Some smart lighting manufacturers offer hubs that enable faster local control. Hubs are also sometimes required for certain features. If you are opting for Philips Hue, a Bridge ($50) or Bridge Pro ($99) is essential to get the most from your lights. They work best when plugged directly into your router via Ethernet cable.
How to Use Smart Lighting in Your Living Room
Your main living room or lounge is a great place to start, because it can almost certainly benefit from mood-setting light. The trick with smart lighting is to hide the actual device, so all you see is the light it’s putting out. Light strips can be attached to the back of your TV, the back or underside of furniture, or in recessed spots around features like built-in cabinets. Light bars or wall washers can sit relatively unobtrusively facing walls or features like fireplaces to bathe them in light.
You can round off with some well-placed smart lamps, though you can also retrofit by using smart bulbs or smart plugs to sync regular lamps. Remember to put smart bulbs in your regular fixtures, too, and gain complete control of the lighting in your space.
Recommended Living Room Smart Lights
These versatile lights can paint your walls with light at whatever color or temperature you desire. I use one in the fireplace (an orangey-red light makes you feel warmer), and one on top of the cabinet.
This tube is designed to go behind the TV, but it doesn’t fit my new setup, so I have placed it behind one of my couches instead. It rotates and effectively illuminates the wall behind the couch.
Behind the TV is the perfect place for subtle background light that won’t cause any reflections on the screen. It also helps your TV picture pop. There are different models for different TV sizes, and they come with adhesive brackets to hold them in place.
If you want to add a layer of immersion to your movies and gaming, the Hue Sync Box is a great way to do it. You can group lights in an area and have them match the onscreen colors. It is very expensive, and it doesn’t work with smart TV apps, but it’s a fun way to get more from your Philips Hue setup. You can sometimes save some money by opting for a bundle deal.
This switch can be configured to control all the lights in the room and makes it easy for anyone to turn them on and off and tweak the brightness.
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