For the majority of people, our home is our sanctuary – a place to relax, socialise and enjoy entertainment. Thanks to modern technology, all these experiences can be even more enjoyable for you and your family with an intelligent lighting system. So ‘intelligent’, it can wake you up for work by opening your blinds without you even having to get out of bed and knows you don’t want the same lighting for working at home as you do for film night.

Lighting and shade technology is what brings everything together to achieve a simpler way of living, attuned to your pace of life and able to work with other technologies in your home if you invest in a certain level of system.

DIY vs. a professionally installed lighting system

It only takes a quick visit to Amazon to notice the influx of ‘DIY’ (Do It Yourself) products. These type of DIY smart home products are great for those on a budget looking to experiment with smart lightbulbs, but for a fully connected experience throughout the home that can be programmed around your whole life, it’s better to opt for a professionally installed system.

  

Imagine, you come home from after a hard day – you’re tired and it’s dark and raining, but the lights were already triggered to go on so you don’t have to scramble around looking for a switch. You walk into the living room, go to the keypad on the wall and at the press of a button your curtains close and the lights dim, you can sit and watch some TV and relax.

Another night you’re having some people over for dinner, you go to your device choose the ‘Entertain’ scene and voila, the perfect lighting (as well as music, if connected) to accompany your evening is set – one less thing to worry about.

You might be going on holiday, and as ever, be worried about the safety of your home and your belongings – once again, your lighting system has you covered. It’s integrated with your security system and special lighting is programmed to deter anyone from thinking you’re away from your property.

These are just a few examples of how a connected lighting system can transform how you live.

Going professional also means lighting can work in harmony with your interior design. This means everything can be bespoke and coordinate, from the style of your keypad to the colour and style of your automated curtains and/or blinds.

What professional lighting and shade products should I go for?

There are many respectable brands in the professional lighting and shade industry, and many home automation providers (like Control4) include it in their portfolio too.

A quick Google search will probably lead you lighting manufacturer Lutron. Lutron is considered one of the leaders in the residential and commercial lighting world, due to its 50 years’ expertise in the business and its human-centric approach to lighting products.

With Lutron, everything, including LED strips and chandeliers, can be connected and controlled from a keypad (or similar), giving you access to room-specific lighting ‘scenes’ (such as ‘Morning’ or ‘Relax’) to suit what mood you’re in. Set timers and sensors can also be programmed to support specific routines for your lights and blinds or curtains throughout the day.

There are Lutron indoor and outdoor products to suit projects of any scale, and due to its reputation in the industry, it has partnered with other top brands to work with, so your chosen smart home installer can integrate lighting with your entertainment space and automation system. Want to talk to your lighting system via Amazon Alexa or Google Home? Then Lutron has you covered there too.

Not looking for a hardwired system or looking to retrofit? No problem, wireless options (with smart switches/keypads that communicate wirelessly to the main controller) are available too.

A smarter use of your electricity

In addition to greater flexibility when it comes to lux and colour temperature, one of the benefits of using Lutron lighting products is the energy efficiency offered.

A single Lutron LED bulb can provide 3,000 hours of light, and the ability to trigger lights with motion sensors and use dimmer switches, as well as turn off anything you forgot about when leaving with an ‘all off’ function, can further reduce energy consumption. In total, Lutron’s energy savings amounts to reducing global electricity usage by nearly 10 billion kWh each year (more than any other brand) – see the article here.

Looking for a local Lutron installer?

At New Wave AV, we’ve enjoyed working with Lutron (as well as other lighting brands) for many years. We are an authorised dealer and they are a staple of a number of our lighting installations that we’re proud of.

Come see the technology for yourself at our showroom, or contact us to talk about how we could design a lighting system to suit your need

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