Motorized shades—aka smart shades, automated shades, or motorized blinds—help you get the ultimate in convenience, comfort, security, and wellness.
As a Florida homeowner, you want to live in the most comfortable, secure, and entertaining environment possible. Smart home amenities, from a high-performance media room to practical lighting control to music in every room of the home, are on the rise in homes across the area—including Tampa, Tampa Bay, Clearwater, Clearwater Beach, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Beach, and beyond.
However, there is no feature that provides as much convenience, privacy, comfort, and safety every day, all day, as motorized indoor shading. In fact, indoor automated shades are one of the most requested smart home features by Florida-area interior designers, architects, and homeowners alike.
To properly implement smart motorized shades in every room of the home, you need a professional home technology integrator who knows how to properly specify, install, program, and tie them all together in one cohesive interface for easy control. When there’s an interior designer on the project, it also helps to have an integrator who knows how to work with designers to select the right fabrics. As a Home Technology Association (HTA) Certified integrator at the Luxury Level, as well as an HTA Design Partner, we are adept at collaboration with both designers and homeowners to create the best possible outcome.
Below are ways motorized shading can make any home better, plus a few tips on how to get started and available options, adapted from an article by the Home Technology Association, the home technology industry’s unbiased, third-party certification program.
1) Convenience – The number-one advantage of smart motorized shades over non-smart window coverings is convenience. You can raise and lower all the shades in your home at once. You can group shades by room. Integral Home Technology can even program them so that they automatically raise or lower to predetermined levels throughout the day without you having to lift a finger. You can even set your motorized shades to various scenes that work in conjunction with other smart home features like climate and lighting. For example, you might have a “Work” mode that allows some natural light in during the day. At night, the shades can lower and the lights can go up naturally to transition you into “Relax” mode.
2) Privacy – Perhaps the most obvious benefit of motorized shades is privacy. They do what every window treatment does: shield your home from the outside world. Only with smart shades, you get the additional benefits of technology. It’s the ultimate marriage of privacy and convenience.
3) Security – Security might not be the first thing you think about when you are considering smart window treatments. Because they can be programmed and automated, however, motorized shades can go up and down during various times of the day. If you are on vacation, this could help your home look occupied, especially in combination with smart lighting control.
4) Child Safety – Motorized shades are operated via touch panel, mobile device, or remote, so they are completely cordless and child-safe.
5) Protection – Harsh Florida sunlight can destroy art and furniture, causing colors to fade with prolonged exposure. Motorized shades can protect your art, furnishings, and even your walls from fade or deterioration over time by automatically lowering during the most sun-intensive times of the day and year.
6) Preserve the View – Motorized shades come in various levels of transparency. Have a view of the bay or the skyline? You might opt for a more transparent shade material to preserve that view while also tamping down harsh sunlight and glare.
7) Wellness – Likewise, a dark room is a godsend for the light sleeper. Darkened rooms also have health benefits, as light can interrupt sleep patterns. At Integral Home Technology, we can install more than one set of shades per window, such as blackout shades for the night and sheer shades for the day. We can also program the different sets of shades to raise or lower depending on the time of day. If it’s bedtime, the blackout shades descend to provide a comfortable sleeping environment.
8) Natural Lighting Control – Dark rooms are great for sleeping, but not so much during the waking hours. There is a huge movement in home design toward wellness. Motorized and automated window shades and coverings allow you to control the amount of sunlight in your home for a more natural lighting design that allows you to be in touch with the cycles of the sun and your body’s natural rhythms.
Light not only changes the look of the space but also affects the way you feel. Wouldn’t it be nice to adjust the amount of daylight in your home to complement your mood and even transform it? Motorized shades can do that.
Wouldn’t it be nice to adjust the amount of daylight in your home to complement your mood and even transform it? Motorized shades can do that.
9) Energy Efficiency & Comfort – There’s no question that the Florida sun can be brutally hot. By controlling the amount of sunlight you allow into your home, you can also keep your home’s temperature more consistent, which will also have a positive effect on your energy bill.
10) Design – Window treatments are not only functional but can be beautiful. Most automated shade manufacturers provide options in a variety of fabrics that complement the design of your room. Many also provide motorized tracks for window treatments, allowing complete flexibility when it comes to a room’s design–whether you want thick velvet drapes, roman shades, woven woods, honeycomb shades, horizontal sheer blinds or blackout material.
Motorized Shade Tips
Battery Operated or Wired?
Battery-powered shades are cost-effective, easy to maintain, and ideal for areas that require a wire-free solution, such as a retrofit application or windows located on surfaces where wires can’t be pulled. Most top automated shade manufacturers offer both. While battery-powered solutions provide a similar aesthetic, wired solutions will provide enhanced functionality and remove the need for battery charging or replacement.
Mix and Match
Most automated shade manufacturers allow you to mix and match motorized and non-motorized shade options, which is great for those on a budget who can’t afford automation on every window. This lets you enjoy the same aesthetic across both motorized and manual shades, with matching fabrics and hardware finishes to ensure every space is perfect.
Go Big at Home
How big can motorized shades go, you ask? It varies by manufacturer. For many Integral Home Technology projects, we use Lutron. Lutron shades can comfortably cover 12 feet x 12 feet windows with either wired or battery roller solutions. However, they often go bigger – depending on the fabric selected, the pocket size available, and the ability to provide wired power.
Consider Shades Early in Your Home Design Process
As with all technology for the home, shading should be discussed early in the design process to ensure the best end result. “Connecting with your integrator early in the project timeline makes it possible for you to satisfy your…technology needs while still guaranteeing that you achieve your aesthetic vision,” says Kathryn Chiarelli, Residential Shades Sales Leader at Lutron. “There are many options available today that can accentuate your designs – the key is prioritizing thinking about technology early when you have the most flexibility. When walls are open, it’s simpler to coordinate getting wires to the windows. When you are still planning your window details, you have the opportunity to incorporate pockets of the appropriate size for the window treatments you want. Integrators today are sophisticated and design-savvy and can tie different technologies together to give your clients a seamless experience.”
Contact Us to Get Started with Shades
Are you excited by the idea of installing elegant, efficient, convenient motorized shades and window treatments in your home? Integral Home Technology is your local technology partner, and we are experts in this category. Please reach out to us for a no-pressure chat on what your needs are and how we can help.
