A smart home should solve a problem: three experiments to try

Start with the annoyance

iJustine and Pulenaz start a smart-home experiment by asking what actually interrupts the day: a lamp switch hidden behind a chair, a task forgotten after the washing finishes, or a doorbell that is easy to miss.

A smart home can be as small as a sensor, a rule and an action. The rule says when something happens and what should follow: for example, a door left open prompts a reminder. Home Assistant’s documentation describes automations as responses to events and offers an editor for choosing the devices and actions.

References: Home Assistant

Rosemary Orchard offers a useful real example in her Automators notes: she set up her heating to turn off when a door has been open for a minute. The delay distinguishes a door briefly opened for a delivery from one left open. Her linked episode goes deeper into how she uses automation.

References: Rosemary Orchard

Try a reminder, then decide whether to keep it

Pulenaz keeps leaving the washing in the machine. Justine helps her attach a vibration sensor to the washer and make a rule: after a wash has been running, sustained inactivity triggers a speaker announcement that the washing is ready. The first version announces it every time, including late in the evening when Pulenaz has already gone to bed.

They change the rule so it sends a phone reminder during the evening instead of speaking aloud. Pulenaz checks the machine, moves the clothes and clears the reminder. She keeps that version because it solves the forgotten-washing problem without making the room noisy. A reminder needs a way to stop or acknowledge it as much as it needs a trigger.

The feature that creates another job

Justine and Pulenaz also try a motion-triggered lamp by the chair. It lights the way when her hands are full, but switches off when she sits still reading. They lengthen the wait before it switches off and leave the ordinary lamp switch accessible. If Pulenaz has to wave at the sensor to finish a page, the automatic rule goes; the lamp stays usable by hand.

Elly Bailey, the tech creator known as Elly Awesome, described a similar tradeoff to The Guardian in 2026. Her connected doorbell let her see and speak to delivery people when away, but its phone notifications meant she could miss a visitor when she was home without her phone. The problem was not whether the camera worked; it was whether the alert reached her where she needed it.

References: The Guardian

What happens without the internet?

Justine and Pulenaz repeat their lamp and reminder experiment with the internet connection disconnected while the home network and device power stay on. They try the lamp’s physical switch, trigger the motion sensor and check the phone reminder separately. In their setup the switch and local lamp rule still work, while the reminder that depends on an outside service does not arrive.

They restore the connection, trigger the reminder again and check that it arrives; they do not assume a missed alert will appear later. Pulenaz keeps the physical lamp control and adds an ordinary timer for laundry when the connection is down. A power cut is a different test: the router, hub or powered devices may be off too.

To try this at home, first choose a low-stakes device and arrange a manual way to use it. Check the ordinary control, the automatic action and any remote notification one by one; reconnect and repeat. That gives you a practical answer for your own setup rather than a single “works offline” label.

Sources and attribution

1. The Guardian

   Is it smarter to have a dumb home? ‘We’ve seen clients unable to flush toilets’Published Feb 18, 2026 · Recorded Oct 30, 2026

2. Rosemary Orchard

   Automators 97: Automating Rosemary OrchardPublished Mar 11, 2022 · Recorded Oct 30, 2026

3. Home Assistant

   Automating Home AssistantPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 30, 2026