How to Design Lighting Control for Your Smart Home

Tips for creating a system that blends well with your Greenwich, CT, home’s technology and aesthetic

When it comes to smart home automation, one key principle is combining design and technology in a functional matter. You want your systems to work without any hiccups, but you don’t want to detract from your home’s aesthetic. This is especially true when it comes to lighting control because of how your lighting shapes the mood and visuals of your home. With that in mind, we’ve put together this list of tips to help Greenwich, CT, homeowners create the best smart lighting control system possible.

SEE ALSO: Make Summer Last With Automated Outdoor Lighting Systems

LIGHTING CONTROL BASICS

At the most basic level, lighting control involves centralizing control over all the fixtures in your house using one system. Once everything’s in place, you can turn any light in your home on or off from a single device.

The first question to answer when setting up lighting control is whether you want a wired system or a wireless one. With wired systems, you need to run new cabling to connect your fixtures to each other and to the control switch, which is usually placed in a utility closet or other out-of-the-way place. Wired systems are more expensive than wireless systems because of the extra components and time involved. Plus, installing those new parts may mean putting some temporary holes in your walls. Once installation is complete, however, you have a robust and reliable setup.

Wireless systems are both easier to install and cheaper since you don’t need any additional wiring: It makes sense that wireless systems are better suited to retrofit projects. The trade-off with wireless systems is there’s no direct connection among your devices, which can cause occasional hiccups. You’ll need to weigh these factors and decide which system is optimal for your needs.

INSTALL LED BULBS

Different types of bulbs can produce dramatically different lighting effects in your home. We recommend LEDs for your lighting control system. LEDs are much more efficient than incandescent bulbs, and they’re a safer and more efficient alternative to CFLs.

What separates LEDs from the competition, however, is how they allow for much greater customization of your lighting design. Using warm-dimming LED bulbs, you can independently adjust the color temperature and intensity of a fixture, giving you many more options for how you want to light a room. Soft, warm glows help you wake up gently on early mornings and relax after a long day, while more intense, cooler tones make you more productive.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT OUTDOOR LIGHTING

Landscape lighting can make your home shine, both literally and figuratively. Instead of simply blanketing your home’s outdoor spaces with a monochromatic glow, use spotlights and other fixtures to create striking designs that combine light and shadows. Done correctly, outdoor lighting greatly increases curb appeal and helps your home stand out.

INCORPORATE AUTOMATION AND LIGHTING SCENES

Home automation systems let you create your own lighting scenes to suit your needs. You also get easier, more direct control over all your fixtures. Lighting scenes are preset configurations you create for everyday situations or moods. These can be scenes that only involve your lights, or you can create combination scenes using your lights and other automation systems.

One scene could be a “Dinner” scene that dims your kitchen lights, lowers your automated shades, turns on your speakers and fires up your favorite playlist of music to relax to. For your outdoor lights, you can create an “Outdoor Party” scene that turns on the lights for your deck, patio or yard while keeping most other lights off. This way, your guests are less likely to wander off once the sun sets.

If you’re ready to get started on a smart lighting control system for your Greenwich home, we’d love to work with you. Call us today at (914) 765-0461, reach out to us online or type a message in the chat box at the bottom of your browser.