Smart Ways to Work From Home

Working from home has become the new normal for many people. Recently we've given you tips on how to set up and light a home workspace properly to avoid visual discomfort. But we can do even better than that! Let's talk about how to get smart with lighting to help make your day more comfortable and productive.

By making your light fixtures smart, you can control them with just your phone or your voice, changing the tone, brightness, and even the color of the light. To get started, change your light bulbs to smart bulbs, or for a cleaner more integrated approach, install smart wall switches and smart wall outlets that can be controlled through apps on smartphones, tablets, or other smart devices. Many of these can also be controlled by voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri.

Andrew Ragali, Senior Marketing Manager for iDevices, who, along with Progress Lighting is part of the Hubbell family, offers some great tips for using smart devices to automate the lighting in your home workspace. iDevices develops and sells a variety of smart home products, with a focus on intelligent lighting control.

"Some of the key benefits of smart lighting technology include sunrise to sunset scheduling and the ability to set routines and use voice commands to brighten and dim lighting levels with hands-free voice control,"

Image:Schumacher Homes & Possibilities for design

Smart dimmers and wall outlets allow lights to be turned on, off and dimmed throughout the day, on a routine determined by you and controlled by a phone or voice assistant.

Once these are installed, you can connect them to your favorite voice platform, such as Amazon Alexa. Then, set some routines in the Alexa app, which are personalized task chains that trigger one or more smart devices to get things done automatically.

"Begin by starting your day right," advises Andrew. "Set your work week routine to begin at your normal wakeup time and have your iDevices Dimmer Switches slowly ramp up the brightness of your lighting to help ease you into your morning." With a smart dimmer switch, light levels can be customized, setting minimum and maximum brightness levels on a schedule determined by you.

Image:Piper Stromatt

For the ultimate in convenience, change out your existing wall outlets to a smart one like the iDevices Wall Outlet and connect them to your phone or voice assistant. Then, plug in a desk lamp, speaker, or other gadgets and set them to turn on automatically. Voila - no more crawling beneath your desk to try to get at an inconveniently placed wall outlet; anything plugged into a smart outlet can be turned on with your phone.

By pairing dimmer switches and outlets with a voice platform like Amazon Alexa, your daily routine gets even easier. "When you normally clock in," says Andrew, "program Alexa to say, 'Time to start your work' as a reminder, and adjust your lights to 100% brightness for focus and energy."

Smart speakers and products with built-in voice assistants, like the Instinct light switch, provide a hands-free means to add comfort and convenience throughout the day. Since Instinct installs in the wall like a standard light switch, it frees up valuable desk space. Instinct even has a tiny high-performance speaker built into it, so with a simple voice command, you can listen to music, audiobooks, or white noise while you work. While Instinct is not able to dim lights, it's ideal for turning lights on or off during your daily routine.

Image:KHOV Homes

End the day on a relaxing note: an hour before the workday is done, set your dimmable smart lights to begin ramping down from 100% until they turn off completely, easing your transition into the evening. At the same time, set lights in other spaces in your house to automatically turn on, like the kitchen or living room. Then, enjoy the rest of your night!

Add both style and comfort to your work from home office: here's where to find the perfect lighting for your workspace. Please note that not all lighting fixtures have dimming capability, check product specifications for complete information.

For more information on smart home options, visit the iDevices website.