What will your futuristic home look like?

Yes, that’s right, the home of the future is already here in the present, thanks to some nifty household gadgetry. The latest developments in home tech mean your castle can make that smartphone in your pocket feel so last decade. So to celebrate the future as now, let’s take a look at some of the top, cutting edge home accessories – plus a couple of classics your household won’t want to say goodbye to any time soon.

Now there’s an app to control everything too

Yes, after trash talking your poor smartphone it turns out there is an app to bring it back up to pace with the home of the future. Home Connect allows you to control selected appliances from your mobile device, so you can start up the washing machine, get that beef roasting or check if the dishwasher needs some more rinse aid, no matter where you are.

The whole family can sleep sound at night

Baby monitors will never be the same after D-Link’s high-definition Pan & Tilt Wi-Fi Baby Camera. HD video means you can see what every noise, movement and little cough means – without disturbing the sleep of your little one. Two way audio also allows you to speak sing and blow raspberries directly over the system, while the D-Link comes with pre-installed lullabies – or you can save your own to a microSD card. And, of course, there’s an app for this too so you can use your phone to check on your pride and joy while the babysitter or other half is in charge.

Enter the age of digital makeup

Thanks to Panasonic, ladies (and curious men) can test out a range of makeup looks without so much as a brush of a stick. Mirrors of the future will use embedded cameras to scan your face and layer digital makeup over the top of it. Better yet, you can even see what you would look like with a goatee, thanks to an incredibly useful facial hair feature.

Cook dinner while you’re sitting at the bar

Well, you don’t have to sit at the bar (be sensible now) but you get the idea at this point. Dacor claims its Discovery IQ Wall Oven can turn even the most novice cook into a gourmet superstar, thanks to some tasty features and a Wi-Fi connection. This doesn’t mean you can’t take all the credit yourself of course – go ahead.

Nobody queues for a cup of coffee anymore

As promised, not every item in this list strictly counts as cutting edge technology, but in a country full of coffee lovers it’s hard to imagine a home of the future without a grade-A coffee machine in at least one room. Let’s not pretend the British weather warrants a daily trip to the café and you need to get your fix from somewhere. Besides, it’s hardly sci-fi to stand there waiting in a queue to order your vanilla latte now is it?

Not everything needs a Wi-Fi connection to work better

Dyson proves an app doesn’t necessarily mean a better product and the company has been pioneering household appliances since the late ‘70s. These days the firm is about much more than vacuum cleaners though, and you’ll find premium fans, heaters, hand dryers and more from Dyson in homes of the future. Although, it’s a safe guess there will be an app for those before long as well.

Play with your pets at the office

No, we’re not talking about a take your pets to work day, sadly – but the Petcube means you can keep an eye on your loyal best friend from anywhere. A two-way audio stream also lets you speak to your furry companions and tell Fido to sit for no apparent reason at all (why not?), but the best feature has got to be video recording so you can upload all the funniest bits to YouTube.

Transparent TV

This transparent TV, designed by Michael Friebe, may not revolutionise your home life but the technology behind it is incredible – not to mention it looks so damn cool! A conventional LCD display meets TOLED technology to create a transparent screen capable of producing “solid” footage, to the darkest blacks and the purist whites.

Even bed time gets a futuristic upgrade

The Hi-Can Bed promises a more comfortable night’s sleep with this modern take on the four-poster bed concept. Remote control blinds let you rest in complete darkness, at any time of the day, and a built-in HD projector, state of the art sound system and fitted Xbox turn your bed into a private entertainment booth.

So you don’t need to wait until the year 2050 to get a taste of the future – you can bring it home today with any of these nifty home appliances. Albeit the price tag on certain futuristic gadgets may convince you it’s worth waiting until they become available to the general public, at more affordable prices. After all, the general rule with technology is it gets cheaper (and better) over time, before it’s ultimately replaced by something else.

Although it’s not without its gimmicks though – just take a look at Google’s failed attempts at wearable technology. It just goes to prove we’re not in such a hurry to travel to the future that we’ll pay up for gadgets that don’t in some way solve our problems today. It will be interesting to see if Apple can succeed where its biggest rival failed.