Recently, when I started renovating my home, I knew it was the perfect time to rebuild my smart home from scratch. I’ve been on the smart home bandwagon for years, but cobbling together IoT products is never the right approach. Some things work, some don’t, and some don’t work quite as well as you’d want them to.
The best smart homes are the ones you never have to think about.
Over the years, I’d pieced together a mix of gadgets, platforms that included Alexa, Apple’s HomeKit and Google Home. And, of course, half-finished ideas. This time, I wanted something more deliberate based on my actual experience and requirements. No, that did not include a flashy setup packed with voice commands and novelty routines, but a smart home that just worked — reliably, quietly, and without falling apart the moment the power flickered or the WiFi stuttered. Clean wiring, stable connectivity, and simple automations that make daily life easier and seamless was the goal. Here are the five biggest takeaways from that rebuild and how I achieved it.