My smart home journey began with a simple idea: buy a few connected devices, pair them with a hub, and create some automations.
Yeah. That was many moons ago. 😄
Over the years, what started as an interest in making things around the house work a little smarter has turned into one of my favorite technology rabbit holes. And if you know me, you probably know I have a tendency to take a perfectly reasonable technology project and see just how far I can go overboard with it.
Home automation has been no exception.
It started with SmarMy smart home journey started with SmartThingsmart home platform was Samsung SmartThings. Easy to use, widely supported, and it made things simple.
That was my introduction to the idea of bringing different devices together instead of managing everything through a collection of individual manufacturer apps.
And that idea hooked me.
I wasn’t particularly interested in just being able to turn a light on from my phone. I wanted devices to work together. I wanted events in one part of the house to trigger actions somewhere else. I wanted the house to respond to what was happening without someone having to tell it what to do every single time.
Basically, I wanted automation, not just remote control.
Of course, once you start exploring what’s possible, you also start discovering what isn’t quite working the way you’d hoped. This lit me up sometimes and really drove my decisions.
A few stops along the way
SmartThings wasn’t my last platform. I moved from SmartThings to Hubitat, and even went back to SmartThings for a while. Later came Home Assistant, then an experiment with Homey Pro, and ultimately a return to Home Assistant, where I am today.
And I’m glad I tried them so I knew what each could do and couldn’t do.
There’s something valuable about actually living with different platforms instead of just reading their feature comparisons. You begin to figure out what matters to you, what you can tolerate, and what becomes downright irritating when something that worked yesterday decides not to work today.
Getting to Home Assistant was only part of the education. Every stop along the way gave me more perspective on what I wanted a smart home to be.
Then came the protocols
Somewhere along the way, I found myself spending as much time thinking about the underlying technologies as the automations themselves.
Zigbee. Z-Wave. Wi-Fi. And more recently, Matter and Thread.
If you’ve spent much time in the smart home world, you’ve probably encountered all of these names. You may even have several of them operating in your home right now without realizing just how different they are.
And if you’re anything like me, you’ve also discovered that the theoretical capabilities of a device and what actually happens after you install it can be two very different things.
There’s a lot more to a reliable smart home than choosing a hub and buying compatible devices.
There’s network design, radio coverage, mesh behavior, interoperability, device reporting, firmware, and the occasional switch that insists it’s on when the light is clearly off.
Ask me how I know. 😄
What I want to share
I’m starting this series because I’ve learned quite a bit through experimentation, successes, mistakes, and more troubleshooting than I probably care to admit.
Today, my home includes a mixture of different smart home technologies, all tied into a larger network and automation environment. I’m still experimenting, still changing things, and definitely still learning.
Rather than just writing another comparison of Zigbee versus Z-Wave, I want to talk about what it’s actually like to build and maintain a smart home over time.
What worked? What didn’t? What would I buy again? And what would I do differently if I were starting from scratch?
I’ll get into the platforms, the protocols, the mesh networks, the integrations, and some real examples from my own house.
Because ultimately, the goal isn’t to build the most complicated smart home possible.
It’s to build one that actually works.
And ideally, one that doesn’t require its resident technology guy to spend Saturday afternoon figuring out why a light switch has developed an attitude.
What’s Coming Next: My Smart Home Series
This article is really just the beginning. Over the years, I’ve accumulated plenty of lessons about smart home technology, including some I learned the hard way.
Rather than trying to cram everything into one article, I’m going to break things down into a series exploring the technologies, decisions, successes, and occasional frustrations that come with building a connected home.
Here’s what I have planned:
Part 2: Zigbee vs. Z-Wave — What I’ve Learned Using Both
I’ve used both technologies extensively, and each has its strengths and quirks. We’ll look at reliability, mesh networks, device compatibility, and what I’ve learned installing and troubleshooting smart switches throughout my home.
Part 3: Matter and Thread — The Promise vs. Reality
Matter and Thread promise to make smart homes simpler. But how well does that promise hold up in practice? I’ll share my experiences with Thread border routers, Matter devices, Apple Home, and Home Assistant—including some unexpected lessons about devices that don’t behave quite as advertised.
Part 4: Wi-Fi and the Smart Home — Your Network Matters
With a house full of connected devices, I’ve learned that a reliable smart home starts with a reliable network. We’ll talk about Wi-Fi coverage, access points, interference, network design, and why devices sometimes insist on connecting to the wrong access point.
Part 5: Bringing It All Together with Home Assistant
This is where things get interesting. I’ll show how I’ve brought lighting, locks, sensors, solar panels, Tesla Powerwalls, energy monitoring, and other technologies together into one home automation environment.
Part 6: The Spouse Approval Factor — When Smart Homes Get Too Smart
And finally, there’s something that doesn’t appear on most smart home specification sheets: the Spouse Approval Factor (SAF).
Because you can build the most technologically impressive automation in the world, but if your family can’t reliably turn on the kitchen lights, you’ve probably missed the point.
A Few Final Thoughts
I’m not writing this series because I believe I’ve figured everything out. Far from it. I’m still experimenting, still learning, and occasionally still wondering why something that worked perfectly yesterday suddenly stopped working today.
But that’s also what makes this hobby so interesting.
My hope is that sharing these experiences will save someone else a few headaches, help others make better decisions, and maybe encourage a few people to take their own smart homes a little further.
And if nothing else, perhaps we can all learn how to build smarter homes without making our families crazy in the process.
More to come!
When to expect the next Smart Home post
Smart Home Automation follows a two-weeks-on, one-week-off rhythm: new posts are planned for Wednesdays at 6:00 a.m. Central. The next planned installment, “Zigbee vs. Z-Wave — What I’ve Learned Using Both,” is October 28, 2026. After a week off, the following Smart Home slot is November 11. You can see the full three-week rotation in the Coming Up schedule on the Jeff’s Place homepage.