I do not use Smart Bulbs - I have a full Home Automation system.
I currently have a bunch of lights, some outlets, a door lock, and my garage door opener all connected to it. I will be adding a sensor for my driveway as well. Here's how I'm set up:
- I have three lights on the front of the house (single switch) that come on automatically at sundown and off at a fixed time. These lights also come on when the garage door is opened after sunset, and off automatically after the door closes.
- I have two shop lights in the garage that plug into outlets controlled by a switch. I have added a "micro switch" controller (inside the wall gang, no change of switch required) to this. When the garage door opens, the lights will go on automatically after sunset. The lights turns off automatically a few minutes after the garage door closes.
- I have a light over my kitchen sink that comes on automatically at sunset and off at a fixed time.
- I have a light over my island counter.
- I have three recessed lights (dimmable, three-way circuit) around the perimeter of my kitchen / over the counters.
- I have a hanging light and two recessed lights (dimmable) over the table in the eat-in area of the kitchen.
- I have a light immediately outside the back door to the house on the deck (OL1)
- I have lights overlooking the pool in the backyard that also throw light into the yard (OL2)
- I have two halogen floods on the rear corners of the house to illuminate the rear yard (OL3)
- OL1, OL2, and OL3 will all come on automatically if you power on either OL1 or OL3. OL2 can be controlled individually if desired (have lights for the pool without flooding the yard with light)
- OL1, OL2, and OL3 will all go off automatically if you power off either OL1 or OL3.
- OL2, OL2, and OL3, because of their higher energy use, are prohibited from being used during daylight hours. If you attempt to turn them on, the system will turn them off.
- I have a dimmable switch controlling the light kit of the ceiling fan in my master bedroom (separate manual switch for the fan on/off and speed controlled at the fan with the chain).
- I have a keypad lock on my mudroom door.
- ALL lights are forced "off", the mudroom door is locked, and the garage door is closed automatically at midnight.
- I receive push notification on my phone AND an email when the garage door is opened or closed.
- I have a plug-in controllable extension cord (best way to describe it - it's only a foot long) that I use outdoors with the holiday decorations. On at sunset, off at fixed time.
- I have two plug-in controllable plugs. I have one connected to my cable modem and one connected to my router. I power cycle the "perimeter" of my Internet connectivity once per week to ensure that the modem is always running current firmware.
Upcoming additions:
- I am adding a remote sensor to the beginning of the driveway that will turn the outside front lights on automatically when you pull into the driveway if it's after sunset.
I have a web interface to access all of this from a computer's web browser, and I have an app on my phone that allows me to control all of this from anywhere as well.
The door lock was expensive - they're north of $300 for a decent one. The garage door opener, if you have an older one, can be retrofitted for under $100. Light switches run roughly $40 for fixed switch, $50 for dimmers. The controllable plugs were about $40 each and the sensor setup for the driveway is about $150. Use them all with the Home Automation Controller of your choice. These run $100 - $200, typically.
I tried the WeMo switches and they were absolutely horrendous. Every time I launched the app (or so it seemed) it would tell me there was new firmware for the switches. I would go through the process of updating the firmware, and the switches would reset to factory defaults and I would have to re-configure each one of them every time. While there are still some quirks with the Home Automation controller, it's generally pretty reliable for me. And, I like that I can add a user account to the system and give someone access to my house controls with an app on their phone and then take it away when I want.
The one significant requirement for these systems is typically that you MUST be using a password-protected WiFi network at your house (or no WiFi at all) since authentication on the local network is typically not necessary to control things (this means someone could connect to your WiFi while outside and then have access to open your garage door and let themselves in). Mine happens to support a "secure mode" where authentication is always necessary but I use password-protected WiFi anyhow.