This Smart Home Hub Doubles as a Piece of Art

Between adaptive lighting, smart locks, voice-controlled automation, and AI-powered security cameras, smart home systems have a lot to offer these days. However, not everyone wants their home to look like a smart home. Having little white boxes all over the walls, tables, and counters isn’t everybody’s idea of aesthetic perfection.

Smart home aficionado Rebecca Keys was able to find sensors, speakers, and similar devices that blended perfectly into her home. The smart home hub, on the other hand, was another matter entirely. With a large LCD display, it stuck out like a sore thumb. She learned to live with it because nothing else on the market fit her needs. But she ultimately decided to build her own hub so that she could have it all: style and function.

Instead of opting for the futuristic look of many commercial smart displays, Keys took inspiration from framed artwork. Her solution centered around the BOOX Go 10.3, a 10-inch Android-powered E Ink tablet with a paper-like finish that more closely resembles a printed poster than a glowing screen. The E Ink display also produces less heat than a traditional LCD or OLED panel, making it better suited for continuous wall-mounted use.

Keys housed the tablet inside a decorative picture frame fitted with a professionally cut mat designed to expose only the active display area. By hiding the tablet’s bezels behind the mat, the finished piece convincingly mimics framed art hanging on the wall.

Power is delivered through a thin USB-C cable routed discreetly behind the frame, while removable 3M Command Strips secure both the tablet and the frame itself. The approach allowed Keys to avoid drilling into walls or fabricating complicated hardware mounts, making the installation especially renter-friendly.

Behind the minimalist appearance is a fully customized smart home dashboard powered by Home Assistant. The interface displays weather updates, the current time, lighting controls, music playback tools, and motorized shade controls. A dynamic media section appears only when music is actively playing, displaying album art without permanently cluttering the screen. With a swipe, the hub can also transform into a digital art display featuring public domain artwork.

Keys’ project demonstrates that smart home technology does not have to dominate a room visually. By disguising a control hub as framed artwork, she created a device that blends perfectly into home decor while still delivering the convenience of a modern connected home.