I’m not new to this scene. My journey started back in 2019, when I built my first smart home around Home Assistant. And as it so often happens in life, what begins simple has a way of pulling you in. A handful of automations to flick a few lights on and off slowly grew into a sprawling system, full of devices, integrations, and late-night tinkering sessions.

My university professor used to say that engineers are peculiar creatures: the moment one finds a solution to a problem, builds it, and watches it run, they can finally fall asleep in peace — until the next problem wakes them up again. I’ve come to believe he was right.

But this isn’t the story of that first adventure or my university times. That chapter is closed. The house where my first child was born has been sold, and we’ve moved to a new place in Prague — a bigger home, a fresh canvas, and a rare second chance to put into practice all the lessons I learned the hard way the first time around, and to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

This is the story of my second smart home: why I chose Loxone, and what one year of living with that decision has actually taught me.

I’m not writing this to stroke my ego. I’m writing it because Loxone — for all its strengths — lives inside an ecosystem that, in my opinion, still lacks the kind of accessible, honest content a newcomer can lean on. If sharing what I’ve learned saves someone else a few late nights and a few wrong turns, then this blog will have done its job.

A small sneak peek before I go: if you think I left Home Assistant behind entirely, you’d be wrong. It’s still up and running in this house, quietly playing a pivotal role in the whole setup — but that’s a story for another post.

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