I LOVE that you have that vision. That's exactly what my vision has been, and I feel like I'm well on my way to achieving that.
I have 4 modes
Quiet time
home
Night
Away
I strive to make it so that I never have to ask or press a button in an every day situation. I can't say it never happens, but it is few and far between. I hope you find this interesting.
Night, quiet time, and home is dictated by phones docked on two modified Qi chargers. I'll link the project at the bottom. This is how the day works
Both phones docked on chargers triggers night mode. Everything turns off. Indirect lighting above my cabinets dims and becomes a night light. I'll talk about the significance of that lighting later.
In the morning one person gets up and undocks phone, quiet time starts. Keeps the bedroom lights muted to not wake the sleeping spouse (me) while loving husband prepares to leave for work. Kitchen and dining room can lights and cabinet lights only interact on motion. They are bright enough to see what you're doing. We use this setup mostly because you only need lots of lights when you're actually doing something in the kitchen. Like baking. Second phone undocks, mode changes to home. All lights interact normally except for the kitchen and dining. Just cabinets and cans unless we're moving around in there for more than 10 minutes. Then the room lights will turn on. That usually happens more in the evening and not in the morning. the big lights will turn on in home mode if activity exceeds 10 minutes. It's worked well for us. Between 5pm and 7pm, the kitchen/dining lights all interact as that would normally be dinner hour and clean up. I could probably eliminate that rule because our activity keeps the lights on without having to have a full on rule to do that for me. We also have several motion sensors in the room to achieve this. Even one by the stove and pointed down at the counters and tables. My cabinet lights brighten up to 100% when you enter the room and dim back down where activity stops. This is enough light to see when you need a drink of water or something simple. Half of the lights turn off in night mode and will only brighten up to 50% on activity.
Our basement lights trigger with a motion sensor at the bottom of the steps before entering the room. The light will remain on if I am in my office as I have motion sensors facing my computer keyboard and work bench. As long as those lights are on, then the living room lights will be on. If the tv is turned on in the room, the lights will dim to 50% and remain on until the tv is off, my den is quiet and activity has stopped in that room.
Upper living room lights turn on with motion, off when inactive, but will not turn on if the tv is on up there. There is a lamp by our door that dims and brightens according to the lighting scheme. Lots of restrictions.
Garage lights turn on when a door opens or a lock code is entered or activity is detected. Off when all doors are closed and locked and activity is stopped. Locks auto lock after two minutes. All of my other rooms are simple lighting. On with activity and off when quiet. Closet door opens and turns on the closet light and off when it closes. Same with pantry. If I let the dogs out and open the patio door, the back light turns on and remains on until i close the door the second time when they come in. Works really well.
Away works on presence and home also triggers when one of us arrives home. Quiet time happens when one phone is docked in the bedroom. Night is two phones docked.
When I started this journey, my husband laid down the edict that he would NOT do anything special to get lights to turn on. I've adhered to that and set things up to follow our habits.
here is the link to our Qi chargers. I hope you find some inspiration in this post.
[EDIT]
I do use some multisensors also to restrict lights turning on when not needed. I also set the fan speed according to temperature in the bedroom at night. Works like a charm.
[ANOTHER EDIT]
Outside lights, cabinet lights and a table lamp turn on 60 minutes before sunset and off 60 minutes after sunrise. The table lamp will turn off in night mode and back on if mode changes to quiet time or home if it's before sunrise. The cabinet lights will do the same if mode changes and it's before sunrise.
