So, you are looking to do some home automation, and you do a quick internet search. What are you going to find? Mainly, you will discover consumer-level DIY products that can turn one part of your home into an Internet of Things (IoT), but they may not work across a large modern house.

If you narrow your search to Luxury homes, you will start to find different names and brands emerge. Among those is Lutron. This blog will review who Lutron is and why you may want to use them in your luxury home.

Who is Lutron?

When you head to their homepage at lutron.com, you will not find a very flashy consumer-centric site. That's because they do most of their business through companies like BRAVAS and other custom integrators.

Founded in the 1950s, Lutron started as a company to provide light control. Their first invention – a simple rotary dimmer, can still be found on many dining-room walls today. Lights and lighting are still significant businesses now, and this has grown in importance since the acquisition of Ketra. It is not through lighting, however, that many of us first meet Lutron. Instead, most people first meet Lutron through their shading systems found in many high-end homes and luxury condos.

Lutron does more than lighting and shades for both the Residential and Commercial markets. These are, however, where most of us looking to automate our homes start.

Lighting Control

When you ask a homeowner who has lived with an automation system for some time the one thing they think they couldn't live without, the answer you get most often is Lighting Control. But, if you have never had good lighting control, it is hard to imagine how it changes how you use your home.

A lighting control system is an intelligent network-based system that incorporates scenes rather than switches to control your lights. Many homeowners with Lutron systems swap the switches on the wall for keypads that can be programmed. Rather than just turn on individual lights to give you the right feeling in the morning, a simple pre-programmed scene can not only activate the light you want but dim them to the level that's right for you. The same or different lights in the same room can be configured for other times of the day or usage. Programing based on time of day, sunset, or how you use the home can make sure lights go on or off as you need them.

One of the best lighting control features can be the button at the front door marked "All Off." There is no need to go room to room to ensure the light is out; a single control ensures they are all turned off.

Ketra

At the same time, you consider how you control the lights; it might be time to change what lights you can control. While we may be happy that simple, cheap LED lights only cost a few dollars at the local hardware store, they are probably not great light sources. Lutron acquired Ketra Lighting and has integrated its products into its offerings.

It can be hard to explain in words what great lighting feels like when you see it. It is something that BRAVAS can help you experience, either in a showroom or your home. Ketra lights can be tuned to bring out the vivid colors in your home or artwork and even change with the setting sun. Cheap LEDs tend to dim to grey, while Ketra can be dimmed to a much warmer natural light.

Light is essential to living a healthy life, and Ketra, controlled by Lutron, can help you do that.

Shades

Of course, no light is as good for you as natural light. Getting daylight into your home can boost your wellness and increase your energy. However, too much sunlight can warm your home and damage your possessions. For these and other reasons, window covering has become essential in a modern luxury home.

If your home has lighting control, you can easily automate your shading systems with the same controls. Now your "Morning Scene" can not only turn on the light but open the shades. It can be programmed to reduce sunlight in the Western-facing rooms and give you privacy at night. Of course, you can do much the same with cheap manual shades, but the truth is people who have manual shades never change most of them.

Integrated with your life

Lutron is an excellent start for automation in any luxury home. A larger home with more security and automation systems may require more sophisticated control systems from Crestron, Savant, Elan, or Control4. Lutron integrates well with all these solutions.

There are so many more benefits to Lutron and home automation than we can cover in this blog. We at BRAVAS Austin would love to tell you more or even show you what we can do. Give us a call.