A few months ago I shared a blog post all about the smart home features we’ve been using at the Heights House.
We’ve loved the convenience of having voice and app-controlled smart locks, video monitoring, speakers and thermostat, but there’s one major feature we were missing: smart lighting!
I’ve 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’d like to try out any of their smart lighting products—perfect 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 didn’t 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’s 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’s at the entrance of the room and turns on automatically when it gets dark enough, which has really 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’ve run out of ports, so now my phone finally has a permanent charging spot (woohoo!)
Moving on over to the kitchen—here’s 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’s 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’s 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’s super 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’re 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’re on all day) so we’ve become the creepy dark house in the neighborhood. I’m 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’s great because we can put the exterior lights on a schedule so they’re only on when it’s dark. And being able to control everything remotely is especially useful when we’re away from home but don’t necessarily want everyone to know that.
Every light in the house that’s connected to a smart switch is controlled here, including the ability to dim them from the app. They’re also sync’d to Alexa so we can say “Alexa, turn off the nursery light” if our phone isn’t nearby. Isn’t technology wonderful?
All of the existing outlets and switches in our home were already Legrand (that’s what our builder/electrician uses) so aesthetically they fit right in next to the smart switches, and we didn’t have to change everything out.
The screwless plates are much sleeker than the ones our builder installed, don’t you think? 
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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’re good to go. There’s a ton more products on Legrand’s site (including modern square shape switches, pop-out outlets, intercom systems and more) so if you’re still living in the dark ages (pun intended), I’d 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!
Amy H says
We’re in the process of building a house, and this post is unbelievably helpful! With so many details to consider, we hadn’t given too much thought to this either. Thanks for the great recs.
Jenna Sue says
So glad it was helpful Amy!
Carrie says
We are moving into a new house soon, will definitely need to add some dimmers!
Lynn says
We put nest remote control thermostats into our short-term rental and then into our own house. Wow…it’s just great! Coming back from a long trip we just checked into the app and cooled down our house to be ready for us when we drove in. I love it!
Jenna Sue says
We love our smart thermostat too! You really don’t realize how useful smart technology is until you have it.
Ali Celestino says
I would love to update my switches. We purchased a 1970 year old home and are remodeling it’s been a blast making it the way we want it. The new switches and outlets are so stylish I love them!
Jenna Sue says
The great thing about it is you can do it slowly, one room at a time and it doesn’t have to be a huge expense!
Michelle says
I’m really okay with turning on my lights myself and am not interested in the Alexa lifestyle. BUT I have almost every light on the house on dimmers, usb outlets in all the locations we need them, integrated nightlights into the outlet covers and definitely favor the screw free covers. You can enjoy the modern options and be smart about your lighting without having “smart lighting”. My coffee is waiting for me every morning too…it has a program function! 🙂 I do really like that phone charger setup you put in the kitchen – that is sharp!
Jenna Sue says
Dimmable lighting is the most critical out of all of those (for me), but being able to turn the lights on/off remotely when you’re away is a HUGE benefit that you need smart lighting for (same with smart locks, another must-have for us). It’s also extremely convenient to be able to control them from your phone/voice when you’re in bed to avoid having to get up and run around the house to turn everything off–especially with a newborn in the mix! I think you’d agree if you found yourself in that situation 😉
Angie Johnson says
Your house is beautiful!! Thank you for showing how easy it is to make our homes smarter and more efficient. I wouldn’t have thought it would have made a big difference, but the new switches and outlets are so sleek – the difference is definitely noticeable. Thank you for “shedding some light” on the subject… I tried 🙂
Jenna Sue says
Hahah, clever one! 😉
Sandra Feallock says
The Legrand technology is cool. Would love to update my home.
Jenna Sue says
I really think smart lighting will be standard in new homes sooner than later!
Crystal says
Oh, I really need a smart light system, we like leaving our outside lights on at night but then I forget to turn them off, so they’re almost always on! And I love the screwless covers!
Jenna Sue says
We were doing the same, or forgetting to turn on the porch light when we left for the evening and coming home to a dark house. No bueno!
Mara says
What a great giveaway! Unfortunately, I moved into my house 3 years ago and don’t qualify ?.
Jenna Sue says
Aww that’s too bad! I’d still definitely look into updating at least one or two of your switches like we did after the fact. It’s crazy what a difference it makes!