The Best Smart Home Accessories to Boost Your Curb Appeal (2026)

I tried the battery version, which requires you to charge it every two weeks, but the wired version is the top recommendation in our guide to the best video doorbells.

A better birdhouse

I had a new problem for me this spring: the invasion of birds. A little bird made its nest in the wreath of my front door without us realizing it. One evening my sister opened the door and the bird flew out of the nest and came straight into our house. After a 30 minute battle to get him out again (and stop my cat from eating him), it wasn’t until we saw the bird fly out the door again the next day that we realized he called our house his home too.

If this is a common problem in your home, Kat Merck, our bird equipment tester, has a solution: a smart birdhouse. Birdfy makes a few smart bird feeders that we love for bird watching, and the Nest Duo is a birdhouse that lets you watch birds as they nest inside. This is a slim, attractive box that will add to the style of your front yard while also containing two solar-powered cameras (one facing the entrance, one focused inside) so you can watch birds from multiple angles. It comes with different hole sizes to appeal to different species, metal predator guards to prevent chewing around the hole, and a remote control to reset or recharge the camera without disturbing your feathered neighbors.

Stylish smart lights

Govee

Outdoor light string with transparent bulb

I’ve already liked Govee’s smart outdoor string lights, usually for my holiday decorating, and have previously recommended something similar with a bistro light-like look that turned out to be clever. These clear bulb string lights are part of Govee’s current range and have a contemporary feel with a triangle in the center instead of the metallic filament. These are a fun option for outdoor lights that you can enjoy on warm nights, and they can do all colors and shades of white without looking as bulky as permanent outdoor lights. (As a bonus, these lights are also Matter compatible!)

Fresh bulbs

Cync.

Smart LED bulb, PAR38

If you want to control lights remotely, add an outdoor smart bulb. There are tons of choices and you can usually find one from any brand that you already have in your home. The only downside is that smart bulbs intended for outdoors are typically 4.75-inch diameter PAR38-style bulbs, so they’re best suited for down-facing spotlights on your porch or balcony. They will likely be too large to fit in a wall light fixture as a replacement for a full-sized bulb. Don’t settle for just any smart bulb: not all are suitable for outdoors. Check outdoor use notices and waterproof ratings to make sure they are safe to use. I’m a big fan of Cync bulbs, and the brand offers an outdoor version of the Cync Full Color bulbs that I like to use indoors. You can add fun colors, as well as shades of white, to turn the porch spooky orange or red for Halloween, pink for Valentine’s Day, or the colors of your favorite sports team on game day.

Remote controlled garage

If your garage is the centerpiece of your home’s curb appeal, you can control it as easily as a smart door by adding a smart controller. You can do two different styles: I have the Chamberlain MyQ smart garage opener professionally installed, which means the device that controls my garage has those smarts built in (plus a camera, but I find that doesn’t work very well with the distance between the device and my Wi-Fi router), or you can get a smart garage controller that can add smart features to an existing garage door. Both let you check if the garage is open or closed and operate it remotely, and you can add a video keypad that doubles as a video doorbell and can let you open or close the garage without your phone.

Smart blinds

The front of my house faces west, so it’s absolutely scorching at the end of the day. What I have to add are some of our favorite smart blinds for automating closing the blinds on that side of the house at the right time of day. These also give your home a pleasant, cohesive look and immediate, controllable privacy from the outside world. WIRED reviewer Simon Hill recommends SmartWings shades as his top picks, as well as Lutron’s Caseta shades if you’re looking for a more enhanced look.

Invisible exchanges

Looking to add intelligence without affecting your existing setup? These switches can make your front door and yard smart without being visible.

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