5 Simple Ways to Get Started with Philips Hue Smart Lighting

Of all the smart home products out there, you may not think smart bulbs would be the most useful or convenient, but think again! Lighting is an essential part of your home, and with Philips Hue smart bulbs, there are so many functional (and fun!) possibilities.

The Basics

Before we go any further, let's do a little Hue 101.

First, there are a variety of Philips Hue bulb shapes and sizes that offer endless possibilities for use around your home. You can connect up to 50 of them to one Bridge, the smart wireless hub that allows your smart device to talk to the lights. Smart devices aren't limited to your phone or tablet; they can be a variety of controls like Philips switches, motion sensors, and dimmers that all speak to your lighting wirelessly. They even work with Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, and Google smart home products so you can say something like, "Alexa, turn off all the lights," as you're stepping out the door.

Here are just a few unique ways to get started with Hue:

1. Save on Upgrades

Give your kitchen a makeover inside and out with Hue lightstrips . They can bring a modern look and highlight your countertops when placed on the underside of your cabinetry. If you want to add a smart outlet or switch, you can put it anywhere and not worry about having your phone to turn it on, and there's no need to worry about extra wiring. You can also make your kitchen look completely customized with strips placed inside glass door cabinets and set to a match your walls or backsplash.

2. Improve Your TV Viewing Experience

Watching TV or working at a computer in the dark encourages eye fatigue, which can lead to dry eye and headaches. Bias lighting, or backlighting for your television or monitor, is a simple and easy solution to reduce or eliminate this fatigue. Not only will you be saving your eyes, but bias lighting can help make the gray and black tones on your screen appear richer! You can even turn down the brightness of your screen and extend the life of your television this way.

Hue lightstrips are just the trick to achieve effective bias lightning. Simply stick them to the back of your TV and face them toward the wall. This will work on wall-mounted TVs or those placed on furniture. You can then adjust the color temperature of the light to what works best for you and your space.

Setting these lights behind your TV can be fun, too! Make them creepy when watching a horror movie or make them bright and cheerful when your kids watch cartoons. If you don't feel like customizing them yourself, some apps allow Hue to change colors based on what's on the screen.

3. Modernize Your Furniture

Do you have an old stereo system that sounds great, but looks dated in its cabinet? Run some Philips Hue lightstrips around the inside edges of each shelf. Your stereo and cabinet will now have an instant, modern feel that's truly customizable! Not only can you set the lightstrips to turn on at certain times of day, but you can make them any color to match your decor or set them to pulse to your music with apps like Hue Disco.

You can also call attention to focal points around your home. With a Hue bulb mounted to the ceiling or wall, you can shine a spotlight onto your favorite sculpture or piece of art. You can also brighten up your liquor cabinet using Hue lightstrips to illuminate bottles from the top of the ceiling and base of the bar, and even match the color of the lights you have in your stereo cabinet!

4. Improve Safety in Your Home

Hue lightstrips can be mounted to the underside of bathroom vanities or along stairs or railings to act as nightlights. Adding the Hue Motion Sensor will turn your Hue lights on when you enter a room or start up your stairs. Like all hue lights, you can set these lightstrips to the perfect color temperature for you based on the time of day - cool blue in the morning and warm yellow in the middle of the night, for example.

5. Be More Festive

People traditionally put lights up around the December holidays, but what's to stop you from doing red on Valentine's Day, or red, white and blue for Independence Day? You can even make your house the colors of your favorite team for the big game. As long as the lights aren't exposed to water, use them under an overhang or in an outdoor light fixture and celebrate every day of the year! Bonus: Whether or not you're using colored lights, you can set these bulbs to come on based on the time of day or whenever you pull into your driveway.

These are lots of ways to use Philips Hue smart bulbs around your home. Using them inside or out of a smart lighting ecosystem is only limited by your imagination! Do you want your lights to flicker when the International Space Station flies over your home? Done. Do you want them to flash your favorite team's colors when they score? Done. Get Philips Hue today and be astounded by all the exciting ways you can use smart lighting.