Yeah but at some point (very quickly) the hassle of a smart bulb makes an expensive wall switch look downright awesome.
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lol, I had read that somewhere, will keep this in mind for the future for sure !!!
Oh, and I stand corrected! I do have two "smart bulbs". My LED lighting on my TV (aeotec zwave power strip) and a single Sengled bulb that I turn RED when my alarm is on.
That's actually another use case for smart bulbs. In my upstairs hallway and bathroom I have hue bulbs... in the evening and predawn they are warm white at 100%. At night they are red at 25%.
Check the Lutron Aurora switch - it covers an existing flip switch, keeping it in the 'on' position, and gives you a dimmer control that you can use to control the light
thats not really the issue i am talking about.. i am talking getting notified if someone turns off a switch that is connected to the bulbs.
I came across these and would love to use them, however my house uses paddle switches. 
EDIT: OMG I just saw that there is a bracket for paddle switches! 
THANK YOU for pointing these out to me! I don't need a Caséta SmartBridge Pro for these according to the compatible devices wiki.
From the little I can see it looks like you may have a neutral. This is based on the number of whites in the one wire nut we can see. Also the existence of at least two cables entering the box increased the likelihood of a neutral in the box.
Regarding what is "usual". The combinations are numerous.
A single pole switch can switch the Hot wire making the two wires to the switch "normally" black.
OR
It can switch the neutral with the wires "usually" white.
And there can be Red thrown in there.
If you turn off the breaker an post photos with the switch(s) pulled out of the box showing ALL the wires, we can be of more help.
Do you have a voltmeter? If not you can get a "voltage detector" at HomeDepot of ~$5
The Aurora switches are outside the Caseta family, so a bridge isn't needed for them. I have the Caseta switches myself, so I haven't tried the Aurora.
Ah unfortunately, looking more into it it looks like you have to uninstall your paddle switch for the bracket to work...
Nice to know that adapter is now available. Actually, what they have done here is what I have done with Pico buttons. None of my Picos are controlling the light directly. The hub is controlling smart bulbs. Why do I use smart bulbs? Simple reason is that I could never find one that dimmed properly without missing or flickering at a certain level, and the bulbs would always make this very high pitch ringing noise that I could hear loud and clear, even when the rest of the family couldn't. I also have Tinnitus, and so I don't need anymore high pitched ringing in my life.
The problem with the Lutron Aurora dimmer is it's a poorly made piece of garbage. Feels very cheap, but is very expensive for what it is. If you're going to go Lutron, the Smart Bridge Pro and Picos are a much better way to spend your money.
My one slight against the Pico Remotes is they aren't that tactile/clicky. They seem to have a mushy feel from the videos I've seen, whereas the Lutron Aurora is just one big clicky button. One big button also makes it easy to hit in the dark.
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I have a black Pico on the side of our headboard. In the dark, there's no way seeing it, but the middle button is the reference point. I find it very easy to feel for the middle button and then I can press the dim-down button, which I have programmed to turn on one of the three Hue bulbs in our bedroom fixture to the lowest level when pressed. When held, they function as normal raise/lower dim buttons.
Finding the top and bottom buttons is also very simple. You really don't want a click, It gets annoying for a button that is everyday use. At least that's my personal experience.
based on the pictures i would say you do. if you pull out the switch all the way, if there's a white wire from each bundle jumped together, that's typically the neutral (sorry if it's been mentioned in the thread already, i didn't read the whole thing)
Same - the middle "bump" button is always my reference if I'm not looking at the switch.
I would not call it mushy, you can definitely tell when the switch has been pressed, but it isn't "clicky" the way a paddle switch is, if thats what you really want/need.
I find the Pico easy to use in the dark. I can easily find the middle button because it is rounded and protrudes out, and from that middle button I can easily move/slide my finger to any of the other four buttons.
I’m happy there is no clicking sound. That would be very annoying and would probably wake up my wife at night.
As an electrician, I frequently install Pico switches for customers. Lutron products aren't garbage, and I haven't had any of these installed that have broken. They depend on a battery, it is supposed to last for ten years. Hardwired would be better, in my opinion, as you won't have to replace the batteries when the time comes.
Those white wires are neutral. That existing switch is a single-pole and power is obviously fed into the switch box prior to being sent to the light fixtures. This is a simple and typical electrical installation.
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An easy way I use to check / verify hot vs. neutral is to use a non-contact voltage (NCV) sensor. A high quality one is needed as I have found the cheap ones aren't sensitive enough to vary the beeping speed well enough for this task.
With the power on, I carefully pull the switch partially out which causes the wires to separate by an inch or so. Putting the NCV to the white wires vs the black should result in a more rapid or louder beeping on the hot. The neutral typically will result in a beeping as well, but much less.
If there is only one cable coming into the box (switch loop) this method can tell you which wire is hot vs. switched. You can carefully flip the switch on and off to verify, if the wire being tested changes beeping intensity that is the switched wire and the other is hot.
Of course sometimes this method isn't sensitive enough for whatever reason and then a multimeter should be used as described above.
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Thanks everyone for their suggestions, but I decided to not get in-wall switches yet because we plan to move to a bigger house sometime in the near future. Decided to go with a solution that would be easier to take and move with. So I bought and tested 3 different buttons/switches and ended up going with the Lutron Pico Remote.
Find my detailed review of all 3 here:
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nothing wrong with that. i get the WAF, but if you guys have your phones on you, could save some money and just use the HE app, then when you settle into your final place you can spend the money and invest in devices
