I'd also point you here for your dashboards
and
Literally thousands of examples to help you get started.
I will say I am of the mind that the interface means little in terms of control (in my opinion) Home automation is just that, automation. I take a set and forget attitude towards it. Create an automation that works and never touch it again. I only use the dashboard occasionally and thats simply to look at status or if I receive a message about something. Other than that it's pretty hands off, so that "prettiness" of a dash for me is no big deal.
Once you wrap your head around some of the concepts it's really not complicated. We're all here to help you..
As to switches that replace your existing switches (The preferred way) that don't require a neutral, I would reccomend either Lutron Caseta (The best) Or Innovelli. Both are fabulous and will serve to function better than using individual bulbs (personally I use bulbs only for the occasional table lamp and those are on a hue bridge I picked up at home depot on clearence for $35.00). I also use lutron PICO switches, I'm still running 6 years in on the batteries for the majority of them.
Now above you site lack of available compatible products. I'm not sure where you get that from but if you look at the compatibility list of officially supported products, it's pretty extensive, not to mention the compatible stuff not on the list in addition to community supported devices,
We are all here to help you, including the phenomenal staff at HE. Be patient and take things one step at a time.
