Our Connected Home – Philips hue from Best Buy

We have some new technology to play with and my husband is pretty darn excited about it! As a Best Buy Ambassador, I have to say that I really love my job. I get to try out new things and tell you all about them. If there is one thing that I never shy away from, it is sharing my opinion.

For the past several years, I have had the pleasure of working with my husband. We are partners on this blog. He adores new technology as much as I do so I knew that the Philips hue would excite him to no end. I was right about that. And then some.

Philips Hue

We live in a very old house. It was built in the late 1960's and looks very much like the Brady Bunch house. As a result, about 99% of our house needs to be updated including the electrical. Our home needs a lot of work.

What that means is we cannot use much technology that requires hard wiring to our home. I wish that was a possibility but it just isn't yet. My new technology needs to be wireless for the most part.

We just got the Smart Lighting: Philips hue LED White & Color Ambiance Smart Lighting Starter Kit from Best Buy. We loved it so much that I had to immediately go out and buy one more lightbulb so we could have our ceiling fan in the bedroom completely outfitted with hue LED lights.

For years, my husband and I have made jokes about getting The Clapper so we don't have to get up to turn lights off when going to sleep. We have never done it but the Philips hue does everything that The Clapper does plus a whole lot more. This is so much fancier than The Clapper with more bells and whistles.

The Kit includes 3 A19 Smart Lightbulbs, a Wireless bridge (allows you to control up to 50 hue and Friends devices such as light switches, dimmers, lightstrips, lamps, etc.), power adapter, and 6.56’ Ethernet network cable. Download the Philips hue iOS app or Android app to control the lighting using your smartphone or tablet.

Super cool things you can do with hue lighting

Customize your lights to fit your schedule

Use other amazing technology like geo-fencing technology to turn all your lights on when you reach the end of your block. We used our lights as an alarm each morning to wake us up. We pick the time and the lights come on. You can control the lights from anywhere with the Philips hue app.

Enhance your entertainment

Sync your lights to music, movies, or even use the IFTTT and ESPN apps to flash a custom light show when your team scores. We did this to one of my favorite movies and it was really fun.

Energize, concentrate, read or relax

Create a custom “recipe” setting with the beautiful colors of lights or a range of natural white light.

See my husband share some of the lights available on Instagram

My husband had fun making an Instagram video showing some of the light choices readily available with your Philips hue.

Our thoughts on the Philips hue

We are pretty happy with the Philips hue. My husband is pretty much addicted to setting the lights in every single room of our house now. He is constantly checking the lighting like he is in charge of lighting for the Taylor Swift tour. It is a little ridiculous but somewhat entertaining.

The hue really gives your room ambiance. I can easily take it from when I have finished working right to a dimly lit room where the hubs and I can binge watch House of Cards. The price isn't cheap at

I would like to see multi-packs of bulbs available with a discount in there. I really want to invest for my whole house. My son asked for his own hue kit for his birthday so he will be getting one this week.

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.