Five Years, Five Hours Standing. Then I Got a FlexiSpot and Made It Smart.
FlexiSpot E7 Pro • Home Assistant • ESPHome • DeskUp
Quick Take: The FlexiSpot E7 Pro did something my old standing desk never managed: it actually got me standing. The stability and presets changed how I work before I ever made it smart. Then I added an ESP32, DeskUp and Home Assistant, and suddenly my desk could join automations, report what it was doing and even react when my coffee was ready.
In a land long ago and a time far away, I used to work in a traditional office. I had a big, sturdy desk. It felt official. It felt like I was going to work. And I never knew how much I loved that desk until long after I left it sitting in a dark, vacant office building.
When my company transitioned permanently to work from home, I could have taken it with me. Instead, I imagined greener pastures. Mobility! Freedom! A desk that could follow me around the house!
So I bought a $200 standing desk, one that had wheels! And made myself a moveable workstation. I even thought I might take it outside…
I've been living with that bad idea for over five years.
The cart did an okay job of being a desk. It held my monitors, keyboards and various junk. Technically, I could move it around the house, although moving it required basically clearing it off and took long enough that I'd better not have a meeting in an hour.
And standing? Forget it.
It wasn't necessarily going to tip over. Probably. But your coffee wasn't going to be entirely in the cup by the end of your email.
In five years, I probably spent less than five hours standing at my old standing desk.
If I wanted to stand, I needed a better desk.
Enter the FlexiSpot E7 Pro
I'd seen a video years ago from Lewis (from Everything Smart Home) where he figured out how to hack a FlexiSpot desk. I remember an oscilloscope or maybe it was a stethoscope haha, an ESP32, and what looked like a pretty involved project.
The concept was fascinating, especially for someone that was brand new to smart homes at the time.
It was basically the Jetsons' office, and I wanted some of that.
So I reached out to FlexiSpot for a collaboration - send me a desk to review, and I'll try to make it smart.
They agreed and sent me an E7 Pro with a 48" × 30" oak veneer desktop and gray frame.
To be clear, the E7 Pro isn't a smart desk out of the box. It has motors, a keypad and height presets, but no native Home Assistant integration or app to control it.
That was going to be my project.
What I wasn't expecting was how much I'd like the desk before I ever made it smart.
Unboxing and assembly
The first thing to know is that this thing is HEAVY.
You'll want help moving it. Even if my girlfriend "K" somehow managed to carry it inside by herself while I was off camping.
She also helped me assemble it. We spent about an hour and a half putting everything together at a relaxed pace, including getting the old desk out of the way. It was actually fun.
The instructions were okay-ish. A few things could have been clearer, but we figured it out and we didn't even use our phones. Think jigsaw puzzle with 20 pieces.
I'll admit that some of the individual pieces initially gave me cheap catalog furniture vibes. I've assembled enough trade show furniture to recognize the feeling.
But once everything was together? Completely different story.
I spent another couple of hours the following day fussing with the wiring and getting everything just how I wanted it.
The included cable tray is genuinely useful. Mine holds a docking station, power strip, USB hub, cables and even a Zigbee-controlled IR blaster for the heater under my desk. FlexiSpot also offers upgraded cable management, which I'd be interested in trying, but the E7 Pro came with enough to get the job done.
It's a lot of desk, but it's a polished piece of furniture when you're finished.
The part I wasn't expecting
This is a good desk.
Not just a good standing desk. A good desk.
It's big enough for my work and projects, with room for lunch, charging batteries and all the other crap that inevitably accumulates in my office.
And it's sturdy.
I'm the Cookie Monster of keyboards. My boss has commented on the way I go through them, and I can really pound on this thing without sending my monitors into orbit or getting dizzy.
There's still a little movement, particularly at standing height. It's not bolted to the floor. But compared with my old floppy desk cart, it's a different world.
And then there are the presets.
I didn't realize how much four little buttons would matter. Simplicity makes all the difference.
With the old desk, every transition was a project. Raise it, fiddle with the height, decide it wasn't comfortable, lower it again and try to find the sitting position I liked.
With the E7 Pro, I press a button.
Tada. Standing.
Press another.
Sitting. Aha.
No thinking required.
I started standing during meetings. Sometimes I leave it raised while I'm doing casual work, leaning against it like a counter. Maybe that's not the most ergonomic position in the world, but I'm out of the chair. The point is, I’m finally learning to stand up.
And sometimes I raise it all the way, higher than I can reach, just because it's fun.
Speaking of fun, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but the day we assembled it, I sat cross-legged on the desktop and rode the thing up and down.
A full-grown man, riding his standing desk. Yeehaw!
It's a desk, not a mechanical bull. This is NOT a suggestion! But that should give you some idea of how sturdy it felt... strong enough to ride. That's the new standard by which I'll be judging my desks.
In the first week, I stood at this desk more than I had in years with the old one.
And that happened before I connected it to Home Assistant.
Making it smart was going to be the bonus to a product I was already falling in love with.
"K" keeps telling me how nice my desk is, too.
Nice desk you got there... Seriously?
High partner approval, apparently.
Making a good desk smart
Here's where things get nerdy.
I'd been talking with Jon from SmartHomeGuys about his DeskUp project. DeskUp brings standing desks into Home Assistant using an ESP32 running ESPHome.
Jon had already been working on a FlexiSpot version, and my timing was almost perfect.
His existing DeskUp project supported desks using RJ12 connections. The FlexiSpot was a different animal, using RJ45 and a different communication protocol. He was building a separate version and needed someone to help test it on another model.
I had just the desk.
Jon provided the wiring information and invited me into the early FlexiSpot GitHub repository. I already had most of the parts, so I grabbed an ESP32, a short Ethernet cable, some WAGO connectors and some Dupont cables.
I stripped the cable, wired everything together and modified Jon's ESPHome configuration for my board.
No soldering. No custom circuit board. Just a slightly ridiculous little prototype under my brand-new desk.
The desk even powers the ESP32 through its RJ45 connection, so there's no additional USB power cable to worry about.
I flashed the firmware and...
It worked! Maybe my first ever ESPHome project that worked on one try.
Huge thanks to Jon and the SmartHomeGuys team. The hard work here is theirs. I helped test the FlexiSpot version on my hardware, but they're the ones making the integration possible. And honestly, they made this part of the project super easy for me.
They are keeping the FlexiSpot version open source, so you can build your own just like I did. They are also working on a finished controller for those of you who would rather buy something than spend an afternoon stripping Ethernet cables.
The DIY project, including instructions and code, will be available on the DeskUp Pro FlexiSpot project page (going live very soon). The finished controller is still in development, with availability tentatively planned for the end of October.
For now, I'm happily rocking my little prototype under the desk.
What Home Assistant actually gets
All that, and a bag of chips, truly.
I have control over the desk's height, memory presets, small adjustments and child safety lock. Home Assistant can read the current height, see whether the desk is moving and track its idle time.
The height is a number. Mine happens to be in inches, while Jon uses centimeters. Same idea.
You can put the controls on a dashboard, expose them to a voice assistant or use them in automations.
And the physical keypad still works. You’re not replacing a perfectly good way to operate the desk just so you can say it's smart.
The controls are rad. But knowing what the desk is doing? That's where Home Assistant can do more.
Home Assistant knows what position the desk is in, whether it's moving and how long it's been sitting there.
Combine that with my office presence sensor and suddenly the desk can participate in what's happening around it.
Coach Coffee, meet Coach the Desk
I already have a coffee automation called Coach Coffee which uses my electric kettle’s power monitoring plug to let me know when the water has boiled (coach’s whistle) followed by a motivational speech when coffee has had time to steep.
So naturally, I decided my coffee routine should also have opinions about my standing desk.
When my coffee is ready and I'm in my office, Home Assistant checks the desk's current position.
If I'm sitting, it raises the desk.
If I'm already standing, it lowers it.
Either way, the idea is to get me to change positions and go get my coffee.
Get the heck up. Coffee's ready.
Is this necessary? Absolutely not.
Well, honestly, maybe sometimes this is what it takes to get me up. And I absolutely love it.
There are plenty of other directions to take it, too.
The idle timer could help me track how long I've been sitting, but I'd combine it with office presence so the desk doesn't nag me for spending an hour outside with the dog.
My office dashboard could offer a standing option before a meeting (maybe even a pop-up using browser_mod). Or maybe the desk becomes part of an end-of-work routine, raising itself out of reach and falling back down to earth in the morning when I step into the office for the first time. I'm a sucker for a grand entrance.
And sometimes I just want to say, "Hey Baby, raise the desk."
Yes, Hey Baby is one of my actual wake words. Anyone else using Hey Baby? I've found low partner approval on that one.
Would I go back?
Not a chance.
My old desk was approximately $200. This FlexiSpot configuration is $500-600, so we're talking about a substantial difference in price.
But I spend eight to ten hours a day at my desk. It's where I work, write, build things and occasionally eat lunch.
Having a workspace that feels solid and makes it easy to stand has been a meaningful upgrade.
The E7 Pro isn't completely motionless at full height, assembly takes some effort, and the smart integration is still a DIY project. If you're buying one specifically for Home Assistant, check the controller and the DeskUp project's compatibility information first. Maybe even reach out to them - they’re super friendly.
But you don't need Home Assistant to appreciate this desk.
The biggest surprise was that I started standing regularly before I'd made it smart. The presets and stability were enough to change how I worked.
Home Assistant just takes that convenience further.
If you're interested in the FlexiSpot E7 Pro, you can check out the different configurations and current pricing on their website using my affiliate link.
I thought I wanted a desk that could move around my house. Turns out, what I really needed was a desk that made me want to stay in my office.
And if anyone wants my old one, it's yours.
Just pay shipping.
Seriously. Please get it out of here.
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