I have only and mostly used my abode as a temporary residence, flitting in and out between business travels and holidays. So even as it remains my permanent address it was only always used temporarily. This time around, three months and still no flights in sight, I am realising the direness of it all. So, like all sober humans, I resorted to online shopping to fill the voids, not just the one within but also in my house, which is always a few appliances short of being a home. These below have been my top acquisitions in order of usefulness:

Dyson V11 Animal Pro

A vacuum cleaner that costs almost four times over the standard stuff out there might seem not only illogical, but also extravagant, but this is truly one of those brands where not only does it outdo others in performance, it also looks good while doing it. Think of this as the Usain Bolt of vacuum cleaners, fast, unmatched, and just that right amount of cocky. I live with two dogs and had near-forgotten the concept of wearing black clothes. The V11 then came as the much-needed rehabilitation therapy — it’s powerful yet silent, heavy-duty but lightweight, it’s advanced tech aptly packaged (read: dumbed down) for the first-time users (of anything around the house) like moi. The difference is in the results, this is as close to Godliness as my home has ever been.

Kärcher High Pressure Washer K5

This was a thing that I never knew I needed till I had one, and now, short of heating up my food and tucking me in, I think of it like my Mr. Handyman for all sorts of issues around the house. For example, since the day the house was built, I had thought our outdoor tiles to be a brick red. Kärcher revealed to me they were in fact an intense carmine red. Using this to clean the house was like upping the resolution around the place, switching from 720 to 4K. The floors don’t just look cleaner, it’s all more vivid, as if someone has applied an insta-filter to the place. Works great on cars too and the possibility to add soap to the mix makes it ever more efficient. For the science buffs, it is capable to jetting out water in a fine spray at 20 bars, which, if not aimed correctly, will peel the paint off pipes.

KitchenAid Artisan Mini Series 3.3 L Tilt-Head Stand Mixer

Now, I am no cook, nor will I ever be one. My hospitality degree has been a failed education but certainly isn’t my only failed education, I add with misplaced pride. But back to this device, considering the amount of cakes being mixed and brownies being baked, this is useful to have at hand. Sure, you can knead it with your hands but the only time kneading or any such activity looks sexy is in a movie, like the wraith and wispy Patrick Swayze helping Demi Moore with pottery in Ghosts. Its tilt-head is not just good for mixing dough though, with the right attachment it can go from making pasta and burger mince, vegetable stringy-pasta and dicing them to milling grains, it can really straddle it all.

Bosch GSB 500W 500 RE Tool Set

I always had a tool drawer which was a magical place — it had everything that looked important and tool-like, and yet, one could never find what one needed. It was always the wrong-sized ratchet wrench or the incorrect screwdriver head. And no matter how much more was added to this drawer, its uselessness remained a constant. This time around I went and got myself a brand new tool kit. Well, I got two tool kits but since one of them is a Supreme tool kit in all red, I don’t think I really bought that for actually using it. The other is by Bosch and it has all the basic accouterments to make you a shoo-in for the ret-con update of the handyman in the Village People. It has a 500W drill which is good enough to go through wood, brick or metal and can also help tighten and loosen screws and nuts. There is an adjustable wrench and a hammer which, although no Mjölnir, it still feels wieldy and strong. All in all, I think the drawer can be done away with and replaced with this briefcase. I may just add a torque wrench to the kit but else it’s good to go. As for the Supreme kit, that’s just for the ‘gram.

Bidspa Intelligent WC by Jaquar

I was always proud of my Duravit and Toto-equipped bathrooms with warmed mood-lit seats; come on, there is a certain decadent charm about operating everything with a remote, especially the temperature-controlled hygiene faucet and aromatised air dryer for your tender tush. Toto is the king of complicated WCs and Duravit and Queo come in a close second. And now, in steps Jaquar and takes the no-touch principle to a whole new level with their Sensor and Sensibility tagline. Bidspa is an intelligent WC with a host of features and functions similar to the ones mentioned above. But it is more than that, a whole intelligent bathroom system, with shiny chrome-finished taps, flushers, hand-dryers and fittings that respond to movement. Even their new lights are motion activated.

Avita Imago Smart Mirror

Because vanity is not always a sin, this cool gadgetry is a mirror with a full-HD display and a capacitive touch screen, with Bluetooth connectivity and speaker built into it. What you have then is a device which can play the music off your phone as you go about your morning routine. But then it seamlessly syncs with other apps and smart devices in the vicinity and doubles up as a heads up display, from weighing scales and health metrics to displaying the weather, playing movies or music to even reading notifications and headlines. All in all, it’s a cool way to multi-task.