Welcome, Entertain, Away: what a lighting scene does, and what the keypad replaces

A keypad by the door can read Welcome, Entertain and Away, and those three words stand in for a wall of switches. Each one is a lighting scene: a set of levels for every fixture in the room, chosen once and recalled with a single press. This guide explains what a scene is, what the buttons do, and how Watt Integration designs, programs and tunes them for a home in Scottsdale.

What is a lighting scene?

A lighting scene is a stored set of light levels across several fixtures, recalled together by one engraved button. Pressing Entertain moves every fixture in the room to the level chosen for company; the levels live in the control system rather than in the switch, so a scene can be revised later without touching the wiring.

A room rarely wants every fixture at full output. The scene for dinner might hold the pendants low, the art lighting a little higher and the cove almost off; the scene for reading brings the lamps up and leaves the rest alone. Because the levels are stored in the control system, they can be adjusted after the first evenings in the room, and the engraving on the wall stays the same.

What do the buttons on a lighting keypad do?

Each engraved button recalls one scene rather than one circuit. On a keypad engraved Welcome, Entertain and Away, Welcome is the arrival scene, Entertain the setting for company, and Away the single press that turns the home down on the way out; the rocker beneath raises or lowers whichever scene is active.

The engraving is decided during design, so the words on the wall match the way the household describes its day. The keypad pictured, from the practice's own Instagram, carries six engraved buttons and a rocker where a row of switches would otherwise sit. A guest should be able to run the room without a briefing, which is the test every keypad layout is designed to. Fewer buttons, named plainly, are the aim.

From bright and productive to warm and inviting.

Watt Integration, on Instagram

How does Watt Integration set up lighting scenes for a home in Scottsdale?

The project begins with an evening walkthrough of how each room is used after dark, followed by a scene list, keypad layouts and engraving proofs with a fixed proposal. After installation the team returns at night and adjusts every scene under real conditions, and the schedules are keyed to sunrise and sunset so exterior and pathway lighting follows the Arizona year.

Every lighting project includes scene design room by room, engraved keypads and dimmers, sun-tracking schedules, shade and audio integration, and a tuning night after dark. Because this is Arizona, the schedules follow the sun rather than the clock, adjusting through the year as sunset moves. A home with an existing Watt system can be extended to additional rooms without replacing what is already installed, and the work suits new builds, remodels and long-finished homes alike.

Scenes that reach past the lights

A scene is not limited to fixtures. In a whole-home system the same button can lower the motorized shades, set the music in the room or dim a home cinema, so one press prepares the room rather than one layer of it. A scene named Movie dims the room and drops the shades; a scene named Away turns the lighting down and closes the home for the day. Installed systems are looked after through WattAssure, which covers software and firmware updates in three tiers, Basic, Enhanced and Premium.

Where Watt Integration works

Watt Integration is a residential technology engineering and integration firm, founded in Scottsdale in 2004, serving Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills, Rio Verde and Phoenix. Keypad finishes, engraving samples and running scenes can be seen in the Scottsdale showroom, open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and on Saturday by appointment. If a keypad by your own front door is the conversation you want to have, it starts below.