The one who automates the house

The one who automates the house has lights that come on before they do. The system is chosen; what you can give is one more thing that plugs into it, and the best ones are the ones they had not thought of.

A square panel light runs from warm to cool white on a ceiling that had a fitting nobody liked. The whole room changes with one panel, and the app already knows it. More ceiling lights.

A surface spotlight in colour is one spot, sixteen million colours, and a corner of the room that finally has a purpose after dark. More spotlights.

A bulb with a light guide inside is the bulb as the lamp: a glass triangle that hangs bare on a cord and looks meant. More light bulbs.

A contact sensor sticks on a door or a window and tells the phone when it opens. The cupboard light comes on by itself, and that is the moment the house starts to feel automated. More sensors.

A thermometer that talks to the Wi-Fi reports temperature and humidity with a graph. The greenhouse and the wine both benefit, and so does the argument about the heating. More thermometers.

And hexagonal light panels, nine of them, which click together into a shape on the wall. The light becomes the picture, and the picture changes with the music. More smart lighting.

Three bathroom spotlights run from warm to cool white, are rated for the damp, and dim from the phone. The bathroom joins the rest of the house at last. More recessed spotlights.

And for the one whose wall already has nine, a bigger set of hexagons: fifteen panels, and the shape is up to them. More smart lighting.