Surprising things to do with your smart lighting system
Hive’s smart lights let you adjust your lighting to exactly how you like it and set up schedules (so they turn on and off automatically) straight from your smartphone, using the Hive app. But instead of just using them for general lighting, there are some other great things they can do. So, let’s take a look at five things you might not be using your smart home lighting system for – but should.
Create some art anywhere
If you’re looking for simple ideas to transform a room, a great interior design trick is to use a colour-changing light bulb. With 16 million colours to choose from, it’s a quick way to make a feature of a particular area of your home. For instance, pop a lamp behind the sofa and choose a warm red for a dramatic feature wall. Or light the corners of a small room in warm white to make the space appear bigger.
The beauty of these ideas is that unlike if it’s painted, you can change the colour as often as you want. So it’s a great way to put a personal stamp on rented accommodation and also handy if you’re someone who likes to change their mind a lot.
Matching your lights to your routine
A bit like programming your thermostat, it’s also possible to sync your lights with your daily routine.
If you haven’t already done so, schedule them to automatically turn off when you leave for work each day. And once you’ve done that, why not set the lights to a specific colour for different activities throughout the day? For instance, you can do yoga in a warm, watery blue (which is known to be a soothing colour that can help calm a busy mind). Or if you often feel slow and sluggish first thing in the morning, schedule the lights to a cool yellow hue for the first few hours of each day to boost your energy and enthusiasm.
Use smart lights with Hive Actions
If you’ve got small children, you’ll most likely do anything for a good night’s sleep. This is where a little smart tech can really help. With Hive Actions, you can get your lights to do useful things like turn on automatically when someone steps out onto the landing (by connecting it up to a Hive motion sensor). So if your children need the loo in the night or are scared of the dark, as soon as they come out of their room then the light’s on – and hopefully they won’t come and wake you up.
Make your home a little more secure with a smart lighting system
Hive’s Mimic mode is a great way to use your lights to look after your home. It turns your lights on and off in a varied pattern so anyone watching your house will think someone’s in the house. You can set it to activate automatically every day while you’re away or, if it’s a one-off, just press the Mimic mode button in the app.
Take a look at Hive’s full range of smart light bulbs for more on brightening up your home with smart lights.
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