Blog Archives

Mount a Deck Umbrella to Save Space

We have a small deck that needed a bit of sun coverage over the summer, and went shopping for an umbrella. We decided on this 10′ Patio Hanging Offset Umbrella with Solar LED Lights; it looked like it would get

Posted by Matt Chiste
October 24

Glow In The Dark 3D Printing

Halloween is just around the corner, and with a 3D printer you can make some neat decorations that can be downloaded from Thingiverse. This year, I tried something new: Glow in the Dark Plastic! The filament isn’t cheap, but it

Posted by Matt Chiste
October 20

The miracles of spray paint

OK, so this one’s not strictly speaking “home automation”, but it does fall under “home improvement“. I’ve always thought of spray paint as the tools of the trade for (graffiti) artists, but when faced with either spiffing up or throwing

Posted by Matt Chiste
September 17

Make your garage more comfortable with a motion-sensing fan

I do a lot of work in the garage, and Virginia summers can be hot, so I found a quick and easy solution: install a wall-mount fan in the back of the garage: I was a little worried that this

Posted by Matt Chiste
September 14

Leverage existing in-wall wires for low-voltage power

When I moved into my house, it had an old 1980s-style tape deck intercom system that I replaced with a custom Home Command Center. That meant the intercom units on the walls were basically just non-functional eye-sores: Recently I received

Posted by Matt Chiste
September 10

Automatically lock your doors when you leave home with MorningLinc and Insteon

We’ve covered a myriad of things based on how you can make your Smart Home smarter based on your location information, but one we haven’t touched on yet is locking your door. We’ve already got a Morning Industry deadbolt, a

Posted by Matt Chiste
September 2

Install a garden hose spigot anywhere with a custom-length hose

In working on an automated sprinkler system, I started with the very basics: getting water where I wanted it. We’ll talk about the sprinkler system in an upcoming post, but the first thing I wanted to do is to get

Posted by Matt Chiste
August 29
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