When you make your home smart for the holidays, you can spend less time worrying about missing packages and turning on lights and more time enjoying family, friends, and fun traditions. From in-garage deliveries to mood-boosting interior lighting, there are many tools and technologies available that can make your home smarter just in time for the most wonderful time of the year.

At Dickson Realty, we’re proud to live in one of the top-eight smart cities in the country and want to share how you can maximize your quality of life by investing in new and fun devices for your home. Keep reading to find out how.


7 Tips For Making Your Home Smart This Holiday Season

With these seven tips for making your home smart, you can have more holiday fun in Reno than ever before. So, stop worrying about whether you shut the garage door, and start enjoying the season time in Reno and beyond.


1. Install A Doorbell Camera To Protect Your Holiday Packages

While there are many convenient aspects to online shopping during the holiday season, there are also some downsides, like getting a package stolen right from your doorstep. With online holiday purchases becoming more popular, it’s a smart move to invest in a video doorbell camera so that you can stop worrying about the security of your home.

Video doorbell cameras can be your first line of defense against neighborhood crime, and you can potentially help your neighbors too. Well-designed systems should show footage and movement up to 50 feet away. You can also manage your security camera with a smartphone app and communicate with visitors through two-way talk features. So, if this sounds like something you need, Smart Security Specialists in Sparks has you covered.


2. Use Computer-Controlled Festive Lights To Make Your Home Smart

Festive lights make the holidays more fun in Reno and can add color to cold, dark winter nights. So, whatever you choose to celebrate this holiday season, you can make your home shine with an impressive display of lights. From beautiful arches to dancing penguins to reindeer flying overhead, computer-controlled lighting technology can eliminate the hassle of manual control. Who doesn’t love a light show?

The biggest holiday lighting trends for 2021 include light projectors, multi-colored bulbs, and pendant lanterns. Many modern lighting control systems are also great for energy conservation with eco-friendly and solar-powered options. Need some lighting inspiration? There are many opportunities to see Christmas lights in Reno and Sparks, including Hidden Valley’s Parade of Lights and Somersett’s Neighborhood of Lights.


3. Boost Your Holiday Party With Smart Lighting

 

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Smart holiday lighting doesn’t have to stop with the outside of your residence or business—you can change the ambiance and enhance the architecture of your space in just a few simple steps. With new automated indoor lighting technology, there are many options to impress your guests and improve your mood. So, whether you want to throw an unforgettable holiday party in Reno or increase your serotonin levels, you should consider upgrading your home lighting.

Remote control lighting allows you to manage the display from your smartphone, and there’s also an option to use motion sensors that will turn on/off when movement is detected. You can improve the aesthetics of your home and save money too—about $225 in energy costs per year—by investing in automatic lights and LED fixtures,

Bulb Daddy in Reno and Ecolocity in Sparks have just what you need to illuminate your home and maximize your savings.


4. Automation Can Save You Time In The Kitchen

 

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The holiday season is all about enjoying good food in the company of your friends and loved ones. But that also means you’ll spend more time in the kitchen. Well, what if we told you that you could simplify holiday cooking this year? Finding easy and delicious recipes with intelligent displays like Google Home Hub will be a breeze.

This smart home device will walk you through step-by-step directions and send you recommendations based on your preferences. Have messy hands from cooking? No worries—you can use the voice command feature to create shopping lists, play music, set reminders, and view your daily schedule.

The next step would be to invest in smarter kitchenware such as the Traeger Timberline 1300. The Traeger top-shelf grill is fully insulated and maintains steady temperatures in harsh winter conditions. It also has a pellet sensor and can alert you via the Traeger App when levels run low. For more information, you contact Carter Brothers Ace Hardware in Reno or order one online here.


5. Worry Less About Cleaning Up With A Robot Vacuum

 

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After a long day of entertaining, the last thing you’ll feel like doing is cleaning stray crumbs off the floor. Investing in a smart Robot Vacuum can spare you the extra work and allow you to kick your feet up after a long day. These self-cleaning navigators can go just about anywhere and can find debris you’d never catch on your own.

Cat litter, dust bunnies, food crumbs, pet hair doesn’t stand a chance. There is also a wide variety of Robot Vacuum cleaners to choose from based on your cleaning needs, including a handful of series that can connect to Wi-Fi. So, if you’ve had a long day at the office or you’ve been having fun in Reno, you can come home to a clean house with a touch of a button.


6. Invest In A Smart Thermostat For The Best Temperature

Not too hot but not too cold—does anyone else know the struggle of inconsistent home thermostats? With a smart home thermostat, you can get the temperature of your home dialed in without constantly needing to adjust it. Modern heating and cooling systems allow you to set the temperature by phone or voice control, set schedules, and relax with remote room sensors. You will no longer have to roll out of bed to an ice-cold floor or overheat while doing house chores. Visitors are also sure to appreciate the level of comfort in your home. With a PowerShift thermostat from NVEnergy, you can save up to $100 on your energy bill each year, and the temperature in your home will be just right.


7. Get Smarter About Your Garage Space

Not only is your garage a great place to park the car and store outdoor gear during the winter months, but it is also a source of accessibility and convenience to your home.  Why not invest in it? When upgrading your garage space, there are many options to choose from, including in-garage delivery and smart garage door openers. Devices like the Tailwind iQ3 Smart Automatic Garage Controller or the Chamberlain MyQ Smart Garage Hub make arriving at your home with a car full of groceries easier. Do you need help remembering to shut the garage door after leaving your home? Smart garage door openers connect to existing devices and allow you to open or close your garage door from anywhere at any time to check on the door’s status.


At Dickson Realty, we follow the newest home technology trends to share with our clients and community members. If you’d like to learn more about making your home smart, contact one of our neighborhood experts today.