Dinnertime at a simpleHome
Posted by Eileen Komanecky on Thu, Jun 25, 2009 @ 01:38 PM
When people
learn that my husband and I own a home technology company that provides smart
home solutions to homeowners, I’m often asked the same question: “What is your house like?” I think some people are
hoping my answer were a little more interesting. Say, something like, “Did you
watch The Jetson’s growing up. That’s pretty much our house. Including Rosie
the robot maid.” Well, we may not
be the Jetson family, but the Komaneckys do have some pretty cool technology
working for us at our humble abode.
Here’s one
example:
Like many working
moms across America, arriving home after work is a time of mixed emotions. Sure,
it’s nice to know the work day is behind me. And being warmly greeted by my two
thrilled-to-see-me, tail-wagging dogs certainly warms my heart. But the thought
of the long list home duties that lay ahead of me can be daunting.
Specifically, preparing a dinner that satisfies everybody in the family. But since
I’m committed to that nightly ritual of reconnecting 4 individuals back into
one family that can actually communicate and enjoy each other’s company, I
persevere. And the good news is that simpleHome makes it easier.
How does simpleHome help? As a person who loves music, nothing
makes a mundane task more enjoyable for me than listening to great music as I
work. Preparing dinner night after night can qualify as such. So before I start
that process, I walk over to the kitchen in-wall touch panel and press the
button that says Cooking. Each of the buttons on touch panel was customized for
our family by simpleHome. When I press Cooking, here’s what happens: my music
favorites begin to play at the right volume, the lights are adjusted to the
levels that are just right for cooking, and the thermostat is adjusted to the
proper temperature. Through the touchpanel, I can easily access our entire
music collection, as well as internet or satellite radio. Or I can easily
switch on kitchen TV as I unwind & decompress from the work day. When it’s
time to call the family to the table, I turn back to the touch panel and press
the Dinner button. That button is programmed to adjust the music to speakers
above the dinner table, rings the “dinner bell” throughout the speakers in the
house, flashes the lights in my teenage son’s Man Cave (that’s another blog
altogether) to let him know it’s dinner time. It also adjusts & dims the
lights in the kitchen to just the way we like them when we eat dinner. The
scene is then set for our family to come together to enjoy a nice relaxing dinner
and each others company!