I Made A Clean But Techy Living Space That Gets Spousal Approval

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Affiliate Links to Products Mentioned during the Video:
Samsung Frame TV: https://go.magik.ly/ml/1xq9s/
Apple TV 4K: https://go.magik.ly/ml/1xq9w/
Sonos Arc: https://go.magik.ly/ml/1xq9y/
Sonos Sub Mini: https://go.magik.ly/ml/1xqa8/
Ecobee Premium Thermostat: https://go.magik.ly/ml/1xqaa/
Hue Lights: https://go.magik.ly/ml/1xqab/
Nomad Base One Max 3-in-1: https://go.magik.ly/ml/1xse9/
Nomad Stand One: https://go.magik.ly/ml/1xse8/

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Mac Studio: https://go.magik.ly/ml/1qb8o/

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:38 How Furniture Style Affected My Choices
3:05 The Big Tech Pieces
6:27 Smart Home Functionality
8:23 Small Tech Pieces
9:49 The Things I Wish I Done Better
11:56 Conclusion

What’s a living room? It’s a space you spend time with family, friends, and where you relax after a rough day of school or work. To me, this is a shared space, an area that my wife and I built, where my dog sheds all her fur everywhere, and a space where visitors get to know us better. It’s a space that gets used a lot and since everyone uses it. So it’s a room with a purpose. We wanted a great looking living space with ambient tech, tech that blends into the room and complements the room instead of taking away from it.

You probably noticed the picture frame behind me but that’s not a picture frame, that’s a TV. The Samsung Frame. Samsung makes these nice, picture frame-like TVs that sit nearly flush with the wall. The whole thing is connected to a fiber optic cable that connects to a black box that has all of the inputs and powers the TV. Luckily, the black box is easily hidden in this media console. While the fiber optic cable is routed from the frame, into the wall, and out to where the media console is. By itself the frame comes with a black border, but you can order additional magnetic bezels that can change their color to match your room. With this TV you can set art, with different mats as a screensaver for the TV. Overall, it really elevates the look of the room, and makes it almost look like there’s no TV in this room. Except the Frame does emit light like a TV. So that stands out.

But I’ve try to get the same effect by using a 4K Apple TV. With TVOS 17. I can use a shared iCloud album as my screensaver. And with the Apple TV, I can get a fast, clean, and super functional TV UI as my main entertainment hub instead of Samsung’s crappy, laggy TV software that’s riddled with ads. I really like how the Apple TV supports a ton of formats, puts all the apps into a similar way and has a bunch of smart home features built-in. Since the Apple home becomes the hub that enables me to watch my favorite shows, and control my smart home, the Apple TV remote becomes the only TV remote we use unless we want to change inputs or settings, which is rare since all the streaming options are accessible with the Apple TV without dealing with laggy, ad-filled UIs.

For sound I have a Sonos ARC and Sub Mini in white to blend in with the rest of the decor. Because the Frame TV is connected to a separate box, you have to route the ARC to the box instead, not directly to the TV like other TVs. So I used a long HDMI cable, routed to the box in the wall. What I like about Sonos soundbars is that they can use them as soundbars for your TV, use them as voice assistants for Amazon or Google, and use them as speakers for music that you send to them from your phone, making them a really versatile option. You can also pair additional sonos speakers for a surround sound experience. I like how they’re like smart speaker legos that you can use together, or part out and put them in different rooms. Overall, the arc and sub mini fits perfectly in this room, and fills this large room with great sound quality. It’s fantastic for a living room environment and didn’t add too many cables to the setup.

I switched from a crappy Lennox thermostat to an Ecobee smart thermostat. It’s smart home agnostic. Which means it supports all the major smart home platforms, so if you one day switch platforms or move out of the house, you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues for yourself or future owners. I originally planned to get a nest thermostat but those function best when you’re ingrained in the google smart home system. I’m not. Plus, the Ecobee Premium thermostat enables me to connect it to Apple home and so I can control it within my smart home.

FTC Disclaimer: Some links above are affiliate links from which I get a small commission, which does not affect you as a customer at all, but helps me keep on making videos for you guys! All opinions are my own :)
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