Do you love the classic, cozy look of traditional home decor but also want to manage your lighting from your smartphone? Some think we have to pick one or the other. They fear their classic and elegant home will be ruined by smart speakers, TVs, and cables.
The good news? You don’t have to choose.
With a few design tricks up your sleeve, you can have the best of both worlds. This guide will highlight nine real ways you can incorporate technology into your traditional home so smoothly that no one would even know it’s there.
Three Core Rules for Integrating Tech into Your Teaching
Before we launch into the tips, consider three basic rules when it comes to vanishing technology in a nonvirtual world:
The Invisibility Principle: What you can’t see isn’t clashing. The only smart tech that’s good is the tech you can’t even see.
The Disguise Principle: when you cannot conceal it, disguise it. Change the way the technology looks—have it resemble something else, like a work of art, a book, or an object of beauty.
The Harmony Principle: If you can’t conceal it, coordinate it. Pick tech that pairs well with your existing color scheme and materials.
This is how you implement it.
1. Conceal Your Television
The large black screen is usually the thorniest obstacle in a traditional living room.
Get a Frame TV: Purchase a smart television such as the Samsung Frame TV. When it’s turned off, it shows high-quality art that looks like a framed painting.
Add a TV Lift Cabinet: This traditional-style piece of furniture conceals the TV. The TV pops up out of the cabinet with a wide press and retreats when you’re finished.
Conceal It Behind Art or Mirrors: If you prefer the look of a stealthier television, you can mount your TV in a recessed wall niche and hide it behind sliding art or a custom-built mirror panel.
2. Tame the Cable Chaos
A nest of ugly cables and wires can spoil a classic look fast.
Opt for Decorative Cord Covers: There are cord covers (also called raceways) that mimic decorative molding, as opposed to plain plastic. You can also paint them to match your walls or baseboards exactly.
Bundle and Hide—Use zip ties or Velcro straps to bundle cables together neatly and then run them behind a piece of furniture or along the back of your desk.
Invest in a Chic Charging Station: Instead of charging cords everywhere, invest in an elegant box or vintage-style book box to act as a hiding spot for chargers and phones/tablets.
3. Choose Speakers That Disappear
A hulking speaker can be an eyesore. Choose audio solutions that enable great sound without visible equipment.
In-Wall or In-Ceiling Speakers: Brands like Sonos sell high-quality speakers you can mount into your walls or ceiling and paint to match.
Bookshelf Speakers: For folks who want to give separate speakers a try, full-range models in a standard wood finish will integrate well with book storage.
4. Make Your Light Smart, Not Cold
You don’t have to have modernish-looking fixtures for intelligent lighting.
Use Smart Bulbs in Classic Lamps: If you have a classic look to your lighting, no need to toss it! Exchange those boring old bulbs in lamps, chandeliers, and sconces for smart light bulbs like Philips Hue. Adjust Your Smart Lighting: You have total control of brightness and color without altering your beautiful fixtures.
5. Disguise Your Smart Assistants
Voice assistants can be helpful, but they don’t really need to be out in the open.
Tuck them on bookshelves: A compact smart speaker, such as a Google Nest Mini or Amazon Echo Dot, can just as easily be tucked behind a stack of books or beside a decorative accent on a bookshelf.
Use a Stylish Stand or Cover: There are now many companies making decorative covers for smart speakers that can easily disguise their techiness as something like a small vase or other piece of home decor.
6. Rethink Your Router Placement
The blinking router is usually the ugliest piece of tech. Do not put it in the middle of your living room.
Disguise it in a Basket: A pretty woven basket with a lid can hide your router while letting the signal get through.
Hide it in a Cabinet: Stow the router in a sideboard or a cabinet. You might have to drill a little hole in the back for cords.
7. Choose Tech with Classic Finishes
When you need to see the tech, make sure that it looks good. Nowadays some of these products are also available in alternative finishes. Consider smart thermostats, switches, or speakers in bronze, brass, or matte black instead of shiny white plastic.
8. Smart Plug Your Dumb Equipment
You don’t have to toss out your dumb, old lamps and appliances in order to make them smart. There is also a small smart plug that goes between your device and the wall outlet. This means they can be voice- or phone-controlled.
9. Create a Tech-Free Zone
Lastly and most luxuriously, it is to have at least one room—a formal sitting room or library perhaps—that you purposefully keep tech-free. This provides a serene respite and helps the rest of your home feel even more special.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are smart homes tacky?
A smart home is tacky only insofar as you can see its technology and it clashes with the decor. When you stick to the principles of hiding, disguising, and harmonizing, you can have a brainy home that is also drop-dead beautiful.
What’s the best smart device for a traditional home?
Smart light bulbs (e.g., Philips Hue) are the best place to start. They provide so much convenience and ambiance control, yet look the same in the physical sense; this is your classic on/off style light fixture.
Is it expensive to hide technology?
It doesn’t have to be. Though high-end solutions (like motorized TV lift cabinets and in-wall power stations) are excellent options, there’s also a lot to love for the budget-conscious or those who can’t modify their living spaces: decorative baskets to hide routers, painted cord covers that blend into your walls, and even Bundt cake pans that elevate power strips off floors so they don’t become tripping hazards.
