That looks good I may have to go that route. I have some hue here I only had huge issues getting there base station to work with HomeKit (in fact it never would work)
We have a wifi extender but the hub needs to be connected too so I guess it’s a trial and error with your phone to see how far your phone can reach wifi?
What do you mean by discoloured? Do you mean the external casing? If so no I haven’t. It could be to do with the amount of sunlight hitting them depending where you are?