My office is in the basement. For many, that sounds like a gloomy dungeon, but for me, it is the ultimate place for deep work and focus. Down here, there are no distracting windows facing the street, and it is wonderfully quiet.
However, this silence comes at a price: Isolation. A door and a concrete ceiling effectively separate me from the rest of the house—and consequently from parcel carriers, my family, or the information that the air down here is slowly getting “stale.”
The solution? My Smart Home has to bridge this physical gap. In this post, I’ll show you how I use Home Assistant, ESPHome, and a bit of DIY electronics to create the perfect “Connected Basement Office.”
The Connectivity Challenge (The Smart Doorbell)
In the past, the biggest problem was the doorbell. When I was in “tunnel mode”—perhaps wearing noise-canceling headphones—I missed every single delivery. That had to change.
My solution is a DIY smart doorbell, which I’ve already introduced in a previous video. It effectively makes the doorbell “visible.”
- The Problem: Home Assistant sends a push notification to my phone, but I often ignore my phone while working.
- The Solution: I get a visual pop-up directly on my desktop monitor and a voice announcement via the speakers in the office: “Someone is at the door.” This way, I’m guaranteed not to miss anything without being pulled out of my workflow.
Health in the Bunker (The IKEA Air Hack)
In a basement, you often don’t notice how quickly the air quality drops. You get tired, develop headaches, and productivity suffers without knowing why.
Here, too, the Smart Home helps proactively. I use my modded IKEA Vindriktning sensor, which I made “smart” using an ESP8266 board and ESPHome. It measures particulate matter and (via an additional sensor) CO2.
The system doesn’t wait for me to look at a dashboard. If the values become critical, I get an active warning: “Time to ventilate.” This is technology taking care of my health so I can concentrate on my work.
How I made the IKEA sensor smart
Work in Progress: The Brain Under the Desk
Currently, I am working on a new centerpiece for the office: An ESP32 mounted directly under my desktop. This project has two main goals:
- Presence Detection: Actually, I determine my presence in the office (and thus the need to turn on the lights) via Bermuda BLE. However, that can be a bit sluggish. Therefore, the ESP32 is getting a classic motion sensor that switches instantly as soon as I enter the office.
- Scene Control: Using a small display and a joystick, I want to control scenes like “Focus Mode” (lights dimmed, notifications off) or “Video Call” (front light on) without having to move my mouse.
A Glimpse into the Future
The setup is never finished. Since I often can’t hear what’s happening upstairs, I am planning further upgrades for better coordination with the family:
- A smart door lock for the office so the kids don’t burst in while Papa is recording.
- A digital “On Air” sign at the door, but also upstairs in the living area, so the family always knows whether I can be disturbed or not.
- The “Holy Grail”: Smart Voice Detection. The system should use a microphone in the room to detect if I am currently speaking (regardless of whether it’s on the phone, Teams, or Zoom) and automatically set my status to “Busy.”
How do you solve the home office dilemma between peace and quiet and staying reachable? Let me know in the comments!
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