RFID Smart Paintings

What you need

Custom art — buy some or make it yourself

RFID sticker tags (NFC 213)

Home Assistant installed on your local network

A smartphone to trigger the RFID tags

Something to trigger — lights, curtains, music, anything!

1. Create or buy your art

I wanted different pieces of art that could play music playlists at a tap. Each piece contained a unique signature to signal a different country — a castle in the British painting, a bald eagle for the American one, a Roman column for the Italian one. Then each picture had details in three places to signify the era of music: bottom for classical, middle for 20th Century, and top for modern.

2. Frame your art

Frame that art — needs to be perfectly aligned!

3. Add the RFID Tags

Simply stick each RFID sticker on the back, lined up with where you want on your art.

4. Scan each into Home Assistant

Navigate to Settings > Tags > Add Tag. Type a recognisable name for each tag, then scan your painting to lock to the RFID token. Set up automations — I had mine announce the country and genre through Sonos speakers, then play Spotify playlists.

5. Hang your paintings

I created a 3D-printed mount to solve the Ikea Ribba frame wall-mounting challenge.

6. Enjoy your creation

Give it all a test and you're done!