Crestron Lighting Controls & Window Coverings for Luxury Homes

Scene-Based Lighting and Motorised Shading, Natively Crestron

Crestron’s approach to lighting and shading control is the same as its approach to every other system in the home: everything managed from one interface, responding to one programme, with no separate apps or controllers to coordinate. Every dimmer, every switch and every motorised blind is written into the same Crestron scenes as the audio, video, climate and security running through the rest of the property — recalled from a keypad, a touchpanel or the Crestron app, with every light and every blind responding simultaneously. Custom Controls have been designing and installing Crestron lighting and shading systems since 1998 and are five-time Crestron Integration Award winners, including an award specifically for lighting control and design.

Crestron Native Lighting

Crestron’s own DIN-rail dimmer modules handle all lighting circuits with precision and flexibility, supporting dimming and switching of virtually any lamp type — LED, halogen, incandescent, fluorescent, colour-changing and DMX — with scene programming through the same Crestron software as every other element of the system. Since Crestron Home OS 4.6, DALI-based lighting circuits are configured directly through the platform via the new DIN-DLI hardware, bringing commercial-grade DALI precision into a residential Crestron system without a separate lighting controller or a separate app. Every rack is pre-built and pre-programmed at our workshop before arriving on site, so a Crestron lighting installation requires no additional configuration by a separate specialist once it’s fitted.

For retrofit projects where new wiring is impractical, Crestron’s wireless lighting modules replace conventional light switches with wireless-enabled dimmers that communicate with the Crestron processor. The functionality is identical to the wired DIN-rail system — scenes, schedules, occupancy response, geofencing — without requiring any new cable runs. This was the exact approach behind the first whole-home Crestron LED lighting installation we completed in the UK, an award-winning project using over 350 dimmable Crestron LED fittings across 200-plus channels.

Native Crestron lighting suits projects that benefit from a single platform running everything. For the most demanding schemes we pair Crestron with Lutron HomeWorks QSX, with Lutron managing every circuit and blind and Crestron providing the unified interface across the rest of the property. We specify whichever suits the brief and say plainly where the difference matters.

Crestron Motorised Shading

Crestron’s own shading range covers roller shades, Roman shades, skylight shades and drapery track systems, built around Crestron’s low-voltage Quiet Motor Technology (QMT) — genuinely quiet operation that doesn’t announce itself every time a blind moves. Wired shades suit a new build or full renovation where cabling can be planned in from the start; battery-powered wireless shades, using the same Digital QMT motors, are the answer for a retrofit, a hard-to-reach window, or anywhere running a new low-voltage cable simply isn’t practical. Both integrate natively with the same Crestron processor running the rest of the property, with a wide range of fabrics, colours and fascia finishes to match the interior design rather than compromise it. We also integrate third-party shading manufacturers including Somfy and Silent Gliss where a project’s specification calls for it.

Window coverings are programmed into every scene alongside the lighting circuits. A cinema scene dims every light and closes every blind simultaneously. A morning scene opens every blind in sequence across the property. The shading system does not operate independently — it is part of the home.

Keypads and Interfaces

Lighting scenes are recalled from wherever the client is — wall-mounted keypads at every entrance and exit point, bedside keypads for bedroom and ensuite control, Crestron touchpanels for more complex room management, and the Crestron app for whole-house oversight and remote access. Keypads are engraved with scene names, ensuring the system is intuitive for guests and non-native English speakers without any instruction. Battery-powered Crestron keypads cover rooms where new wiring is impractical — the same scene functionality, no installation disruption.

Keypad finishes, button layouts and engraving are agreed with the client and interior designer before ordering, so every control point suits the room it sits in. After handover, engraving and scenes can be updated as the household’s routines change.

For cinema rooms and media spaces, Crestron HR remotes handle source selection alongside lighting scene control — a single remote managing the projector, the processor, the lighting and the blinds from the comfort of the primary viewing seat.

Designing the Scenes

Good lighting control starts with a clear plan of how each room is used through the day. We agree the scenes room by room with the client, and the interior designer where there is one, before programming begins: a bright working scene and a softer evening scene in the kitchen, a dinner scene in the dining room, a night path from bedroom to bathroom. Shading is part of the same plan, with blinds that close automatically for privacy at dusk or to limit solar gain on the most exposed glazing. Scenes are then refined after the family has lived with them, so the system settles into how the house is actually used.

Planning at First Fix

Lighting control and motorised shading have to be planned into the build. Circuit schedules, dimming types, keypad positions and the power and control cabling for every blind and curtain are agreed with the electrical contractor at first fix, along with the pockets, pelmets and recesses that let shading disappear into the architecture. Getting those details right early is what makes the finished rooms look effortless.

The same applies to the control equipment. Rack positions, the number and type of dimmer modules and the route of every cable are fixed on the drawings before walls close, and the pre-built rack arrives on site ready to connect. Where first fix has already passed, wireless dimmers and battery-powered shades fill the gap, which is why the platform offers both approaches.

Five-Time Crestron Integration Award Winners — Unique in EMEA

Five Crestron Integration Awards, won in five consecutive years. No other installer in EMEA has done it. The awards are judged by Crestron itself against entries from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Our award-winning entries were a Dubai estate with eight processors and 72 audio zones, a whole-home Derby lighting scheme built entirely on Crestron’s own fittings, two wins for Best High Rise in Europe at Claridge’s and the Beetham Tower, and the first Crestron Digital Media installation in the UK, on Baker Street. Open any award below to see the project behind it.

Best International Project — A Whole-Estate Crestron Installation, Dubai

Our most celebrated Crestron case study — and the project that won us the Crestron Integration Award for Best International Project — is a complete Crestron system spanning two large villas, extensive gardens, a swimming pool, a basketball court, a lake and a stream on a private estate in Dubai. Eight Crestron processors provide integrated control throughout, distributing audio to 72 zones, video to 32 zones and managing well over 400 lighting channels across both villas and the grounds. Five surround sound zones, five Kaleidescape movie servers, four Apple TVs, 24 audio sources and a full Crestron Sonnex audio distribution system serve the family villa, the guest villa, staff areas, offices and classrooms simultaneously.

The scope is perhaps best illustrated by its details: the basketball court has four cabinet speakers mounted on the floodlights with two sunken subwoofers; the garden fire pits are Crestron-controlled; the gym features Artcoustic speakers enhanced by subwoofers; and the master bedroom suite houses a bespoke Stax headphone system with a valve amplifier and DaVinci DAC for private listening. The dedicated home cinema room in the family villa seats eight in Cineak chairs with backlit Onyx tables, with a 3.5m screen and 17 channels of surround sound — one of the most comprehensive Crestron installations ever delivered in the residential market. Read the full case study →

Best Lighting Control & Design — A Whole-Home Lighting Installation, Derby

Where the Dubai estate shows what Crestron can do at maximum scale, this new-build home in the Derby countryside shows what it can do with lighting alone, done properly — the project that won us the Crestron Integration Award for Best Lighting Control & Design, and the first installation in the UK to use Crestron’s own dimmable LED fittings end-to-end, with nothing else involved in the lighting. Over 350 fittings across 200+ channels — each drawing roughly 18 watts while matching the output of a 50-watt halogen downlight — are managed through six distributed lighting racks for clean cabling and full redundancy. The client calculated that the entire house now uses the same lighting energy previously used by just the kitchen and dining room alone. Scenes, scheduling and remote access are available from the wall touchpanels, more than 50 keypads or an iPad, and every keypad is custom-engraved so each button says what it does.

Lighting sits alongside 24 audio zones and 16 video zones over Crestron Digital Media, full heating and air conditioning control, gate intercom distributed via touchpanels throughout the property, and a complete monitored security and CCTV system with automatic camera-follow logic — every part of it native Crestron, controlled from the same wall touchpanels and iPad interfaces used for everything else in the home. Read the full case study →

Best High Rise in Europe — Claridge’s Hotel Penthouses, Mayfair

Working inside the listed Claridge’s Hotel, we installed Crestron-controlled Loewe multimedia systems in two penthouse apartments of three rooms each — the project that won the Crestron Integration Award for Best High Rise in Europe. The interiors are listed, so no new cable routes could be created and nothing could be chased, drilled or rewired. Every decision about equipment and control started with the building rather than the product catalogue.

Every room has a Loewe LED TV and Blu-ray player. In the living rooms, 46-inch Loewe TVs are paired with upgraded audio: the Individual Sound Projector in one apartment and stand-mounted stereo speakers in the other, both supported by subwoofers. Wireless control removed the need for wall-mounted keypads or new wiring to each control position, which is what made a full Crestron system possible in rooms that could not be physically altered.

The design centred on the Crestron TPS-6X wireless touchpanel, which uses RF rather than WiFi for instant response and freedom from interference by neighbouring wireless networks. Each panel carries the Claridge’s crest in a bespoke finish, and guests reach the Loewe LED TVs, Blu-ray, Sky HD and hotel TV from one interface that had to be intuitive for guests of any nationality with no instruction. Read the full case study →

Most Innovative Control — The First Crestron Digital Media Installation in the UK, Baker Street

This modern townhouse near Regent’s Park was the first Crestron Digital Media installation in the UK, and won the pan-European 2010 Crestron Integration Award for Most Innovative Control Solution. It also became an official Crestron case study. HD audio and video from Sky HD, ArabSat, Apple TV and a Kaleidescape server reach eight TVs over Cat5e cable, with an audio matrix feeding ceiling speakers in each room, including DAB radio.

Centralising the sources means one Sky HD, ArabSat, Apple TV and Kaleidescape installation serves the whole house rather than a box beside every television. The Kaleidescape server holds the client’s film collection for instant access in any room, and the CCTV cameras appear as just another source on any screen. The interface was programmed from scratch around the property and the people living in it, with weather feeds and local times for each of the client’s international home locations embedded on the touchpanel home page.

Lighting, heating, Hitachi air conditioning and an Axis IP CCTV system run from the same Crestron interface, on a mix of wired TPS-6L and wireless TPS-6X touchpanels, with iPhone control from anywhere in the world, including switching on the underfloor heating during the transfer from the airport. The Axis cameras are viewable from the client’s laptop or full-screen on a touchpanel at home, with a large storage server keeping all footage available for analysis. The interface is so intuitive that the client turned down training, and it is used regularly by non-English-speaking staff. Read the full case study →

Best High Rise in Europe — Beetham Tower Penthouse, Manchester

The top two floors of the 168.87m Beetham Tower, the highest residential living space in Europe at the time of installation, won us the 2009 Crestron Integration Award for Best High Rise in Europe and became an official Crestron Digital Media case study. The biggest challenge was not distributing audio and video but controlling the building management systems: underfloor heating, ventilation, swimming pool temperature and the irrigation for a 4,000 square foot rooftop olive grove, all from Crestron 6-inch touchpanels.

Bringing these systems under one controller means the client never deals with a separate thermostat, pool controller or irrigation timer. Temperature setpoints are adjusted room by room with a simple scroll and tap on the touchpanels, and the heating, ventilation, pool and garden sit in the same interface as the audio, video, lighting and security, so the whole penthouse is run the same way.

Alongside the environment sit eight audio zones and four video zones with a Kaleidescape server that stores the client’s DVD and CD collection so several different films or albums can play at once in different zones, and an FM tuner that is particularly popular in the his-and-hers bathrooms. More than 60 lighting channels and 25 keypads give direct scene recall around the apartment, and CCTV, including the private lift lobby, records on a rolling basis alongside a monitored alarm that notifies the concierge and the client, all in one interface. Read the full case study →

Alongside the awards, we are a Crestron Dealer of Distinction, Crestron’s higher dealer level, and we have been certified Crestron dealers since 1998, the year Crestron was establishing itself as the dominant residential automation platform in the UK. For over two decades we have remained continuously active in the Crestron ecosystem, installing hundreds of systems across every generation of Crestron hardware and software.

Crestron Lighting FAQs

• What is Crestron lighting control?
  Crestron lighting control manages every dimmer, switch and motorised blind from one interface, responding to one programme. Lighting and shading are written into the same scenes as audio, video, climate and security, and recalled from a keypad, a touchpanel or the Crestron app.
• Can Crestron control blinds and curtains?
  Yes. Crestron’s own range covers roller shades, Roman shades, skylight shades and drapery track, built around its low-voltage Quiet Motor Technology. Wired shades suit new builds and renovations, battery-powered wireless shades suit retrofits, and we also integrate Somfy and Silent Gliss where a project calls for it.
• Can Crestron lighting be installed without rewiring?
  Yes. Crestron’s wireless lighting modules replace conventional light switches with wireless-enabled dimmers that communicate with the Crestron processor, with the same scenes, schedules, occupancy response and geofencing as the wired DIN-rail system and no new cable runs.
• Does Crestron support DALI lighting?
  Yes. Since Crestron Home OS 4.6, DALI-based lighting circuits are configured directly through the platform using the DIN-DLI hardware, without a separate lighting controller or app.
• Should I use Crestron or Lutron for lighting?
  Native Crestron lighting suits projects that benefit from a single platform. For the most demanding schemes we pair Crestron with Lutron HomeWorks QSX, with Lutron managing every circuit and blind and Crestron providing the unified interface. We specify whichever suits the brief.
• How are lighting scenes designed and changed?
  We agree scenes room by room with the client, and the interior designer where there is one, before programming begins. Scenes are refined after the family has lived with them, and keypad engraving and scenes can be updated as routines change.

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