[seanwitte]

You could also use X-10. There are lamp and appliance modules that each have switches to assign a unique House and Item number. You just plug it into a wall outlet and then plug the lamp into it. They have various RF remotes that you can program to actuate the different modules. It requires no wiring at all, but houses on the same transformer will share signals.

The remotes work with a receiver that plugs into a wall outlet to send the X-10 commands to the units over the home wiring. There is also a computer module so you can send X-10 commands from a PC. The basic stamp also has X-10 capability built in. They also have some nifty motion sensors so you could turn the lights on when you start walking down the stairs.