Making a Retro-Style Home Control Panel

On 15 Jun 2024

In this Reddit post, user aLurchi shared their gorgeous home control setup. I was immediately hooked by that space-age, industrial aesthetic and set out to design and build my own.

Front

Here’s a lil’ video demo:

The rectangular buttons control what’s on the display:

  • WTR - Weather, forecast, indoor sensors
  • TSH - Trash pickup schedule
  • PLT - Plants’ soil moisture
  • MUS - Music; multiroom airplay with OwnTone

The round buttons toggle switches and scenes:

  • LGT - Light
  • WRK - Work scene
  • COF - Coffee machine on/off
  • COZ - Cozy scene for movies/TV
  • OFF - All lights off

Back

The panel is the back of an aluminum printed circuit board. I routed tracks and custom footprints on the other side to make wiring easier.

To fit my build plate, I split the 3D-printed frame with dovetails:

Frame

Buttom