I spent an entire day looking for four-button remotes.
The Portland loft was turning into Loft 2.0 while I was in Indiana. The tenant had connected the lights to Wink, which meant individual bulbs could be dimmed, grouped by room, and scheduled from a phone. I used Lutron for nearly everything in New York and had been thinking about bringing the same system, including the shades, to Portland.
First, I needed to understand what was already working.
I sent a Sonos Playbar for the loft. It arrived before New Year's Eve, and the television and desk were installed around the same time. The next questions were how to mount the speaker cleanly, hide the cords, and balance the very loud subwoofer.
Then I went looking for the remotes.
I wanted one control for a light and a shade, another for two sets of lights, and a couple more for programmed scenes. The button labels needed to match the actual room. The exact parts were apparently impossible to buy online.
I asked a home-automation contact for help. His team explained that the remotes were not one universal model that could become anything. The two-group and scene versions were different products, and the engraving depended on what each one controlled.
That was useful. I wrote out every button: light on, light off, shade open, shade closed, and a few scenes for different times of day. They came back with a configuration that looked right, and I agreed to review it.
The loft had started the month as a furnished rental managed with a smart key. It ended the year with smart bulbs, new audio, a mounted television, and a strangely difficult search for four buttons.