As you can see from the  floor plan above, there is a walk-in closet off the Master bedroom. I have just completed a major overhaul.  The first photo below shows the closet as purchased.  The white wire racks have a space for hangers and a shelf for storage.  Nothing special.  They have all been removed,  the holes in the walls patched and painted, and a set of closet units installed including drawers, shoe storage, and shelf space.

Had the closet been a regular rectangle, I would have duplicated the cabinets down both sides and put more shelving across the back.  But because of the jog in the wall (D) the cabinetry looks a little broken up.  However, the net result is amazing.  I began with 25 feet of hanger space and 25 feet of shelf.  I now have 28 feet of hanger space, 15 drawers, shelf space for 32 pairs of shoes, and 8 feet of top shelf space.  A $1.000.00 investment in the closet will make the condo more appealing to buyers and add several times the investment in increased sale price.

It all started as an effort to make things a little easier for my ailing wife and for me to be able to keep a watchful eye on her without having to be sitting next to her.  There are really three big players in home automation... Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Apple.  I am not an Apple person, so that eliminated them.  My daughter had started with Google Home, but she is an Apple user and switched.  She offered her two devices and I accepted.  My original intent was to facilitate making an emergency phone call easier.  If Pam fell or was otherwise unable to reach or use her phone, she could still call.  Just saying the words "Hey Google, call Bruce" would result in a phone call via the Google Home speaker.  Unfortunately, because of her dementia, she could not remember to say the Hey Google part.  

Once the two base speakers were in place, one in the living room and one in the bedroom, I purchased a few cameras and set them up around the condo.    Once I began using Google Home, it took on a life of its own.  I now have sensors on the front door, the slider to the deck, and the basement door.  I had purchased a few cameras in order keep an eye on Pam.  I now have seven cameras, plus the doorbell camera.  I began purchasing smart wall switches.  A smart dimmer for the dining room, a motion sensor for the garage light, and quite a number of single-pole switches.  I can now control most lights in the condo.  The switches all operate normally, but they are also wifi connected.  I began replacing some of the LED bulbs installed around the condo with dimmable bulbs and some bulbs with full color spectrum.  For example, if you want mood lighting in the bedroom (not very useful when you live alone), I can tell Google Home to make the nightstand lamps blue at 50%.   Wallah, we have pale blue lights in the bedroom.

Once you have the capability in place, you can begin to automate things.  For example, if the front door is open any time between dusk and dawn, Google Home will automatically turn on the front hall, kitchen and dining room lights.  So when I walk in the front door at night, the space is lit right up.  I can say Hey Google, Status Report and Google Home will provide me with the current time,  today's and tomorrow's weather, the first item on my calendar for the day, and the status of the door sensors on the front door and slider.  If I gave it that command from my cell phone, it would also include the battery status on my phone.  One night, at about 2 am, I was awakened by a loud bang.  I jump out of bed and said Hey Google, turn on all lights.  It was now daylight in the condo.  I found a picture had fallen off the wall.  Recently, Google turned on "geofencing".  This feature allows one to use location as part of your automation.  In order to work, you must turn on the setting to share you location.   I now have an automation that will turn on my three outside lights (front door, walkway, and garage) if I drive by the condo clubhouse any time between dusk and dawn.   So if I am out for the evening, the lights are on as I pull in the driveway.

There are a number of problems with home automation also.  For example, the cameras have the ability to provide SMS notification in the event of motion detection.  My cameras can differentiate between simple motion, like a car driving by, and people detection.  I started receiving notifications at about 2 am from the camera in my basement.  When I looked at the camera, I saw nothing unusual.   Since the cameras were originally intended to keep an eye on Pam, I did not purchase SD memory cards and therefore the camera did not record images.  So I purchased an SD and installed it in the basement camera.  Next time I received a notification, I went and reviewed the photo stored on the camera.  It was a spider.  The camera is mounted on the ceiling in the basement in order to get a wide angle.  The spider was walking over the camera.

Another problem arose because of my home network.  I have three wifi SSID's defined in the condo.  Two are primarily for phone and computer use.  The third is meant exclusively for home automation, IoT (Internet of Things) as it is called.  I dropped Comcast due to continuously rising prices.  I have switched to T-Mobile 5G home Internet.  At some point I began losing my network twice a day and the only solution was to restart the T-Mobile gateway.  I called T-Mobile and they gladly shipped a new gateway to my home.  After installing it, Google home and all of the devices failed to connect to the wifi, even though the SSID names were identical.  But because the gateway MAC address was different, the devices saw it as a new network.  I had to go touch each switch and speaker and attach them to the new network.  

What is next for home automation?  I am not sure.  Changing back and forth from Daylight Savings Time is a pain for a few devices.  I have them programmed to come on or turn off at a certain time.  When we switch, I have to adjust the start and stop times.