Good suggestion!
To add to what @april.brandt and @napalmcsr said, if you can get buy-in from others in the house and include them in planning, the results are likely to be more acceptable.
. Yes, I’ve done enough remodeling jobs around the house to relate!
100% that. Family acceptance factor at nominal levels
#micdrop
This is my main goal as well, but a well placed button is helpful at times, and wife likes it better that talking to the Alexa.
Agreed, we have such a button in the kitchen/dining. We rarely use it now. I have probably way too many motion sensors in the kitchen/dining. When moving around there during off times for more than 10 minutes and illuminance is below a threshold, the lights turn on automatically. They only turn off when all of the sensors are quiet. I sometimes begin to wonder if my house is assimilating some sort of AI because I haven't pressed a button, flipped a switch or asked alexa to do anything in months. She does open my garage door, but that's because I'm taking that automation very slowly as to cover all use cases.
Lol. My wife loves Alexa!!
Funny. When my brother visits, he says "do you ever turn your lights on or off yourself?"
I love when visitors com and have no idea about automation and get a little freaked when the lights act on their own. Classic. My non-believer husband loves to brag it up often.
Just put in lights under the kitchen cabinets. Set up rules for them only to come on during the evening and early morning and to activate on motion. My Wife is now asking for a button so she can turn them on and keep them on when she has friends over. I think I just moved further in the WAF positive territory. Very few of my automations require doing something manual.
If you're looking for a value solution, our S2 ZEN26 on/off switch will be part of the President's Sale starting at The Smartest House tomorrow (2/17/20). It's already a good deal compared to the other options mentioned above but the price will drop even more for the duration of the sale. Feel free to reach out to me with any product specific questions!
I ran into the issue of having company over and the lights turning off on us. I installed a button that paused and resumed those rules to remedy this. Then when I found the iris motions on ebay I bought 20 of them. I have one facing down to my tables and counters and have one pointed at the stove and sink. I find that I haven't had to use that button since. It's still there, though. Of course, in your case, the use case is fitting because she doesn't want it on all the time, but extra sensors hanging around have proven to be beneficial in my setup. Other rooms have harmony and other automations to keep the lights on when someone is in there. Kitchen and dining are the most difficult to have a seamless setup. IMHO. Cool lights! I was going to do that, but realized that lights on the floor emphasize the size of the dust bunny brood that's populated my house since last cleaning.
What's cleaning?
Well, (crack knuckles) Mine's named Sarah. And she's a-effing-mazing. She visits every other week and rounds up all of my rogue dust bunnies and anything else that needs to be done. I think that's what cleaning is. Right?
This is perfect timing as we're starting a bathroom remodel and I was getting ready to order two switches! I see the price change on the site, I think. Will this carry over to amazon?
Tell me more. How did you automate your garage door with a smart plug? There must be more to it than that.
Yes, there was more, but it cost me an additional 12$ Here is a link to my post that was solved by @aaiyar. Works perfectly!
The new price will be in effect once you see the President's Sale banner on the home page, it's usually late evening / early morning that these get published. The promotion is only valid on the Smartest House website, the price on Amazon is already as low as it can be.
Ordered! The price is great!
I am using the Zen27 dimmer for my kitchen under cabinet lighting