Welcome!
The Smart Home Family journey is about to begin for us, The Taylors.
Us out the front of "The Cottage" with Reggie the dog.
We?re all very excited to start off on our new adventure!
When we received the phone call that we had been the successful family it was definitely one of those once in a lifetime moments. All we could say was ?OH MY GOSH! I CAN?T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!? This had generally been the kind of thing that happens to everyone else. But for us? The Taylors? Never? until now!
That afternoon we sat the kids down, trying desperately to contain our excitement, which was very difficult. We revealed the news of our success to the kids. For a moment, time stood still. We then all cheered and jumped around so much in the living room of our small cottage we nearly went through the floor. I?m certain the whole street heard us because we screamed so loud ? but we didn?t care!
Our first impressions of the Smart Home are that the house really presents like a regular home, nothing obtrusive or interfering, yet with the advantage of monitoring technology helping us keep up to date with our energy and water usage. Trialling all of the gadgets is high on the excitement list and being able to keep a close eye on the actual power we use and investigate ways we can manage or adjust our energy behaviours. An added bonus is being able to use and review all the sustainable material furniture and other household items. We?ll also let you know about the electric vehicle soon too.
There are some major difference between our ?old house? and the Smart Home. Our previous place, we nicknamed ?The Cottage?, was an old, two-bedroom, fibro house. Hot as a sauna in summer and cold as a freezer in winter with a single ceiling fan, poor ventilation and renovations of questionable nature. Multiple fans were run in the heat, multiple heaters ran in the cold and the power bill ran up all year long!
An off peak hot water system with limited capacity held up the side of the house, a state of the art 1950?s Hills Hoist graced the middle of the back yard and an old tin watering can collected water for the pot plants from a leaky tap at the front. It caused our excess water usage to skyrocket, never because of the kids playing ?under the hose?. It did have a decent size yard, by Sydney standards, yet no gardens and only one lonely tree out the front. It was live-able but not lovable. We did have the most wonderful neighbours, which really added to the likable factor.
The Smart Home is everything that our old place was not. Efficient and functional are the two key words that spring to mind when describing the new house to friends and family. We?ve moved in finding everything just works without that ?space age? overly technical feel. However, Kylie has had a fun time ?mastering? some of the appliances and will share her enlightening experience in future blog posts! Although on a smaller block, the house makes up entirely for the lack of yard space, even as it blends into the neighbourhood in terms of ?street appeal?.
I think Eli and Zoe were mostly excited to be getting their own rooms for the first time. Teddy bears, a doll house with Barbies and pink as far as the eye can see is Zoe?s room. Blue hues, books, Lego pieces, DS console and Nerf Guns adorn the ?boy only zone? that is Eli?s room. He even has a password and entry code for admission ? not part of the existing technology.
The kids don?t mind the lack of yard space because they are in love with the fact they live close to school, school friends, parks and great bike paths. They do miss the neighbours from the old house, but we?ve assured them we will still visit them and have them come and visit us in the Smart Home too.
We thank Ausgrid and Sydney Water for providing us this amazing opportunity to trial some of the latest energy efficient and greener living technologies available here in Australia as part of the Smart Gird, Smart City project. Whilst living in the Smart Home we are very excited and keen to share our experiences as a ?real family? with all who are interested.
So, once again, welcome.
Please feel free to join us on our Smart Home Family journey!
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