Lighting control, designer keypads and motorized shades from Lutron, Control4 and Crestron.
Lighting control lets you set the right light level for each room and time of day with one button.
A typical great room has a bank of six or more switches that nobody can label. Lighting control replaces them with one keypad of scenes, Cooking, Dinner, Evening, each setting every light to the right level. Lights come up at sunset and down at bedtime, a soft path lights the way at night, and the house looks lived-in while you’re away.
Lutron makes three residential systems. The right one depends mostly on the size of the home and how much you want the keypads to be part of the design.
| Caséta | RadioRA 3 | HomeWorks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Condos and smaller homes | Most homes, new or existing | Large and luxury homes |
| Scale | Up to 75 devices on one Smart Hub | Up to 100 Sunnata devices per processor; larger homes add processors | Scales to the largest homes and estates |
| Wiring | Wireless | Wireless, on Lutron’s own Clear Connect radio (not your Wi-Fi) | Wired and wireless together |
| Keypads | Caséta, Diva and Claro dimmers and switches, Pico remotes | Sunnata keypads, dimmers and switches, Pico remotes | Alisse, Palladiom and other designer lines |
| Also | Serena shades (Triathlon with the Smart Bridge Pro) | Hybrid keypads for retrofits, shades | Ketra tunable lighting, Sivoia QS and Palladiom shades |
Our usual advice: RadioRA 3 for most homes, HomeWorks when the keypads and light quality are part of the interior design, and Caséta for a condo or a first few rooms. All three integrate with Control4 and Crestron.
Keypads are the part of the system people use every day, so they should suit the room. Lutron Alisse and Palladiom, and Crestron Horizon, come in metals, glass and colours chosen with your designer, with each button engraved with the scene it sets.
We usually recommend fewer, better-placed keypads: one at each entrance to a room, with four to six clearly named scenes.
Control is only as good as the fixtures. Most dimmable LEDs work well, but cheaper lamps flicker or drop out at low levels, so we check what you have and recommend compatible dimmers or lamps.
For the best result, Lutron Ketra fixtures change colour temperature through the day, cool and bright in the morning, warm and low in the evening, much like natural light.
Motorized shades rise in the morning, lower when afternoon sun reaches floors and furniture, and close for privacy at night, on a schedule or at one button.
Sheer fabrics keep the view; blackout is for bedrooms and theatres. Battery-powered shades suit finished homes. Hard-wired shades, which can be hidden in a recessed ceiling pocket, are planned before drywall.
Good lighting design layers three kinds of light: ambient light to fill the room, task light for cooking or reading, and accent light for art, shelving and architecture. Lighting control lets those layers work together.
We walk through each room with you and decide on four to six scenes for each, named after how the room is used. Most homes end up with fewer keypads than they had switches, and every button does something useful.
Exterior lights follow an astronomic clock, turning on at sunset and adjusting through the seasons without anyone resetting a timer. Pathway, façade and garden lighting can each run on their own schedule.
Exterior lights can also respond to security events. A door opening at night or the alarm going off can turn every outdoor light on at once.
Standard LEDs have a fixed colour temperature. Tunable fixtures, such as Lutron’s Ketra, change colour through the day: cooler and brighter in the morning, warmer and lower in the evening, much like daylight.
It is most noticeable in kitchens, living spaces and bedrooms, and it renders art, wood and skin tones beautifully. Ketra is part of the HomeWorks system.
Roller shade fabrics are described by their openness: the lower the percentage, the more light and heat they block. A 1 to 3 percent fabric gives privacy and glare control while keeping a view; 5 percent and above keep more of the view at the cost of privacy at night.
Blackout fabrics are for bedrooms and theatres. Dual shades put a sheer and a blackout on one bracket, so you can choose either.
For hard-wired shades, a low-voltage cable runs to the head of each window before drywall. Recessed ceiling pockets hide the roller completely; they need to be coordinated with the window, the trim and the ceiling height early in the design.
In finished homes, battery-powered shades need no wiring at all, and battery life is typically measured in years rather than months.
Dimming lights even slightly saves energy and extends the life of fixtures. Lights that turn off automatically in empty rooms and at bedtime save more.
Shades that lower when the sun hits west-facing glass reduce heat gain in summer, keep rooms more comfortable and protect floors, furniture and art from fading.
No. Caséta and RadioRA 3 dimmers replace your existing switches using the wiring already in the wall. Fully wired systems such as HomeWorks are best planned in a new build or major renovation.
Yes. Many clients start with the main floor and add bedrooms, exterior lighting and shades later on the same system.
Yes. Battery-powered shades need no wiring and install in a finished home in a day or two.
Send a floor plan or a list of rooms and we will suggest a system.