While some people are still trying to figure out how to make the Internet of Things relevant and valuable to our everyday lives, technology entrepreneur Casper Schoenmakers has been busy using it to automate his home in the Netherlands.

It started as a way of keeping an eye on his young son, whose bedroom was a little too close to the apartment’s front door for comfort. A simple monitor alerted Casper and his wife whenever his son’s door opened. Then, for fun, he decided to automate the lighting in his front room. Sensors monitored movement and daylight levels, and the lights came on only when needed, which reduced the family’s energy consumption. Then he did another room. And another.

But things didn’t get serious until the Schoenmakers moved to a larger house in the Amsterdam suburbs. That’s when Casper set about creating a system that automated everything from air quality and security to zone heating and watering the garden – even his front is fully automated so he and his family no longer have to carry keys.