Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
I've always been super fascinated with the idea of a smart home. Wouldn't it be great if all your household items could be automated, activate based on sensors or be controlled through a smartphone or voice assistant. I had big goals for a "smart-home" project. I wanted to automate as much as I could and turn this house into a smart one, or at least my vision of one. The "smart" house isn't complete yet but let's get started anyway.
Amazon Affiliate Links to Products Mentioned:
Ring Doorbell: amzn.to/3rVQxwt
Sonos:One: amzn.to/2VjNlhV
Sonos Beam: amzn.to/37gYlit
Lifx Bulbs: amzn.to/3icNKLW
Lifx Z Lightstrip: amzn.to/3llTTHs
Philips Hue Bulbs: amzn.to/2TItV5F
Philips Hue Play bar: amzn.to/3ffm5bd
Wemo Smart Plug: amzn.to/3ffWejv
TP-Link Kasa Outdoor Smart Plug: amzn.to/3rHPLTv
Amazon Affiliate Links to Gear I use:
Sony A7S III: amzn.to/3jD0fxC
Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB Tripod: amzn.to/2O7V8Yn
M1 Macbook Air: amzn.to/3rV5Zru
Philips Hue Light Strip: amzn.to/2VZq2EV
Godox SL-60W: amzn.to/37LsdT0
Rode VideoMic NTG:amzn.to/2RKHVrL
Shure SM7B: amzn.to/30Dxji7
Logitech MX Master 3: amzn.to/30G1GV2
Logitech MX keys: amzn.to/3bHytQ8yo
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:05 Smart Home Goals
2:02 What's in my Smart Home?
6:52 Do these count as "smart home" tech?
8:06 Why is this smart home, dumb?
9:35 Conclusion
I had 3 goals. I wanted to make it easy to use my phone with anything and have products that worked with multiple systems but without the need of tinkering or modification like through Home Assistant or IFTTT.
I went with the Google Nest Doorbell camera. When paired with the Google Home Hub, if someone presses the doorbell, the hub displays who's at the door almost instantly and announces on all connected google home devices that someone is at the door. We have Leviton Decora wifi switches. You can set them to turn on and off during different periods of the day and since they are physical switches you can turn the light off with the switch, or through the leviton app via wifi. I have google homes in several rooms, but I'm switching to SONOS speakers because they have Alexa and the google assistant. With SONOS audio products, I can use Sonos one speakers as side speakers for a sound bar, listen to music in one room and move it to a different one within the app, play music in mulitple rooms, or play music from every sonos speaker in the house. It doesn't have perfect integration with the google assistant, so I can't play music from both the google homes and sonos speakers at the same time. We have both Philips hue and Lifx bulbs. The philips bulbs have been more reliable than Lifx bulbs when interacting with it through the google assistant and since the philips bulbs work by routing all the bulbs through a hub, there's less wifi congestion. I use Lifx Strips because I can make them display multiple colors at once. I have philips hue play bars mounted in this bookcase for ambience. I bought wemo smart plugs for $5 because they were on clearance at Target. They work okay most of the time. They can be triggered on and off manually, with voice commands, through the app, or through schedules. I also have a TP-LINK KASA outdoor smart plug that I use to turn these string lights on and off. Looking back, I would've bought an outdoor smart plug with dimming capabilities, because at night these string lights do get really bright.
So why did I call this house a "dumb" smart home then? That's because while I'm using a ton of wi-fi enabled devices and accessories, what I'm doing with them is basic automations based on time, voice commands, or location. You can set a bunch of commands to activate based on those criteria. But as you get more invested in making your home smart, you start to get more creative. You start to think. How could I make this even better? And that's where all my problems begin. It's a rabbit hole that leads you into a literal descent into madness. What I'm saying is making a home "smart" required a lot more planning than I expected. You have to know exactly what you want it to accomplish, in what kind of budget, because the more you learn about smart homes, the more you realize how deep the rabbit hole goes. There's nothing wrong with being able to turn your lights on automatically after 6pm. But if you're trying to turn the lights and TV on after 6pm with motion detectors when you enter your entertainment room, and for those to automatically turn off when it doesn't detect motion past midnight you may find yourself digging deeper for the right solution.
I've always been super fascinated with the idea of a smart home. Wouldn't it be great if all your household items could be automated, activate based on sensors or be controlled through a smartphone or voice assistant. I had big goals for a "smart-home" project. I wanted to automate as much as I could and turn this house into a smart one, or at least my vision of one. The "smart" house isn't complete yet but let's get started anyway.
Amazon Affiliate Links to Products Mentioned:
Ring Doorbell: amzn.to/3rVQxwt
Sonos:One: amzn.to/2VjNlhV
Sonos Beam: amzn.to/37gYlit
Lifx Bulbs: amzn.to/3icNKLW
Lifx Z Lightstrip: amzn.to/3llTTHs
Philips Hue Bulbs: amzn.to/2TItV5F
Philips Hue Play bar: amzn.to/3ffm5bd
Wemo Smart Plug: amzn.to/3ffWejv
TP-Link Kasa Outdoor Smart Plug: amzn.to/3rHPLTv
Amazon Affiliate Links to Gear I use:
Sony A7S III: amzn.to/3jD0fxC
Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB Tripod: amzn.to/2O7V8Yn
M1 Macbook Air: amzn.to/3rV5Zru
Philips Hue Light Strip: amzn.to/2VZq2EV
Godox SL-60W: amzn.to/37LsdT0
Rode VideoMic NTG:amzn.to/2RKHVrL
Shure SM7B: amzn.to/30Dxji7
Logitech MX Master 3: amzn.to/30G1GV2
Logitech MX keys: amzn.to/3bHytQ8yo
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:05 Smart Home Goals
2:02 What's in my Smart Home?
6:52 Do these count as "smart home" tech?
8:06 Why is this smart home, dumb?
9:35 Conclusion
I had 3 goals. I wanted to make it easy to use my phone with anything and have products that worked with multiple systems but without the need of tinkering or modification like through Home Assistant or IFTTT.
I went with the Google Nest Doorbell camera. When paired with the Google Home Hub, if someone presses the doorbell, the hub displays who's at the door almost instantly and announces on all connected google home devices that someone is at the door. We have Leviton Decora wifi switches. You can set them to turn on and off during different periods of the day and since they are physical switches you can turn the light off with the switch, or through the leviton app via wifi. I have google homes in several rooms, but I'm switching to SONOS speakers because they have Alexa and the google assistant. With SONOS audio products, I can use Sonos one speakers as side speakers for a sound bar, listen to music in one room and move it to a different one within the app, play music in mulitple rooms, or play music from every sonos speaker in the house. It doesn't have perfect integration with the google assistant, so I can't play music from both the google homes and sonos speakers at the same time. We have both Philips hue and Lifx bulbs. The philips bulbs have been more reliable than Lifx bulbs when interacting with it through the google assistant and since the philips bulbs work by routing all the bulbs through a hub, there's less wifi congestion. I use Lifx Strips because I can make them display multiple colors at once. I have philips hue play bars mounted in this bookcase for ambience. I bought wemo smart plugs for $5 because they were on clearance at Target. They work okay most of the time. They can be triggered on and off manually, with voice commands, through the app, or through schedules. I also have a TP-LINK KASA outdoor smart plug that I use to turn these string lights on and off. Looking back, I would've bought an outdoor smart plug with dimming capabilities, because at night these string lights do get really bright.
So why did I call this house a "dumb" smart home then? That's because while I'm using a ton of wi-fi enabled devices and accessories, what I'm doing with them is basic automations based on time, voice commands, or location. You can set a bunch of commands to activate based on those criteria. But as you get more invested in making your home smart, you start to get more creative. You start to think. How could I make this even better? And that's where all my problems begin. It's a rabbit hole that leads you into a literal descent into madness. What I'm saying is making a home "smart" required a lot more planning than I expected. You have to know exactly what you want it to accomplish, in what kind of budget, because the more you learn about smart homes, the more you realize how deep the rabbit hole goes. There's nothing wrong with being able to turn your lights on automatically after 6pm. But if you're trying to turn the lights and TV on after 6pm with motion detectors when you enter your entertainment room, and for those to automatically turn off when it doesn't detect motion past midnight you may find yourself digging deeper for the right solution.
