Turning my apartment into a smart home, part 1: Fundamentals and lights

For the longest time, I’ve resisted the urge to make my home smart, because I’ve always heard how difficult it was and how it made no sense unless you owned your home. The examples I’d seen were not at all that impressive either. I’ve visited supposed “smart” homes that involved shouting “Okay Google, turn on the lights” when entering, and having my lights be dependent on someone else’s servers being up,1 as well as having a device listening to every word I say, simply didn’t appeal to me. Finally, in 2026, I decided that I was sick of manually controlling my lights. Why should I have to use my phone as a flashlight after turning off the bedroom lights every night? Why should I have to turn on the lights when I am working in the middle of the day and a storm comes? Surely, there must be a better way… Thus, I did some research and quickly learned that most of the supposed difficulties were overblown. With less than a $200 investment and a day’s work, I was able to control all my lights…