Make the lights in your favorite rooms look and act their best by putting a control system in charge.

Restaurants do it. So do night clubs and some spas. At home you probably do it, too. When you want to really relax, the lights go down. Soft lights have a way of easing a huge population of tightly wound workaholics out of the breakneck speed of everyday life, putting us in the right state of mind to enjoy a quiet dinner conversation or an occasional back massage. As the lights fade out, our minds and bodies, at last, slow down.

Achieving this state of tranquility isn't difficult. If the light fixtures in your house are controlled by dimmer switches, you can manually dim the lights to your liking at any time. This doesn't mean that installing rows of dimmer switches offers the most efficient or convenient way to put your house in slo-mo, however. You can arrive at Cloud Nine much faster by installing a lighting control system.

Lighting control systems basically rid a home of unsightly light switches, replacing them with buttons on small keypads the size of a single wall switches. These keypads can control entire groups of lights located in the same room or scattered throughout the house. With the use of a keypad, the same soft lighting effect that once required the adjustment of a half-dozen dimmer switches now takes the press of a single button. This single-touch operator provides benefits for every major room of the house.

In the media room, a control system can fade out the lights in preparation for a movie. In the foyer, a system might command lights throughout the house and in the backyard to illuminate a pathway from the garage to the front door and to the bedroom. Some lighting control systems work very well in home theaters, while others make a bigger impact in great rooms and master suites. Bottom line: There are lighting control systems for all the rooms of your house. Here are a few of our suggestions, based on the systems we commonly see used in particular rooms. But with proper programming and installation from a home systems professional, any make or mode of lighting control can add visual interest to any room.

Multipurpose Family Room

A multipurpose family room is probably the best candidate for a lighting control system. You may want the lights dimmed while watching a movie, but you'll likely want the lights a bit brighter for weekend football games and Saturday morning cartoons. A table lamp at its brightest is a necessity for reading the titles on the DVD cases and for fiddling around with the DVD player, stereo receiver or other components. You might also entertain friends, read a book or host an après-work happy hour in this room. One of the most popular systems for a media room is the GRAFIK Eye from Lutron Electronics. This system can arrange as many as 16 lighting scenes--plenty for all the activities that take place in a busy family room. The system transitions between scenes gradually, so the change is subtle to the eye. Each button on the GRAFIK Eye keypad is clearly labeled, so even a guest can select the scenes. But if you'd like to stay in control at all times, the system comes with an infrared remote control that can cue lighting scenes from anywhere in the room.

Other Family Room Systems

• Scenario from LiteTouch
• A variety of systems from Crestron
• DHC Seven-Scene Wall Switch Controller from Leviton
• Compli Scenist from Lightolier
• Spacer System from Lutron
• Q System from Vantage
• Elegance System from CentraLite

Master Bedroom

You may not spend the majority of your free time there, but a master bedroom still deserves some level of lighting control for what might be the most relaxing time of the day. A system that can arrange more than a dozen individual lighting scenes might be a little over the top for the sleeping quarters, but you'll still want a system that can adjust the lights for a few activities that commonly take place in a bedroom: reading, sleeping, romance, cleanup, and possibly lighting a path to the bath.

The MultiSet system from Lightolier is perfectly suited for this degree of scene setting. This system features illuminated pushbuttons--helpful in a dark bedroom--to create as many as five distinct looks. The keypad wires directly to standard light dimmers and is easy to program. You set the dimmers to create the look you want, and the keypad memorizes it and assigns the scene to a particular button. The ability to establish the scenes yourself is helpful not only for initial programming, but for altering the lighting levels of certain scenes and creating completely new scenes.

As the place you start and end your day, the bedroom is the ideal place from which to control all of the lights in the house. For this, you'll need a more robust system that can shuttle commands from a master bedroom keypad to all the home's lights. By using a whole-house lighting control system such as the Q System from Vantage or one of Crestron's lighting controls, you could turn off every light in the house before going to bed, and in the morning brighten the kitchen before leaving bed. And when you crave a midnight snack, the system can light a faint pathway from the bed to the refrigerator.

Other Master Bedroom Systems

• 5000 System from LiteTouch
• A variety of systems from Crestron
• DHC All Lights On/All Lights Off Wall Switch Controller from Leviton
• Compose PLC System from Lightolier
• GRAFIK Eye from Lutron
• Q System from Vantage
• Elegance system from CentraLite

Master Bathroom

In most households, the master bathroom is the only place you can gain uninterrupted peace and quiet. Having the lights on low is the perfect antidote for an overworked mind and body, especially if there's hot, bubbly water involved. A single-scene system, such as the SatiLite Station from LiteTouch, sets a single lighting scene for the bathroom. That scene might switch off the lights over the vanity and illuminate the sconces around the whirlpool tub to a soft glow. It's really the only scene you'll need for this room. The remainder of the time, the SatiLite functions as an ordinary dimmer switch.

Other Master Bathroom Systems

• SatiLite from LiteTouch
• A variety of systems from Crestron
• DHC 600 Watt Scene-Capable Dimming Wall Switch Receiver from Leviton
• Compli Scenist from Lightolier
• Spacer IR remote control dimmer from Lutron
• Q System from Vantage
• Elegance system from CentraLite

Home Theater

A lighting control system can evoke the ambiance of a commercial movie theater at the press of a button. Nearly every manufacturer (see Resources, page 88) of lighting control systems offers a solution for a dedicated home theater room. Leviton, for example, has packaged together a few inexpensive products that not only dim the home theater lights, but control the audio and video components that bring the movie to life. The system combines a standard-looking handheld remote control, a transceiver and a receiver. The receiver, available in two designs, either attaches to a table lamp or is installed in place of a standard light switch to control an overhead fixture. The remote control signals the receiver to brighten, dim, turn on or turn off its connected light. To ensure that commands reach the receiver, even from a room other than the theater, a transceiver picks up the remote's radio-frequency signal and relays it to the appropriate receiver. The operation of this system is like having a dimmer switch in the palm of your hand.

Other Home Theater Systems

• Scenario from LiteTouch
• A variety of systems from Crestron
• DHC Toscana Deluxe Programmer from Leviton
• MultiSet Pro Dimming Systems from Lightolier
• Spacer System from Lutron
• TheaterPoint from Vantage
• Elegance system from CentraLite

The Den

Of all the rooms, the den offers an ideal location to transition from work to home mode. It's no wonder so many people incorporate minibars, stereo systems, easy chairs, televisions, or libraries in this room. After a day of fluorescent bulbs burning into the back of your head, it certainly doesn't hurt to incorporate a dimmable lighting control system as well. Any system is game for a home office. A keypad that invites you to select one of several preset lighting scenes can match the lighting effect to the activity. Dimmed lights overhead and a few soft table lamps, for example, create a soothing ambiance for music listening, while a brighter scene might inspire you to browse The Wall Street Journal or finish some paperwork. Or, you might need just one basic "relax" scene in which a remote control gradually fades out the main light to whatever intensity you desire.

In those first few moments of moving out of work mode and into home mode, it's possible that business is still brewing in the back of your mind. That cell phone, pager or PDA still clipped to your hip doesn't help. But there is a way you can put these business tools to work in your quest for quality time. The Cendi system from CentraLite, for example, places control buttons on the screen of any WindowsCE-based PDA. The PDA transmits the command over wireless radio-frequency airwaves to a PC equipped with lighting control software. This software relays commands to the appropriate lights. CentraLite isn't the only manufacturer of lighting control to grant access to a home's lights through a PDA. Companies including Vantage, Lutron and LiteTouch have web-enabled their systems.

Other Den Systems

• PocketLT from LiteTouch
• A variety of systems from Crestron
• RadioRA home dimming system from Lutron
• TouchPoint from Vantage

There you have it: lighting control, room-by-room. A lighting control system builds off the core necessity of having lights in every room by enabling them to complement the design of a room, as well as the types of activities that take place there, all with the single press of a button.

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Lighting Control Systems

Whole-House or Single-Room Lighting control systems fall into two main categories: whole-house or single-room. As the name suggests, a whole-house lighting control system commands lights throughout an entire home, including outdoor areas. Although a keypad might be stationed in the kitchen, it could be capable of setting the lights in every room of the house. A whole-house lighting control system is useful in any home, particularly large homes where turning off the lights manually before leaving for work or going to bed is a chore. It's also great for homes with open floor plans or for those who use the entire house when entertaining. A whole-house system can arrange the lights in the foyer, the kitchen, the family room and other rooms with one press of a button. Single-room systems are designed specifically to arrange the lights within one room. Most people choose a single-room system when they want to improve the eye appeal or add visual excitement to one special room of the house, maybe a home theater, an art gallery or an elegant sitting room. Because they reach and control fewer lights, single-room systems are generally more affordable than whole-house systems. However, once you come to appreciate the benefits of a lighting control system in one room, you'll probably want the same for other rooms of your house. Make sure the single-room system you choose can be expanded easily into a whole-house system.

Hardwired or Wireless You'll also need to decide between a system that's wired into your house and one that's wireless. Most professional home systems installers recommend a wired system for home owners building a new house. Wired systems are generally more reliable than wireless systems and can usually handle some very complex levels of control--even operating heating and cooling components, motorized draperies and other electronic components. A wireless system is ideally suited for existing homes, as it precludes the need for additional wiring and costly rewiring. Wireless lighting control systems minimize the installation labor by utilizing either a home's existing electrical wiring or radio frequencies to transmit instructions from keypads to the light fixtures.

Types of Control Keypads are the de facto control means for lighting systems. Commonly mounted on the wall near the entrance of each room, a keypad provides a convenient way to cue lighting scenes. In addition to keypads, some lighting control systems can be operated from handheld remote controls, touchscreens, computers and the newest form of control: the web. Web-enabled lighting control systems offer the convenience of using any web-enabled device--a cell phone, a PDA, or a computer at work--to operate the lights at home. While you may not need or use the web connection on a daily basis, it comes in handy for welcoming guests to your house while you're still en route and for engaging a vacation scene during an unexpected business trip.

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