This post is sponsored by Lutron Electronics. All opinions are 100% my own.
The older I get and the busier we get with kids, the more I find myself looking for ways to make life easier! Don’t want to get out of bed to turn the lights off? Don’t want to remember to turn the stair lights on every night? Don’t want to get off the couch to pull the blinds down? All simple things that now have an easy solution. Some may call it lazy, others may call it being smart with smart home technology. In our pervious home we started installing all Caséta by Lutron products on our interior and exterior (you can read about that here). Since we’ve moved into our new home in Dallas, we’ve only continued that process. After just 7 months of living here, I’m talking all about our Caséta by Lutron home and how it makes our life easier.
How I Use Caséta By Lutron In My Home
First things first, before you start adding any Caséta by Lutron products to your home, you need to set up the Smart Hub, which allows you to connect all the devices to the app on your phone.
There are SO many different Caséta by Lutron products that you can install around your house. Here are the three main ways we use them. 1) Control your lighting through the app 2) Scheduling Light Timers for specific times of the day 3) Remote Control Option
Control Your Lighting With An App
Every Lutron product we install in our house we automatically connect to the Lutron app on our phones. That is our main hub that controls alllll our lighting, wireless blinds, and accent lights. I think I have 15 smart lighting devices hooked up to my app right now. I even went around the house and connected all the Lutron light switches that were already installed in our home. I have one main command center that controls everything right at my finger tips.
Here is what the interface looks like. The greatest thing is that I can turn lights on/off within the app. If we are out of town, I an look at my app and see which lights are on and turn them off. Or vice versa. Or if I’m in bed and don’t want to get up to turn our moody sconces off, I can simply use my app from bed!
This is where I also set timers/schedules for lights that I only want on during specific times of the day. Let’s get into that.
Set Light Timers and Schedules
There are several lights we want on during the evening hours only. Like our string lights in the courtyard, flood lights in the backyard, night lights on the stair cases, etc. It would take a lot of time every evening to go around and turn all of these lights on.
We have the outdoor string lights plugged into the Caséta by Lutron Outdoor Smart Plug which connects directly to the app on our phone and where I set th schedule.
The other big issue we have found with this house is that the placement of light switches is actually quite bizarre. The switch to the flood lights in the backyard is actually on a panel in our bedroom. The lights to our courtyard are on a panel in my husband’s closet and the lights to our kitchen island pendants are INSIDE the island. Don’t even ask how long it looks us to figure all of that out.
With the odd and inconvenient placement of all the lights, it only made sense to put these on Caséta by Lutron Smart Switches. Now, I can have all these lights set on a schedule and I don’t have to worry about walking into our bedroom every time I want the outdoor lights on at night!
The Smart Light Switches are very easy to install. You just have to turn off the power, remove the plate and switch out the switch. It’s a pretty easy DIY job, but you could hire it out if you feel uncomfortable.
Remote Control Lights and Blinds
What happens when someone is over and they don’t have access to the app, aka kids, or you don’t want something set to a timer because it will be more of a “when in use” type of situation. That’s where the Caséta by Lutron Pico Remote comes in handy. We have this remote connected to our Serena Smart Shades in our family room. When the kids want to put the Serena Smart shades down, they can use the remote and not have to log into our app to control them. Lutron really does think of every option and every device that is necessary to make a fully functional smart home.
I find the Pico Remote to be extremely handy. It has a pedestal that you can stick onto your table so you don’t lose the remote. In our living room, we put our shades down for movie nights, if it’s too bright in the mornings or if we just want a little more privacy.
During the holidays, I set up our Christmas tree lights with the Caséta By Lutron Lamp Switch where I was able to set the lights to a timer to turn on every night OR use the Pico Remote when I simply wanted to turn them on a little early and cozy up by the fire.
My Favorite Caséta By Lutron Products
Here is a collection of all my favorite Caséta by Lutron products that I use every day and find myself adding more of to our home….
Smart Motion Sensor | Lamp Dimming Smart Plug | Wireless Pico Remote | Caséta by Lutron Smart Lighting Control | Caséta By Lutron Outdoor Smart Plug
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