Heights House Smart Lighting

A few months ago I shared a blog post all about the smart home features we have been using at the Heights House.

We have loved the convenience of having voice and app-controlled smart locks, video monitoring, speakers and thermostat, but there is one major feature we were missing: smart lighting!

I have mentioned before about how important lighting is in a home (or anywhere, for that matter) and what a key role it plays in your overall mood and experience. During the design/building process we made sure to add multiple light sources in all of the main rooms, but adding dimmers was an oversight with so much else going on. We had been meaning to change this when Legrand reached out a few weeks ago and asked me if I would like to try out any of their smart lighting products—well suited timing!

Lucas and I looked through their adorne and radiant Collections and came up with a wish list of functions and features for several rooms in our house. We did not know most of these products even existed, so it was exciting to discover new ways to make our home even more automated.

The first thing to be installed were the dimmers—finally! One for the chandelier and another for the can lights in the living room. We never hang out in this room at night because it is just too bright, but now we can dim the lights and get cozy. Total game changer.

The Smart Tru-Universal dimmers can be set to your preferred level of light with the side control (indicated by the LED dots), and each time you tap the switch it'll turn on to your last setting. Love it.

The master bedroom and nursery lights were put on dimmers as well, and we also swapped the outlet at the nursery entrance for one with an LED night light.

It is at the entrance of the room and turns on automatically when it gets dark enough, which has genuinely come in handy during our middle of the night diaper changes.

In our bedroom, we switched out both standard outlets behind our nightstands for these dual USB outlets. I have no less than five devices plugged in by my bed at any given time and even with a power strip I have run out of ports, so now my phone finally has a permanent charging spot (woohoo!)

Moving on over to the kitchen—here is where it gets real fun. Legrand has a smart plug-in switch, where you can plug in any device (lamp, tool, appliance, etc) and control the power with Alexia, via voice or app. You simply plug it into any standard outlet, scan the barcode sticker included in the package, and it will connect to the Legrand app which allows you to control it.

Can you guess what kitchen device I used it for…?

“Alexa, make my coffee.” Yes that is right folks, I can have my coffee started before I even get out of bed in the morning (of course I have to pour the water/grinds into the coffee maker the day before… but it is still the closest thing I'll ever have to a personal butler!) Pretty cool, huh?

Another neat addition is this wireless phone charger + usb port that replaces any standard outlet.

We spend most evenings in our kitchen near our phones, so it is particularly convenient to have a spot to charge it without having to deal with yet another usb cable.

For our main control board next to the back door, we upgraded 3 of the 4 switches to smart switches which can be controlled by Alexa or through the app.

The biggest benefit of smart lighting is being able to put your lights on an automated schedule, especially when you are away. We always forget to turn on our exterior lights on at night (or if we remember, we forget to turn them off so they are on all day) so we have become the creepy dark house in the neighborhood. I am happy to say those days are over, because now we can easily control our lighting from anywhere with the Legrand Smart Lights app:

Day to day it is great because we can put the exterior lights on a schedule so they are only on when it is dark. And being able to control everything remotely is especially useful when we are away from home but do not necessarily want everyone to know that.

Every light in the house that is connected to a smart switch is controlled here, including the ability to dim them from the app. They are also sync'd to Alexa so we can say “Alexa, turn off the nursery light” if our phone is not nearby. Is not technology wonderful?

All of the existing outlets and switches in our home were already Legrand (that is what our builder/electrician uses) so aesthetically they fit right in next to the smart switches, and we did not have to change everything out.

The screwless plates are much sleeker than the ones our builder installed, do not you think?

They come in multiple colors and finishes, so you can coordinate with your wall color or a specific room style. I used these (both wall plates and outlets) in black for our guest bathroom and it made them disappear into the wall. Can you spot the outlet?

Installation is straightforward and no different than replacing any other switch/outlet, so as long as you can shut off your breaker and connect a few wires, you are good to go. There is a ton more products on Legrand's site (including modern square shape switches, pop-out outlets, intercom systems and more) so if you are still living in the dark ages (pun intended), I would highly recommend looking into smart lighting—it makes a world of difference!

Good news for you! Legrand is offering $500 worth of adorne and radiant product to two winners over on their Instagram right now. All you have to do is follow them and leave a comment on this post to enter (hurry, the giveaway ends November 4th!)

More Heights House and Riverside Retreat updates in the works!