Nick, the light looks great! Did you integrate it into one of your your smart home systems? I'm researching wall switches right now and would be curious what you recommend.
I like your built in concepts. Have you considered making them free-standing instead of built-ins? The design kind of reminds me of a mid century console cabinet. I'm sure they'll be cool either way.
Thanks! Yes, I put a Philips Hue bulb in the lamp, and it can be controlled with a wall switch, or the Philips Hue mobile app, SmartThings mobile app, or the Apple Home app. I use SmartThings to do any automation.
For my situation it was almost necessary to use the smart bulb approach without running a new switch down the wall, because I grabbed power for the lamp up in the attic and there is no existing wall switch for it in the living room. I also wanted to tie it into my other three living room floor lamps, which also have Hue bulbs installed. This way I can have all 4 turn on simultaneously with the switch, and cycle through various scenes.
The switch I use in this type of situation (no existing wall switch) is Philips Hue's own Dimmer Switch:
https://www2.meethue.com/en-us/p/hue-dimmer-switch/046677473372
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If you use Hue Bulbs, it works incredibly well and since it's battery powered you can stick it anywhere. It can dim a group of lights, of course, and can also cycle through up to 5 scenes by repeatedly pressing the on button. You can't add it to SmartThings, but it is compatible with Homekit if you have an Apple TV or iPad on the home network.
Now if you already have a wired "dumb" switch that controls a set of Philips Hue bulbs, it will have to remain in the "on" position. This is a little clunky because people can inadvertently turn it off, or if you use a Hue Dimmer you end up with two switches right next to each other and one can't be touched.
So in that situation I'd recommend one of several options:
1. Remove the existing physical switch, wire the line and load together, and stick the Hue Dimmer faceplate over the switch box. I believe it's legal in most jurisdictions to have an overhead fixture wired permanently hot. So if you're comfortable, that's an option. It's cleaner, but you won't have a way to quick cut the power aside from the panel circuit breaker if your smart home system isn't working.
2. Use a smart switch instead of smart bulbs. There are a lot of Z-Wave and Zigbee switches out there at varying price points, but the ones I've used are the GE/Jasco Z-Wave Plus dimmers. These will control your lights even if your smart home system is down, and use a relay so you can turn on, off, and dim either from the switch or an app regardless of whether the controlled light(s) are on or off. The GE switches have official SmartThings support. You can get add on switches and create 3-way or 4-way lighting situations (although be aware the wiring is slightly different). The downside of these Z-Wave or Zigbee switches is they generally require a neutral wire. Not a problem for most newer homes, but with older homes you could be out of luck. I've also experienced mixed results dimming LED bulbs. They say they are compatible with LEDs but depending on the overall load and quality of light bulb your mileage may vary.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MUCZA1C/?tag=atomicindus08-20
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An alternative to Z-wave or Zigbee is Lutron's Caseta Wireless line of switches. These also operate over a wireless protocol (I think they call it Lutron RF, it's proprietary). Which means you need to add another hub, their Caseta smart hub. I haven't used them myself but they seem like a great option and the big upside is they don't require a neutral wire if that's an issue for you. I've also heard they do a great job dimming LEDs and CFLs. There is SmartThings support but only cloud-to-cloud execution.
https://www.casetawireless.com/Page...MI9Inesb_h3wIVgv5kCh17VASbEAAYASAAEgKQAPD_BwE
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Another thing to consider with smart bulbs vs. smart switches is how do you want to control them and what functionality do you want? Smart switches tend to be more economical if the switch is controlling a bunch of lights (like 8 or 10 recessed cans in a kitchen). And they tend to look cleaner and function more like a normal switch. Personally I think this is very important because the last way I prefer to control smart lights is by whipping out my phone. And it helps guests and others who aren't tech savvy operate the house. My wife would kill me if she had to use an app every time she wanted to turn the lights on
However, smart bulbs can be better if you want to change colors, or set scenes where different bulbs on the same circuit and switch are set to different brightnesses and/or colors. For example in my basement TV entertainment area I have 8 ceiling lights on one switch. I opted to get 8 Hue bulbs and a Hue Dimmer instead of a single smart switch, because even though it was more money I can set different scenes where only some of the bulbs go off or dim to different values which I prefer for watching movies. It gives more flexibility. But in my kitchen where all the lights can really be at the same dim value I use the GE switches since it's cheaper and easier to operate.
Hope that makes sense but I am happy to elaborate further if you want...
Re: the built-ins I did consider making them free standing. I couldn't decide if it would look weird or not, but one issue is on the left side with the window there is not much height there to work with, and the depth of the fireplace is fairly shallow so if I added legs etc the interior volume might not be super usable on that side. I'll think about it more.
But yeah, I guess "mid-century console table" is kind of the look I was going for. My house is definitely not MCM in any way, but I have a fondness of MCM and modern furniture and architecture. I'm trying to incorporate some of that without trying to convert the place into something it's not. But I think a lot of the principles can be applied in many styles of home, like lack of ornamentation, simple trims, colorful art and furniture, use of natural materials like wood and stone. Redoing the floors necessitated it, but that's one reason I changed all the door casings and baseboards to a simple squared off profile instead of the ornamental craftsman stuff that was there before. We'll see where it goes. The more I update stuff to my tastes the more other areas reveal themselves needing attention...
Sorry for the long post but I kinda get into the smart home stuff
