An Expert Explains How Smart Lighting Can Level Up Your Home

Are there areas of your home that seem too dark and spaces where the light is much brighter, maybe even too bright by the time the sun comes up? If you're purchasing and placing lamps throughout your home, that may be limiting your interior design goals. Smart lighting could be an alternative as it's a more advanced way to properly light a home to create a more cohesive, balanced look. With various functional options, such as sensor technology, smart lighting makes the traditional wall switch less necessary.

Could smart lighting help you? It has multiple benefits, as noted by Janna Robinson, the Techorator and founder of JannaRobinson.com, in an exclusive interview with House Digest. "The right lighting is going to highlight your home's best features, improve the ambiance, and create a more functional environment. When layered, the right smart lighting can create preset lightscapes to ensure you have the perfect lighting for movie watching, entertaining, relaxing, reading, and more," she shares. View this technology upgrade in your home as a way to enhance your light strategy, creating a space that welcomes and supports you and your family.

Putting time and money into upgrading lighting may not seem like a big deal right now. After all, couldn't a new voice assistant or a better TV provide more for you? Robinson refutes that, sharing, "I don't think people realize the pivotal and important role lighting plays in any room or space. It can affect our mood, health, energy, and sleep." She also shares, "It has a direct impact on the size, shape, and beauty of a room. Rooms that are dark can often feel smaller, where the brightness of a room makes it feel larger."

Define how you want that space to feel and function in each area of your home. Consider how light fits into the picture, enhancing functionality within that space and creating the desired feeling. "The tone of the light can make a room feel inviting and warm, or cold and unwelcoming. Warmer-toned light will look best with neutral tones, like beige, creams, taupes, and browns, while bluer tones pair well with blues, grays, and greens." This makes lighting an integral part of any room upgrade or remodel you're planning.

Why go with technology, then? You could add more natural lighting with windows or just keep up with the better placement of lamps, right? Smart lighting isn't just a move to add another app to your phone, shares Robinson. "Smart lighting affords us flexibility, convenience, and efficiency in any space. Your smart bulbs will integrate into your smart home hub or the product's stand-alone app." Most of the more prominent, well-known smart technology manufacturers produce a range of lighting solutions for home environments. Compare a few to find out which one intrigues you the most.

Another core benefit of this tech is that it can change with you, whether that's throughout the day or just in certain settings. "Smart lighting can come in a spectrum of colors and lightscapes, which you can securely control from the touch of your screen. Through our mobile devices or voice commands, you can power your lights on/off, change the color, intensity, and brightness. Let's rejoice — it's one less remote too," Robinson shares.

For those who don't want an ultra-modern, tech-influenced home, adding smart features may initially seem off-putting. However, Robinson shares, "From a design perspective, smart lighting can eliminate 'wall acne' and/or consolidate light switches into a single and elegant keypad on the wall. There are some beautiful options of keypads that complement your décor, from different colored plates, paint match to your wall paint, beautiful fabrics and materials, and textures, and some you can wallpaper over."

Consider making a few style changes to adapt your lighting to the function of each space within a room, too. It's a misconception that you're limited in lighting styles with these intelligent lights. "You don't have to be beholden to bulbs; Wi-Fi strip lighting can help add subtle accent lighting to dimmer spots, such as under cabinets, stairs, and soffits; behind your bed; or behind TV panels so you only see the halo effects of the light. With its adhesive backing, it has universal versatility, inspiring boldness, and fun," offers Robinson.

Once you have smart technology in your home, you may love the convenience and comfort it adds. Robinson doesn't want you to stop with just the lights. "While smart lighting is an advanced way to illuminate your home, radiant heating and smart floors are an intuitive and efficient way to heat your home. Both offer convenience, energy conservation, ease of use, and functionality."

If you're planning a significant room remodel where you'll replace your flooring, Robinson recommends adding a step. "Radiant floor heating is an under-the-floor heating solution that creates the perfect temperature. It provides fewer limitations for interior design, such as alleviating the need for a bulky radiator and having the stress of decorating with or around it. It's compatible with all types of floors and maintenance-free — and while a professional installer is helpful, a DIYer could do it." Compare a few different styles and application methods based on your budget and desired outcome.

Next, target your home's overall heating process, moving to an intelligent system to reap the benefits. Robinson shares, "The heating systems offer smart thermostat compatibility, which integrates with your smart home system. This gives you the power to have a preset schedule that provides consistent and desired temperatures."