Paige Tilford
Contributor at Glidona
About
I'm a 36-year-old freelance UX writer in suburban Indianapolis. I share a 1920s craftsman bungalow with my partner Sam and two rescue dogs: Murph, a husky mix who refuses to stay off the couch, and Beans, a senior beagle whose snoring is, in practice, the baseline decibel reading in this house.
In March 2024, a Roomba i3 gave up on my basement steps. That was the start of the dustbin tally. I've run a string of robot vacs and a few air purifiers through this house over a couple of years, mostly funded by my own money with some returns and refurb deals worked in. Dustbins go on a kitchen scale. Noise levels go through the iPhone NIOSH SLM app, hardwood versus the runner rug in the living room. I note when a bot got eaten by the IKEA rug fringe in a single run, when it got stuck under the sectional on a loop, and when it ran over Beans's tail twice in the first week before Sam set the no-go zone. Sam's reaction to the third dust-cloud incident made it into the notes verbatim.
The ECOVACS companion app onboarding reminded me of a Sephora checkout flow. All these apps are bad. I've uninstalled and reinstalled more than one of them, and that goes in the review.
I'm not an engineer. No smart-home installer cert, no IoT consulting background. I write UX copy for clients and I weigh dustbins on a kitchen scale. That's the credential stack.
Written by Paige Tilford
- My Experience With the LG CordZero Battery Life in a Large House
- Where to Install X-Sense Smart Detectors in an Older Two-Story Home
- Roborock S8 Pro Ultra vs Dreame L20 Ultra for Homes With Pets
- Where to Put an Air Purifier for the Best Indoor Air Quality
- LG CordZero Robot Vacuum Review for Cleaning Craftsman Trim and Edges
- Best Robot Vacuum for Thick Carpet and Heavy Shedding Dogs
- My Experience Using the Roomba j7 Plus for Pet Waste Avoidance
- Best Robot Vacuum for Bungalow Floor Plans With High Door Thresholds
- Why I Added an X-Sense Smart Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector
- Roborock S8 Pro Ultra Review for Managing Thick Husky Hair Tangles
- Testing the PuroAir HEPA 14 Air Purifier for Persistent Dog Dander (2026 Update)
- Six Robots Later: Why I Finally Stopped Swapping Vacuums in This Two-Dog Bungalow
Disclosure
Some outbound links here are affiliate links. I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. I only write about products I've run through my own house, including the ones I returned. More detail on the editorial policy page.