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

1:01:45 Feb 10, 2026
About this episode
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 YouTubeShow notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA221Support the PodcastGet early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.https://homeassistant.fm/patreonShare your storyWe 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.Chapters00:00:00 Welcome00:03:00 Lighting gateway and Hue hack00:05:30 Sneaking tech and dance reveal00:08:00 From HomeKit/HomeBridge to HA00:10:30 Dashboards and camera setup00:12:30 Bulbs vs switches in 50s home00:14:30 Bathroom fan and comforts00:16:30 Homelab and Zigbee backbone00:19:00 LLMs and announcements00:21:30 Laundry alerts and Mac lab00:25:30 Presence sensing strategy00:28:00 Leak sensors and water safety00:31:00 Light signals around the home00:33:00 Roborock automations and hacks00:40:30 Bedroom presence routines00:43:00 Bayesian sensors and design00:49:50 Time Machine and Frame TV00:54:30 Pool fountain control00:56:30 Power and crawlspace cabling00:59:10 Party trick and outroThis episode was made possible thanks to our sponsorsHome Assistant Cloud by Nabu CasaEasily 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.ZoozIf 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
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