St. Patrick's Day is March 17, and you may want to spruce up your party space with some festive colors. You'll need to have some smart lights to really set the tone, but once they're set up, it's easy to change the colors. The main thing is being familiar with the native apps involved and accurately identifying the color you want.
Phone with manufacturer app installed
Philips Hue has set the standard for home smart lighting. It's possible to get a full home all running on the same network, and sync up their activity with music coming from Spotify.
Step 1: Download and install the Hue app on your phone.
Step 2: Once the lights have been set up, tap the room you want to change the color for.
Step 3: Tap the + button next to My Scenes in order to change all of the lights at once.
Step 4: For festive occasions, it can be helpful to use a reference image to capture faithful colors. Download a relevant image to your phone, and tap Use photo in the Hue app.
Step 5: Select the image from your file library. The app will pull the dominant colors and build a color recipe based on them. Tap the shuffle button to cycle between the colors. They should preview the lights in the room.
Step 6: Name the scene and tap Save.
Step 7: To tweak individual lights, simply tap on them from within the room interface, and drag and drop the the picker anywhere on the color wheel.
Nanoleaf lights are great for adding animation to your color recipes. Their wall panels are quite popular, and their modular system lets you mix and match lights to make whatever pattern you like. Set up a shamrock, or a Christmas tree, or whatever shape the occasion calls for.
Step 1: Download and install the Nanoleaf app.
Step 2: Once the lights have been set up, tap the color bar of the light you want to change the color for.
Step 3: Tap the basic tab to select a single solid color for the light. Tap the Scene tab to select a preset animated light recipe, or to build your own.
Step 4: For animated lighting options, tap the Discover tab at the bottom, then the search icon in the top-right. Enter the terms you want to search for, whether it's as simple as "green" or more specific, like "Christmas".
Step 5: Tap the light recipe you want to use, then select the lights or room you want it to be used on. This will show a preview of the recipe in action. Tap the Download icon in the bottom-right of the color recipe listing to store it permanently on the light.
Govee offers a wide range of smart light form factors while keeping the pricetag reasonable. If you're just starting off with smart lights and don't want to make a huge investment right off the bat, Govee is a fine way to go.
Step 1: Download and install the Govee app.
Step 2: Once the lights have been set up, tap the light you want to change the color for.
Step 3: Tap the power button in the top-right if it's not already on.
Step 4: Select the Govee lights in the collection to switch to the desired color scheme.
Step 5: Tap the color button and select a color from the existing presets, or the sliders beneath.
Step 6: For animated color recipes, tap the Scene button after selecting the light. Multiple tabs break the recipes out into categories. Each Scene can have its animation direction and origin changed.
Changing the colors on your smart lights is one of the easier things you can do with them, and can add a lot of personality to your space around the festive times of the year.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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