We’ve all heard home automation horror stories of overly complicated smart home systems, systems that don’t work, and automation for the sake of automation. Apparently, these very issues are leading to a smart home exodus among luxury home buyers, according to a new article in The Hollywood Reporter.
Designers, Agents Say Clients are Looking to ‘Minimize’ Smart Technology
The article, which relies on input from interior designers and real estate agents, says clients are looking for homes designed to minimize, or even eliminate, smart technology. The focus is on simplicity, analog devices, and an escape from the tech that tends to dominate our daily lives in favor of face-to-face interactions with family members and guests.
“Just like the arts-and-crafts movement was a reaction against industrialization, we’re now experiencing a reaction against the smart home. People are looking for more manual, less complicated places to live,” says interior designer Jamie Bush, who has worked on some of Los Angeles’ most iconic architectural residences for studio heads, celebrities and tech titans.
While celebrities like Sofía Vergara were once the smart home’s most vocal advocates — the Modern Family actress gushed about how she controlled her home’s security, appliance and media systems from her phone — the honeymoon period with digital domiciles is now facing the reality of unintelligible interfaces, endless updates and forgotten passwords.
The article even mentions one of the biggest and most important home automation brands directly by name.
“They could not find a single light switch in the entire home,” says Beverly Hills-based interior designer Carrie Livingston about a sprawling penthouse she was hired to renovate. Her clients had inherited the previous owner’s Crestron automation system, which controlled all overhead, wall and table lighting in response to movement within rooms. “The wife complained that every time she got up at night, her husband would see her path illuminated as she made her way from bed to bathroom,” says Livingston, who has worked with clients including Ralph Lauren, Gwyneth Paltrow and Dasha Zhukova. “Other times, she’d enter a darkened room where the lights wouldn’t go on no matter how much she flapped her arms.” Result: Livingston took out the entire system and installed manual switches throughout, an intricate overhaul that cost more than $100,000. Similarly, Bush recounts a recent renovation involving “a kitchen with a built-in dining table that rises and lowers from counter to dining height with hydraulics. But to do so, you need a passcode. Otherwise, the table will not move.”
Respondents Cite Too Much Tech as a ‘Massive Turnoff’
Of course, it would be interior designers bringing forward most of these complaints about overly complicated, unsightly home automation systems. Interior designers disliking technology is nothing new.
Designers and real estate agents cited in the article also talk about how natural architectural elements, outdoor living areas, and views add much more value to a home than voice-activated automation systems.
Homebuyers increasingly seek a refuge from digital overload. “Once upon a time, attracting a high-end buyer meant flat-screens in almost every room, including outdoor areas. In today’s overly automated market, however, too much tech can be a massive turnoff,” says Pacific Sotheby’s real estate agent Gillian Flynn, who recently sold a 1912 Craftsman cottage in Cardiff-by-the Sea, a quiet beach town in North County San Diego that has attracted homeowners like Emily Ratajkowski, Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman and pro surfer Rob Machado. “We staged the home with zero TVs. Right now, the very top of the market values things like outdoor showers, sunset views and original architectural elements, not voice-activated AC systems,” says Bush. “In building a home, we always look at something that’s going to last beyond us — not that is going to become technically obsolete in seven years.”
High-End CI Has Been Prioritizing Simplicity for Years, However
What the article didn’t mention is all of the ways the home automation industry has evolved to actually address many of these concerns. The industry has long been talking about the need to blend technology seamlessly into a home’s architecture, with products like Samsung’s The Frame helping to usher in a new era of design-friendly tech.
Invisible or design-focused speakers, artistic display solutions, and wellness-centric tech solutions are increasingly at the forefront of an integrator’s offerings when working with a designer espousing some of these tech complaints. However, integrators also have an obligation to keep things simple and easy to use to help avoid some of these situations while helping designers highlight architectural elements with lighting systems.
Constantinos Sandoukas, Frayednot’s CEO, highlights a growing trend among luxury homeowners toward simplicity in home tech. Clients want systems that are intuitive, with fewer devices, buttons, and complexity. The Samsung Frame TV has become the go-to display, valued for its aesthetics and built-in streaming capabilities, while traditional cable boxes are being ditched in favor of YouTube TV and Hulu Live—moves that clients say make them feel liberated and in control.
This preference for simplicity extends to control, with native apps like Sonos, Lutron, and ecobee replacing custom remotes and automation platforms. While designing these “dumber” systems can be more challenging, clients are happy to pay for tech that’s invisible, reliable, and effortless to use. The result is a shift toward tech that blends seamlessly into the home and lifestyle, offering freedom through minimalism.
Many Firms Continue to Lead with Design Over Technology
Some integrators have also recently told CE Pro that they are taking a step back and working from a design-oriented approach that focuses on simplicity and aims to avoid some of these concerns.
Similarly, Barrett’s Technology Solutions leads with design, not technology, focusing on thoughtful planning, simplicity, and client education before discussing products. By starting with a design retainer and detailed system blueprints, they build trust and deliver tailored solutions that are easy to use and seamlessly integrated, according to president Brian Perreault. (More on this in CE Pro’s June print issue.)
Lighting has become a key entry point, with the company’s showroom Lighting Lab helping clients understand the power of good lighting design. At the same time, Barrett’s emphasizes clean, minimal tech like Frame TVs and architectural speakers that blend effortlessly into the home.
Despite these growing trends and adoption among the smart home installers, the industry clearly still has some work to do to win over other homeowners and interior designers.
Examples of Design-Friendly Smart Home Projects
Projects like this one in a historic Manhattan apartment demonstrate how integrators can actually use technology to highlight a home’s architectural features without drawing attention to the technology itself, hiding a TV inside of the library bookshelf when it’s not in use. Here’s another one in Colorado that features lighting systems that bring a level of much needed warmth to the otherwise cold-seeming modern design. This Southern California project illustrates how landscape and architectural lighting can make a home really pop when the sun goes down.
There are countless examples of projects that highlight design and aesthetics over technology. Check out the projects we’ve covered to see more of this approach in action.
