Reno Diaries: Protecting Our Home With Nest

Nest Protect in our hallway

Chatting to someone on Twitter earlier today, we were hypothesising over functional homes. You know, not the show homes or the ones in the glossy magazines but the real homes, the ones you and I live in. In the carefully “curated” pictures of the perfectly monochrome home office, where is the printer? The pens? The bills and random bits of paper?

Personally, I’m a huge lover of keeping it real. In my opinion homes can be stylish AND functional and I get very excited about things most people would consider mundane such as pretty plug sockets.

Even before we’d bought our house I had my heart set on the Nest Protect Smoke and CO alarms as I’d been bowled over by their modern appearance and I love a bit of hi-tech.. For me, a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm is the most basically important item to have in your house but it can also be beautiful.

Nest style

Image : Nest

They were a total winner for our families last Christmas as they never know what to get us and we needed 3, 1 for each floor, so my Mum and Stepdad got us one, Pete’s parents got us one and his brother got us one – job done! They’re not cheap, retailing on average around £89 per alarm but I would never put a price on being safe and having peace of mind.

Pete fitted them over the Christmas holidays last year and whilst this should be a relatively straightforward procedure as we’ve discovered with our cowboy home, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. It was nothing to do with the devices whatsoever, more the dodgy electrics we’ve inherited but eventually he succeeded in wiring them in and we haven’t looked back.

Nest style

Image : Nest

There are so many reasons why I love Nest Protect:

  • Wireless or battery – if you don’t fancy wiring the smoke alarms in, they can be run by battery too. Ours are wired but we do have batteries in them so in case there’s a power cut they’ll still work
  • Intelligence – the alarms can detect where the fire has started so you know how to escape your home safely. They speak to you – and each other – and tell you which floor/room the fire is in
  • Style – as I’ve already mentioned, they really do look lovely. If you have to have a smoke alarm (and you really do!) at least have one that looks great
  • Extra functionality – there is a ring which glows on the bottom of the alarm depending whether everything is ok or there is danger. It cleverly doubles up as a motion sensor night light so if you need to get up and go downstairs at night time, the alarm will light your path without you needing to put any lights on
  • Two in one – no need for a separate carbon monoxide alarm since they’re both combined into one product. There is a different alarm sound depending on whether it’s smoke or CO.
  • As with all modern technology, you can get an app on your phone so if you’re away from home and there’s a problem, your phone will let you know

So far it’s been a trouble-free year with our Nest alarms apart from one incident where I was hoovering with a bagless vacuum from Vax (review to follow!) and without thinking I left it in the hallway, under one of the devices. They’re so sensitive that I think some dust rose from the vacuum and triggered the alarm so all of a sudden all 3 alarms were blaring out at full volume “THERE IS SMOKE IN THE HALLWAY. THE ALARM WILL SOUND. THE ALARM IS LOUD”. Looking back now it’s pretty funny and I know we couldn’t sleep through it but it sent an alarm to Pete’s phone, who then called me asking what I was doing to cause smoke in the hallway and refused to believe me when I said I was at home, had not been cooking or lighting candles and there was no smoke in the hallway.

Nest style

Image : Nest

Thankfully that was a one-off incident and when we have accidentally burned toast or been boiling water on the hob it’s not enough to set them off. This isn’t a sponsored or collaborative post by any means, I just really love them and can wholeheartedly recommend them if you’re in the market for a modern and stylish addition to your interiors. I’d also love to get one of their thermostats – future Christmas present?!

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9 Comments

  1. November 11, 2015 / 1:00 pm

    I had no idea stylish alarms existed in a normal rice category. How cool are they?
    I love that you like to keep it real. I know exactly what you mean about photos in magazines. Mind you, I have a friend who keeps her house so immaculate that I suspect she must have a big cupboard full of junk somewhere 🙂
    #HomeEtc xx

  2. Molly
    November 12, 2015 / 1:55 pm

    That made me chuckle, you having to defend yourself when the alarm went off 🙂 I’d love one of these – my current smoke alarm goes off virtually every time I cook a full breakfast, even with windows and doors open and extractor fan on! A friend had just got a whole Nest thermostat system, sounds really clever and amazing. Hope Santa brings you one 🙂 #HomeEtc

    • Lins
      November 12, 2015 / 6:17 pm

      I definitely think they’re worth the money if you wanted to change them 🙂 Hopefully Santa will be kind! X

  3. Stephanie Robinson
    November 13, 2015 / 10:03 pm

    They look great – and you’re right there’s no reason why functional can’t also be stylish. Job done with these 🙂 #homeetc

    • Lins
      November 16, 2015 / 1:22 pm

      I totally agree, it might be mundane but it can be magnificent too! X

  4. mummyofboygirltwins
    November 15, 2015 / 1:51 pm

    SO stylish – ours are quite ugly! So important to have them, you’re right. Thanks for linking up and sharing with us – much appreciated 🙂 Jess xx

    #HomeEtc

    • Lins
      November 16, 2015 / 1:14 pm

      You know me, it’s the little details that I start obsessing over 😉 Xx

  5. November 15, 2015 / 7:17 pm

    They LOOK cool too — ours were free from the fire brigade and don’t look half as nice!! 😉

    I think everyone should be made to install smoke alarms — and carbon dioxide alarms — in order to qualify for home insurance. It’s such a simple thing to do — plus the fire service offer free home fire safety checks too. It’s can be a life-saver, can’t it? Not to be underestimated, that’s for sure. Thanks for linking up with us #HomeEtc xx

    • Lins
      November 16, 2015 / 1:11 pm

      That is SUCH a great idea, yes it should be mandatory! I just don’t understand why people don’t bother, why put yourselves at risk especially when you have children X

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