It goes without saying that Philips Hue is more than just a set of light bulbs you can remotely turn on and off.
When it comes to creating a smart home, they are an essential part of the puzzle and often a great first step to making your house totally connected.
Once you’re set up with a Starter Kit, the possibilities are endless as to how you use the system to transform not only your home but your wellbeing too, given that lighting can often affect our mood, productivity and sleep.
Brought to you by Philips Hue. Light your home smarter with Philips Hue – your personal wireless lighting system, allowing you to easily set scenes, turn your lights on and off and dim them, with simple control using an app or even your voice.
The best part of the Hue system is you can make it totally personalised, as well as quickly setting up common scenes and routines pre-set into the app.
Scenes control what your lights do, and routines control when they do it – simple.
Here is some inspiration for making the most of a Philips Hue system, with tips and tricks to set the perfect scene for any occasion.
Recreate The Movies
Sync your lights to change based on what you’re watching or listening to. The accompanying Hue Camera App matches the bulbs to the movie by picking up the colours on screen and adapting accordingly. Plus, the newly-launched Hue Entertainment will bring greater integration for your favourite entertainment services.
It isn’t just bulbs you can buy. The Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus sticks to any surface and is perfect for placing behind your TV for the ultimate home entertainment experience.
If you’re looking to make a design statement in your home, the lightstrip can be used to frame furniture, or try the Philips Hue Lamp to highlight architectural features to add a bit of drama to your living space.
Hue hack: Starter kits come with two or three bulbs, but you can easily buy more separately, so it’s a good idea to replace the majority of bulbs in your home for the full Hue experience. White bulbs retail for around $30.
Go Automatic
Philips Hue lights have a bunch of automated options that will make life so much easier. One of our favourites is geofencing, which uses your location to turn your lights on when you’re close to home, and turn them off just as you leave.
Add an optional Hue motion sensor and really take things to the next level. Place it anywhere in the home – it’s battery operated – and the lights will automatically turn on when they sense movement, as well as turning off when they don’t.
You can even set different light levels for different times of day – a more gentle setting in the nighttime, for example, or not activating at all during the day if preferred.
Hue hack: If you prefer more manual control options, and don’t want to always rely on your phone, check out the Hue dimmer switch, which you can mount to your wall to alter the brightness more traditionally, but without the need for installation.
Dance and Romance
With 16 million colours to choose from on the app’s easy-to-use colour wheel, it should be pretty straight forward to set the right tone for your occasion, whether you’re throwing a party for friends or planning some romantic time.
Recreate candlelight for a dinner for two, or sync up with the third party Hue Disco app for the ultimate light show at your party.
Hue hack: Use a photo from your camera roll and the lights will match the colours and tones – perfect for reliving a special memory like a holiday. You can also save the settings to easily recreate the same look next time.
Improve Your Wellbeing
Many of us spend all day staring at the blue light of our devices, and that’s been proven to affect sleep.
This is where Philips Hue bulbs really come into their own, emitting warm light at a brightness of your choice that’s easy on the eye and provides a more relaxing environment. Simply hit the Relax scene in the app.
The system also aids sleep and that all important wake-up routine. In the morning, the lights can gradually turn on – essentially mimicking the sunrise – to ensure you wake up feeling refreshed. Just set your preferred time.
Come nighttime, the lights become warmer and fade down to ease you into a good night’s sleep.
Hue Hack: Pair your Philips Hue bulbs with the Sleep Cycle app to monitor your sleep and optimise wake-up times.
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