almost any sunny home.

What I put at every bedside I design: three things, all within reach of the pillow.

• An adjustable wall-mounted reading light. It can mount on the wall or on the bed itself: I have installed adjustable fixtures on the back of the headboard and designed custom ones mounted right on the headboard face.
• A charging panel or charging spot. No hunting for an outlet behind the nightstand to charge a phone.
• Switches that turn off the room lights. No one should have to climb out of bed to turn off the lights.

If you are not rewiring, a plug-in wall lamp like my Westcott Arc Plug-In Wall Lamp gets you the reading light without an electrician.

How to make smart tech disappear

• Plan the wiring early. Shades, keypads and speakers are easiest to add during a remodel, before walls are closed.
• Match the finishes. Choose keypads, thermostats and faucet finishes in the same metal as your hardware so they read as part of the design.
• Give every device a home. Plan a ventilated cabinet for the robot vacuum dock, the router and the chargers.
• Use fewer controls. One keypad that runs lights, shades and temperature looks better than a row of switches.

Smart home questions I hear most

Which smart home device is worth buying first?

Motorized shades or smart lighting. They change how a room feels every single day and work with the furniture you already have.

Will smart home devices look dated quickly?

Screens and gadgets date fast; good materials do not. Choose devices that hide (shades, mattress covers, art TVs) or that come in real metal and wood finishes.

Do I need a whole-house system?

No. Start with the room where you spend the most time and choose one device that solves a daily annoyance. A system like Lutron makes sense when you renovate or build.

The bottom line

The right smart home devices make life easier without asking you to look at more technology. Start with the room where you spend the most time, choose one device that solves a daily annoyance, and build from there.

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