I was recently travelling and stayed in the cutest AirBnB in Palm Springs and it reminded me how much I love yellow. So when Hive asked me to partner with them try out their Hive Welcome Home Pack and new Hive View camera, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to refresh our NYC bedroom with some new color and new technology.
As the summer season is now properly underway it’s a great time to embrace inspiration from your travels and channel those inspirations into new color and technology updates into your home! The splashes of yellow I loved on my recent trip to Palm Springs inspired me to add this warm yellow bedding into our bedroom. As well as the color updates, I also got to work on unboxing The Hive Welcome Home Pack and then adding the various technology updates to the space. The Welcome Home Pack is awesome because it includes everything you need to make your home work for you. The pack includes a thermostat, smart plug, motion sensor, window or door sensor, and two smart lights. The best of all for me is that it is so simple to setup. To be honest I often dread setting up new technology because it usually means finding passwords I set up years ago and have never used since, and then the devices never find the WiFi network properly etc. etc. You hear me on this, right?! However, the Hive Welcome Home Pack honestly took all of that stress away because all my devices where setup super quickly. I literally had to plug the devices in and then click ‘add’ in my Hive app and it found them instantly. It was as refreshing and pleasing as a cool summer breeze!
OK, back to color. When people ask me for advice on what color to decorate with I often start by asking them to show me the pictures they took on their last vacation. We sit and go through the pictures they took and look at the colors that feature the most. It can be anything from the colors of the sea or the house they stayed in – just like I did in Palm Springs to help me decide on new bedding for our bedroom back home. From there we picked out some matching paint chips or we look for accessories in matching colors. I didn’t want to repaint the walls in our bedroom so the bedding was an easy way to refresh the space for the new season.
The bedroom didn’t just get a color refresh but a tech refresh too! Thanks to the Hive Welcome Home Pack the bedside lights now have Hive Active lights. This means that I can automate the bedroom lights to come on automatically when I walk into the apartment by using a motion sensor or door sensor by the door. I can also turn the lights on and off with my voice using my Amazon Echo. And even though all of those things are really awesome, for me, the best thing is that the smart bulbs are warm white. So often with smart and LED lights the tone of the light is too white and blue/cold for my personal taste, so to discover these warm white smart bulbs was so exciting. Plus, I have a floor lamp in which the smart light bulbs didn’t fit, but I was able to use one of the Hive Active Plugs which means I can control the lamp, or any other appliance, from the Hive app on my phone.
The other thing that Hive sent was their new Hive View camera which I was pleased to install in our living room so I could monitor our apartment when we’re traveling for business or a on vacation. Given my love for design it will be no surprise that I’m always keen to include tech that doesn’t just work well but also looks great. The Hive View comes in two elevated and sleek colors, and perfectly fits onto a shelf or the top of a cabinet without having to be hidden – it just blends into the interiors. It also has a built in battery so you can temporarily place the camera anywhere in your home. For example, when we needed a repair in another part of the apartment I could just pick it up from the stand and place it in that room so I could monitor the trades people while I was out at a meeting. I also like how the Hive app lets me control the privacy of the camera, so I can easily switch it on and off when I come home so that it doesn’t constantly record my heartmate and I when we are home. You can get the Hive Welcome Home Pack on Amazon now! What rooms would you introduce smart home technology into? Are there any colors your keen to update in your home with this spring/summer season?
// Photography by Will Taylor
15 Comments
I was just looking the other day at Hive products for my new apartment, how funny! Thanks for sharing this Will, your apartment is so pretty I absolutely love it! Also loving the yellow, it’s such a great colour!
I hope you’re having a wonderful Tuesday,
Michael
https://www.mileinmyglasses.com
@Michael – Awwwww thank you! Hope this post was helpful in your decision making for Hive, the hubs and I have had a great experience with it. Have a great day! 🙂
What an amazing pack Will. Very impressed by the sensors turning on the lights. Thanks for sharing this with us. Flick.
@Flick – Right?! Soooo cool and helpful.
Living for the yellow bedding!! Is it linen?
@RK – Thanks! Yes, it’s from H&M Home. 🙂
Nice Will. Like the sound of the app being able to control the system.
@Aaron – Thanks. Yes, it’s super useful.
Already have the thermostat but now I want those sensors and bulbs! Damn you Will! 😉 lmao 😂
@Baxter – Lol! #sorrynotsorry
Hi Will
Your apartment is stunning and I love how you decorated it. My husband deals with our technology at home so I must show him your post. Where are the sconces from? Love those!
Best
Chrissy
@Chrissy – Awww thank you so much! They are from Schoolhouse Electric about two years ago.
Sounds awesome! I love the idea of changing the color temperatures of the lights!
@Tom – Yeah, it’s such a cool feature!
Being from New York as well it can be a very dull, monocromatic looking city. Black, grey, white. I love the pop of the beige-mustard yellow bedding color as I think it adds a little pop to liven up such a dark and gloomy city. But it doesn’t pop too much that it looks cheap and clashes. Also apartments in New York tend to be small so it seems to add depth to the room giving it some light and making an observer think it’s a bigger room than it really is!