The only thing that's tempted me when it comes to automation is whole-house light dimming past a certain hour. But AFAIK that would require buying a whole bunch of really expensive bulbs (or, otherwise, re-wiring a bunch of stuff), so I've passed on it for now.
If you get used to candle or other low-power nighttime lighting, typical house lighting seems obnoxiously bright. I'm convinced it's a major contributor to the sleep troubles that, it seems, nearly everyone in the modern "West" has. It's way more light than you need to get around, play board games, play or listen to music, read, et c. It's like we're trying to make our houses as bright as they are in daytime, which seems like it'd have to be really bad for sleep.
I'd just put dimmer bulbs in all around and forget about automation, but I kinda do want the daytime-like brightness for at least 2-3 hours after sundown, in Winter, or the option to turn it back to full brightness if I've got people visiting and they don't like it (it's not that way so you like it, it's that way so you get sleepy when you're supposed to—but whatever)
There was a similar use case I read about here on HN that interested me: using color-changing bulbs to shift the color tone of all lights in the house from cool during the day to warm at night. But, as you mentioned, it would be pretty expensive to replace every bulb in my house, so I haven't considered it. Maybe when I start running out of spare bulbs I'll think about implementing this.
If you get used to candle or other low-power nighttime lighting, typical house lighting seems obnoxiously bright. I'm convinced it's a major contributor to the sleep troubles that, it seems, nearly everyone in the modern "West" has. It's way more light than you need to get around, play board games, play or listen to music, read, et c. It's like we're trying to make our houses as bright as they are in daytime, which seems like it'd have to be really bad for sleep.
I'd just put dimmer bulbs in all around and forget about automation, but I kinda do want the daytime-like brightness for at least 2-3 hours after sundown, in Winter, or the option to turn it back to full brightness if I've got people visiting and they don't like it (it's not that way so you like it, it's that way so you get sleepy when you're supposed to—but whatever)