Smart Lighting Tricks and Tips for Families

I’ve said it before, but the secret to our kids’ great sleep routine all started with a lamp. A lamp that we could turn on and off with our phones. We used the lamp as a reminder for kids that it was time to stay in bed — if it was on, it was still time to rest. When it turned off, they knew they could get up. We loved that little trick so much that we decided to incorporate smart lighting into our whole house so that we could really take advantage of the automated aspect. Enter: Legrand.

I was introduced to Legrand’s radiant Collection, which has dimmers, switches, and more — all of which connect to an app on your phone that lets you control the lighting in your home. I fell in love with the sleek, simple design (which totally complements the aesthetic of our home), and Ryan fell in love with the app. Haha! He installed all of the new dimmers & switches himself — you don’t need an electrician to do it if you just know how to work your breaker box and follow the handy booklet that comes along with the items.

And after he installed them, he pretty much spent the rest of the weekend turning lights on and off from the couch while he was learning his way around the app, which he enjoyed immensely. So I wanted to share a few ways that we set up and use our smart lighting to make our days run more smoothly!

Use Smart Lighting as a Nap or Sleep Timer

Like I mentioned before, this was the concept that introduced us to smart lighting. The old school version is a lamp timer that you can plug into the wall. But the modern technology version is so much cooler! You can plug in a wifi-enabled Smart Plug Switch, connect it to the app, and plug a lamp in. Then you can create a schedule for that switch which turns the lights on and off any time you like, all day. So you could set it to turn off when your kids are supposed to get out of bed. Or you could set it to turn on at naptime. (The function on the app is called “Scenes” if you’re searching for it.) Having a visual cue makes it so much easier for our kids to know when it’s time to sleep or wake!

Group Lights for Easy Lighting Settings

We’re loving the grouping feature on the app as well. You can create different groups of lights within your home, and turn these groups on or off right from your phone. We made groups like Party, Daytime, Evening, and Movie Night. Each has a different combination of lights on, but you don’t have to run around your house flipping switches! We also used varying levels of dimness for some of those because some of our switches have dimmers. And bonus: if you have a smart assistant like Alexa, you can just use a voice command to change the lights as well.

Remote Access for Travel Safety

One more really cool benefit of smart lighting is that while we’re traveling, we have complete control over the lights in our home. So we can turn them on or off if need be, or set a schedule for them to come on and off regularly. It’s a little peace of mind that our house doesn’t look dark and deserted when we’re away.

I have to admit, I’m usually a late adopter of smart home technology, but I’m a total convert for smart lighting! It’s one of those “you don’t know what you were missing until you get it” situations. Do you have any experience with smart lighting? Or questions? Leave a comment and let us know! xoxo

This post is sponsored by Legrand. All ideas and opinions are my very own. Thank you for being supportive of the partners who help keep Lovely Indeed rocking!