Hiding Smart Tech in a 1950s Home: Mike’s Home Assistant Journey

Mike joins Phil and Rohan to share how he hides smart tech in a 1953 mid‑century home so it looks analog but works like magic. Plus: Roborock tricks, leak sensors that turn rooms blue, HomePod TTS vs Sonos ducking, Samsung Frame art‑mode headaches, and running full HA OS in a VMware Fusion VM on a Mac mini.

Watch this episode on YouTube

Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA221

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 Welcome

00:03:00 Lighting gateway and Hue hack

00:05:30 Sneaking tech and dance reveal

00:08:00 From HomeKit/HomeBridge to HA

00:10:30 Dashboards and camera setup

00:12:30 Bulbs vs switches in 50s home

00:14:30 Bathroom fan and comforts

00:16:30 Homelab and Zigbee backbone

00:19:00 LLMs and announcements

00:21:30 Laundry alerts and Mac lab

00:25:30 Presence sensing strategy

00:28:00 Leak sensors and water safety

00:31:00 Light signals around the home

00:33:00 Roborock automations and hacks

00:40:30 Bedroom presence routines

00:43:00 Bayesian sensors and design

00:49:50 Time Machine and Frame TV

00:54:30 Pool fountain control

00:56:30 Power and crawlspace cabling

00:59:10 Party trick and outro

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com

Products Discussed

Philips Hue bulbs and lightstrips: https://amzn.to/4k7paur

Aqara T2 wall switch: https://amzn.to/4jUTZm1

Samsung The Frame TV (43"): https://amzn.to/4t5mTnr

Zigbee main water shutoff valve (generic): https://amzn.to/4aURldj

Aqara water leak sensors: https://amzn.to/3Nest6A

Aqara door/window sensors: https://amzn.to/49hmu9B

Third Reality sensors: https://amzn.to/455ZR5F

Ecobee thermostat with room sensors: https://amzn.to/4t4XYjO

Bond Bridge (ceiling fan RF hub): https://amzn.to/3YAbHBm

Aqara roller shade controllers: https://amzn.to/3O8ihwI

Level Lock: https://amzn.to/3ZcU3Ug

SwitchBot Lock (with keypad/fingerprint accessory): https://amzn.to/4a55H92

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy