Why a home with Hive is a happy one

Carefully chosen accessories and furniture aside, we’ve discovered the ultimate secret ingredient for a happy home: Hive. It’s the technology hack (or series of hacks) we’ve long been waiting for that makes the little things in our lives at home so much easier, leaving lots more time for what matters most. Which we’ve all forgotten to turn on or off at countless times - to central heating to all those individual atmospheric lights, you can now control the life source of your home from the convenience of your phone. Hive even goes so far as to allow you to set your kettle to boil before you’ve arrived home after a long day at work. While you battle the elements under an umbrella, awaiting your bus route home, you’ll be comforted in the knowledge that a hot cup of tea, and a warm welcoming environment is already waiting for you. Just don’t expect it to pour your milk and sugar too.

At Gaff Interiors we're all about aesthetics but we're also interested in all things that enhance our lives at home, and smart technology plays a significant role here. We've been trialing and testing a series of Hive smart products for some time now and we've been highly impressed by their simplicity and effectiveness across several areas of our home experience.

We were most intrigued by the smart lighting as it’s not uncommon for us to have at least four or five soft lights on at home time, never content with the one overhead light. If you’re anything like us, you’ll spend much of your time turning on and off a series of lights, all because you want to create a certain ambience in your room. What if these lights could be controlled from an app on your phone? What if you could control the brightness, having the option of a dimmer switch on every light in your home? With Hive, you can. In one corner of Gaff HQ, we have a shelving unit which is draped with a string of copper lights, a neon wall light behind a makeshift bar area, and a vintage filament bulb that hangs over a dining table. Rather than strain ourselves to get these on and off, it’s done in one swift click of a button. Genius. With Hive Active Light bulbs, not only can you control when they turn on and off, you can choose the type of intensity of light you want, from a soft light glow to a warm yellow light.

Technophobes need worry not, the Hive interface is incredibly easy to use; it’s virtually impossible to get it wrong and is all connected through the award winning Hive app.

Lighting aside, we were also wowed by the smart sensors, giving you the peace of mind that everything is okay at home while we’re away. The smart sensors can detect motion and link in with another Hive product, such as lighting for example. In the event of a break in, a smart sensor can trigger a series of lights that will act as an added deterrent. For more regular day to day uses at home, you can set the sensors to activate at night, so as soon as you step your feet on the floor to go to the bathroom, the light is already on for you. Hive products work alone or they can be linked to work together. Depending on what matters to you, or what makes your life easier, you can set up your Hive products to suit.

From the Hive Active Heating to smart plugs, sensors and light-bulbs, this family of Hive products get the Gaff Interiors stamp of approval. Getting your living space just as you like it before you’ve even arrived home? Setting your kettle to boil while you soak up those precious extra minutes in the shower at 7am? Who wouldn’t want that?