The Smart Home Project

After many years of DIY on our properties, we decided to buy a run down house, gut it, extend it and make it our ideal home. In previous properties we had put in data cabling, a network and some smart technologies. However, this time we wanted to create a truly smart home with integrated systems and as much automation as we could - after all a truly smart home should anticipate our needs and do things for us! There were 2 key decisions to be made up front though: Core versus edge? In other words, do we build the technologies into the core of the building with proprietary cabling and fixtures or just install standard cabling throughout and put the intelligence and features at the edge? For example, in the core we could put in an integrated lighting system with proprietary cabling and controllers, or we could build in media systems with racks in cupboards and speakers in the ceilings, etc. Alternatively, on the edge we can go for things like smart bulbs/plugs and wi-fi connected speakers...