How to Set Up Your Smart Home: A Beginner's Guide

 The allure of the smart home is strong. You can unlock your smart door lock with your phone, walk into your house, have the lights turn on automatically, and ask your virtual assistant to make you a cup of coffee. When you're not there, a robot vacuum will clean the place, your smart thermostat will dial down the heat to keep costs down, and you can monitor everything from your phone with indoor and outdoor security cameras.

Though 53 percent of people currently own a smart home device, according to a recent study, the actual reality isn't quite as magical as we've seen in various commercials. There's no simple, singular solution (at least, not yet) that can flawlessly automate your entire house.

Things are at least better than they once were. Home automation used to be a complex endeavor requiring networking, scripting, and DIY skills. But modern smart homes are simple enough that just about anyone can set one up. With a few off-the-shelf products, you can control most of the gadgetry in your house f

Many smart home devices—including notable products from Nest, Ring, and similar companies—have their own apps from which you can control their basic functions. Other devices are more generic, using popular standards such as Zigbee and Z-Wave—which are Bluetooth-esque wireless protocols for smart 

home devices—to communicate with a hub such as the Wink or Samsung's SmartThings. You control those devices through the hub's app instead.Some products fall into both categories: You can use their apps or a larger smart home platform. But some platforms, such as Insteon and Apple's HomeKit, limit you more than others as to which devices you can use.

With so many different products in so many ecosystems, building a smart home can feel like an overwhelming logic puzzle. But as with any task, you can make it easier by breaking it down into smaller pieces. We recommend starting with one or two gadgets and building from there as you become familiar with how the products work.

Maybe you really like the idea of turning on your lights with your voice, or perhaps you want to be able to lock your door from your phone. Pick a category from the list below and do a bit of research on the available devices—you'll probably find that you can narrow down the field considerably by the features that appeal to you and the compatibility a particular device has with other platforms.

A lot of people start with a smart home security device or several, and sometimes graduate to more sophisticated systems. A smart home security system connects to your Wi-Fi network so you can monitor and control your devices using your smartphone and an app. Entry-level systems usually 

include some door and window sensors, a motion detector, and a hub that communicates with these devices using one or more wireless protocols (Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, Zigbee, or a proprietary mesh network). You can add extra door, motion, and window sensors to provide coverage for your entire house and build a comprehensive system that includes door locks, garage door openers, indoor and outdoor surveillance cameras, lights, sirens, smoke/CO detectors, water sensors, and more