I recently did a proof of concept on shutters automation by hacking the remote control: the idea is to wire the ESP in parallel with the remote control buttons.
My remotes are Bubendorff 41677 but it should work with a lot of other remote controls.

I have a great Rika pellet stove, but despite all the embedded electronics, it is unable to warn me just before the pellets tank is empty. As I already have my own low-power wireless devices and home automation tools, I just added a distance sensor and designed some enclosures.

What can you do on a rainy evening when you go to your hackerspace?
Take a NoteRF V2 PCB, a GPS, a battery, and you can make a LoRaWAN GPS tracker!

The new version of my NoteRF project, its features are:

• New radio footprint for RFM69 (FSK/OOK) or RFM95: LoRaWAN !
• Mosfet to switch off sensors or control actuators
• Edge connector for external antenna
• Mounting slot for 3 mm screws
• Fits on a breadboard
• 3.3V regulator

This project is to try LoRaWAN networks, I designed a simple Arduino shield with RFM95w: LoRa modules from HopeRF.