Architect's Top 8 Tech Essentials for Small Homes

one of the best items that I got this past year  is this tiny piece of tech that I honestly believe   is absolutely essential in any small home and  this little device can essentially save you from   needing an entire piece of storage Furniture this  product I'm talking about is an ADF or automatic   document feed scanner and the one that I'm using  is from Fujifilm named The scansnap IX 1300 which   I actually first heard about when reading Tim  ferriss's four hour work week several years back   and after putting off investing in one of these  for what seems like ages now earlier this year   I finally took the plunge what this device does  is allow you to do multiple double-sided scans   at speed so earlier this year over the course  of a single afternoon I managed to pretty much   eliminate my entire filing cabinet of paperwork  I personally find that there are few things more   painful than sorting through a mountain of  papers to find one crucial document but now   all of my paperwork is instantly searchable from  my desk by going digital and now whenever a new   important document comes through I simply run it  through this thing and it wirelessly sends it to   my PC titled and dated using the information that  is managed to pull from the page making my whole   filing system almost effortless what's great about  this thing is that it's so small that once you're   done you can easily shove it in a Cupboard and  pull it out next time you need it saving you the   need of owning and interacting with a bulky  filing cabinet at a not too dissimilar cost   and this makes it hands down one of my favorite  minimalist Tech products that I currently own one of the most frequently used items in our  home has to do with food and this product   has almost completely eliminated the necessity  of eating breakfast for me saving me time and   making me healthier in the process of course  the item I'm talking about is the NutriBullet   and since having had breakfast smoothies for  what seems like years now after much trial and   error I have to say that this is easily the very  best solution that I've stumbled across as it's   Compact and light meaning that it can be hidden  and put away and it's just as powerful as some of   the larger blenders that I've used too however  the Nutri Bullet allows me to free up valuable   counter space and eliminate the Clutter of  a larger blender without experiencing any   of the setbacks to how our smoothies taste and  because my wife Nisha and I don't particularly   enjoy doing the dishes we simply drink out  of the cup that it's made in which makes   cleanup ridiculously easy when it compares  to your typical big and bulky blender jug   this 900 watt pro model is used by our entire  family and we found it absolutely amazing for   filling our one-year-old daughter with healthy  calories first thing in the morning where her   and I usually share an oat fruit and spinach  smoothie while Nisha makes up herself a frothy   coffee protein frappe to start the day and I  have to say that over time this has saved us   countless hours when compared to chomping down  all of these healthy ingredients separately and   personally I think that it makes leafy greens  like spinach and kale a lot more tolerable too now when it comes to health and comfort air  quality is a little-known facet of design that   is often overlooked as the building that you're  in right now likely has a bunch of air related   considerations like heating cooling and humidity  taking care of behind the scenes to stop you from   getting sick but as the buildings that we live  in don't always cover everything and they're   not always 100 foolproof you can actually take  your indoor air quality into your own hands with   devices such as air purifiers dehumidifiers and  humidifiers to control pollutants and humidity   depending on where you live in the world this  year we picked up an air purifier from levoort   levoit levelt one of those but it's called  the 400s and it's big enough to purify our   entire apartment and smart enough to show us the  fluctuations in air quality during the day where   it even gives us readings from pollutant spikes  when we're doing things like cooking or cleaning   so when living in a polluted city like London or a  place that often suffers from Wildfire smoke like   here in Vancouver this is a great way to make sure  you're in control of what you're taking into your   lungs as you may be surprised by how much these  things can impact your health over the long run however other than air quality the next thing  worth considering is air humidity levels as too   much humidity can often lead to damp and mold  and too little can leave your Airways and skin   feeling irritated and dry which isn't really  that great if you suffer from eczema or asthma   here in Vancouver we've had to make quite an  adjustment as we found the winters here to be   quite dry whereas back in London they're far more  damp which is often a big problem in older homes   as they're often poorly insulated meaning that  mold and condensation on Windows is a constant   battle unless you choose to have your heating  on at full blast with a window open which is a   little bit counter-intuitive so back in London  the solution that we found for ourselves was to   get a dehumidifier which can really help if  you have plants or you often find yourself   drying clothes indoors because of course it's  raining outside but here in Vancouver because   it's so dry we've even been considering getting  ourselves a humidifier however you won't really   be able to know any of this for certain  unless you have some sort of humidistat   to tell you and by simply picking up this one  that's both a thermometer and a kitchen clock   too it's confirmed our suspicion as to why we've  all been so suffering from such dry skin recently now obviously when sharing a small space it  often means that you're in close proximity to   others meaning that you're also subject to any  noise that they make too and despite sounding   a little bit dramatic I would not be able to  live without my noise canceling headphones as   they basically allow me to transport myself  to a world of Silence whenever I need to   I've had these Bose NC 700s since early 2020  now and I think that personally they're the best   looking headphones on the market and they're  still easily in the top five when it comes to   Performance too despite being over three years old  now I think likely because of this they've barely   changed in price since the day that I bought them  and mine still work just as well as they did to   begin with despite some significant wear to the  ear pads so in my mind considering how much I   use them this makes them a great investment and  around this time of year you can often spot these   or other similar noise canceling headphones on  sale too and despite them seeming like a bit of   a luxury item I've honestly come to find them as  something that I really depend on from day to day now although this next item is not necessarily  Tech it can often replace it at a much smaller   size too and as a designer when it comes to  making coffee like most things in life I'm   looking for the most efficient solution in a  product that provides the maximum benefit at   the lowest possible cost in the most convenient  of packages as a long time coffee drinker my   at-home experience with Bean to cup machines drip  coffee machines pour overs French presses and in   desperate times even instant coffee none of them  are anywhere near as good or convenient as what   I've found you can get with the Aeropress as it's  cheap to buy portable consistent fast and easy to   clean not to mention the fact that it makes  absolutely incredible tasting coffee if you   get it right I rarely see these things on sale  but I will tell you now if you know someone who   likes coffee and doesn't have one of these they  will absolutely love it and even if they don't   use it from day to day it's a great device  to be able to take with you on holiday or   when away for a weekend as it means that you  can take your own coffee with you instead of   depending on those horrible instant sachets  that you often find in a lot of airbnbs and   hotel rooms however if you do already own one of  these and you do want to make your at-home coffee   taste even better we invested in a temperature  controlled Kettle digital scale and Burr grinder   and honestly the coffee that you can get out of  a simple setup like this is arguably the best   tasting fastest and most compact bang for your  buck physically possible and if you guys think   you know of a better one you can fight me  about it down in the comment section [Music]   now when it comes to desk setups in small homes  one of the best ways that I've found to simplify   and declutter is through the addition of a  light bar as they free up space on your desk   that you'd otherwise need for a task lamp whilst  camouflaging themselves with the monitor I have   to say that I was really skeptical about these  at first but when I got benq's screen bar Halo   earlier this year I absolutely fell in love as  it's dimmable and color temperature adjustable   from a wireless touch control dial that's on the  desk and it's powered via USB from the back of   the monitor 2 which means that there's one less  cable to think about plugging into an outlet so I   got gifted this one and it definitely isn't cheap  but you can get pretty much the exact same thing   from a brand called qantis on Amazon for half the  price which is actually what I recommended to my   brother-in-law for his setup and despite my BenQ  light bar having the added bonus of a dedicated   webcam mounting Point most webcams actually sit  on top of these pretty comfortably anyway which   really was the only reason that I put off getting  one of these for so long as I was worried where I   was going to put my webcam however if you're a  tech focused person rocking a mirrorless camera   or a smartphone setup for your webcam along with  key lights and a mic for calls or streaming I   also recently discovered that you can get vaser  monitor shells to attach all of these things onto   which also make for an incredibly compact  solution that will sit above your monitor   saving you from a bunch of clutter that will  end up sitting on or around your desk [Music]   and lastly the other affordable Tech essential  for small homes are floor lamps table lamps   and smart bulbs as these can work wonders with  the harsh and Bland lighting that often comes   with our homes there are definitely loads  of affordable smart Lighting systems that   you can go with these days which allow  you to control and adjust the bulbs in   your home through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth making it  really easy to dim brighten and even change the   temperature of the lighting that's in your  home through one or multiple smart switches   we use Ikea's trad-free system and so far we've  thoroughly enjoyed using it however there are a   bunch of Alternatives that you can choose from  which all vary so much in what they can do and   how they look but when it comes to picking the  lamps themselves I'm a really big fan of these   Bare Bulb fixtures as they're super affordable  and dismantleable whilst letting you get really   creative and intentional with the size and type  of bulb that you choose to pair it with but   despite not being particularly fond of the rampant  spending and advertising that takes place around   this time of year I am all for saving money on  items that are truly essential or at least helpful   in genuinely improving your life in some way for  the better whether that's with health time or by   Saving you money in the long run so hopefully you  guys found the products in this video helpful and   timely and if you did make sure you're subscribed  and check out the full list of these items down   in the video description below thank you so much  for watching and I'll see you all in the next one

Channel: Daniel Titchener

Views: 244,885

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Id: d5bYK4jeO9c

Length: 12min 18sec (738 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 14 2022