In this paper, we describe the Gator Tech Smart House (GTSH), an assistive environment for independence and wellbeing, with focus on the elderly population. We give a quick overview of the GTSH and its services before presenting our experience and some of the lessons we learnt in this real world deployment project. We present the Atlas architecture - a key enabling technology for the automatic integration of devices and sensors and show how can Atlas be used to develop smart environments without requiring a team of engineers or system integrators. Finally, we discuss ongoing related Atlas developments. © ACM 2009.