The very last circuit (Varying brightness AC lamp) on the page at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Bill_Bowden/page4.htm looks to be
straightforward and easy to build.  No expensive or exotic parts; give it a
look.

If you'd rather have a kit, look at the slow dimmer kit at
http://youdoitelectronics.com/Kits/id1226.htm, kit #K8029 (SLOW ON-OFF DIMMER).
Oopsss..  that one will only handle 200 watts.  You could probably replace the
triac in the kit with a higher current type... and you might have to put it on a
heatsink for the higher power loads.  You can probably find that kit at a number
of other web vendors..  just Google for Velleman K8029.  Looks like the PC board
might fit inside a box... but you need to measure to be sure.

The dimmers above are the slow dimmer portion only, they will not control the
times your lights turn & off.  For that, I recommend that you look at an
appliance timer from your local home improvement or tool center.  Something like
the timer at
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95205.
That should get you going in short order.

--
Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net  (Just substitute the appropriate characters in the
address)

Experience: What you get when you don't get what you want