The Brief
The owner had moved into a 3-bedroom Mira townhouse and wanted smart lighting throughout — but didn't want to replace any of the wall switches. The home had been finished with brushed nickel rocker switches he liked. He'd looked at smart bulb solutions and didn't want the warm-white-only restrictions or the hub-per-brand confusion.
The brief was: keep every visible switch. Make every circuit smart. Add scenes, schedules and voice control. Stay under AED 12K.
The Build
24 Shelly 1PM Mini relays behind switches
We pulled every existing wall plate, terminated the existing switch as the manual override, and tucked a Shelly 1PM Mini relay into each back box. Every circuit now gets app, voice and automation control. The wall switch still works exactly as before for guests and the kids.
6 Shelly Dimmer 2s for dimmable circuits
The living, dining and master bedroom circuits got Shelly Dimmer 2 instead of the relay, for smooth 0-100% dimming. Each one paired with the existing dimmer-style rocker, giving manual dim from the wall and granular dim from the app.
Energy monitoring on key loads
Two Shelly EMs in the main panel track total household and air-conditioning load separately. The owner watches it weekly and has spotted two appliances drawing more than they should.
Home Assistant for scenes and voice
All Shelly devices connect over local Wi-Fi to Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi. Five custom scenes — Morning, Day, Evening, Movie, Goodnight — handle every light in the house. Apple HomeKit integration for Siri voice control.
Smart AC layer
Three IR-based smart AC controllers added to the existing split units, on Aqara hardware bridged through Home Assistant. Schedules and presence-aware control round out the package.
The Outcome
- Total scope: AED 9,800 over two days of installation.
- Zero visible change. The walls look identical. Every switch in the house still works the same way.
- Full automation underneath. Five scenes, voice control, schedules and presence — all triggered without anyone needing to learn an app.
- Energy visibility. Real numbers in the dashboard helped the owner spot two failing appliances within the first month.
- Future-proof. Same Home Assistant brain handles the AC layer and is ready for whatever the owner adds next.
This project is part of our Shelly work and our approach to smart lighting in Dubai.