Window shade automation is changing the lives of homeowners, from atmosphere and lighting, to privacy and energy efficiency. We know there are many options out there, and that’s why we’ve put together a guide to help you decide. Let’s explore features and benefits, control options and specific products–all focused on how motorized blinds can improve your daily life.
What Are Motorized & Smart Window Treatments?
It’s important to start with an understanding of what is available to you, so you can make the choice that best fits your lifestyle.
Defining Motorized, Remote & Smart
Motorized Window Treatments: Any window covering that operates with a motor. This includes Hunter Douglas PowerView and an individual motorization option, the SoftTouch wand motorization system, where the side wand cord is nudged up and down to activate the shade.
Remote Control Shades: This is one level of the the Hunter Douglas PowerView system, where window coverings are activated by a remote, either hand-held or wall mounted. Today, you can also use an app on your phone or tablet to control the opening, closing and adjusting of your remote control window coverings.
Smart Blinds: Smart window treatments are opened, closed and adjusted with remote, app or voice control. Schedules are created, scenes and saved favorites allow you to craft the ideal atmosphere in an instant. Smart features integrate with other systems for optimal performance. The Hunter Douglas PowerView automation system has been designed for compatibility with most other smart home systems and devices for simple integration.
Product Offerings
Almost every Hunter Douglas product is available with some level of motorization. Each category features its own product specifics. Take a look at the highlights:
Motorized Blinds: Typical blinds are available for remote control and smart operating systems, with slats tilting when motorization is activated. Our newest product, Aria fabric blinds, can also open and close fully with motorization.
Motorized Shades: Almost every window shade we provide is available with PowerView automation. Certain collections can be customized with the SoftTouch individual shade system.
Motorized Shutters: Yes, shutters can be controlled with motorization. This provides tilt control of slats, increasing energy efficiency, light control and privacy.
Motorized Drapery: Open, close and adjust your motorized and smart drapes with the PowerView system.
Benefits of Motorized Shades
Convenience and Comfort
Motorized window treatments offer one tap control to create scenes in your home in an instant, or sit back and relax as they adjust on a schedule.
Light Control and Glare Reduction
The ability to instantly adjust smart shades is a great way to control the light and reduce glare throughout the rooms of your home, including the living room, home office and open-concept spaces.
Privacy and Security
Motorized window treatments deliver privacy for street-facing areas of the home, the entryway and bedrooms. They increase feelings of security, knowing your automated shades continue to adjust, even when you’re away.
Safety Features
With any level of window shade automation, there are no cords. This removes any possible dangers for children and pets.
Energy Efficiency
Close the shades instantly to block heat gain, whether with blackout shades or cellular shades for insulation. Schedule your automated shades to close regularly to keep afternoon sun out.
Hard-to-Reach Windows
Adding remote control shades to your largest windows, skylights and second story windows is vital to being able to enjoy the light and views, while also creating the right control in your home.
See which styles work best in your home with a free design consultation.
How Smart Shades Work
Power Options
Deciding on a power source for your motorized window treatments is a big decision. We can chat about your home to help you decide which option will work best for you and your family.
Hard-Wiring: We often recommend hard-wiring for homes that are being built or renovated, since running the low-voltage electrical is a minor addition to walls that are already unfinished and offering ease of access. This option keeps you from thinking about the power source in the future.
AA Battery Operated: This is the most popular option, due to the ease of use and accessibility of batteries. AA batteries will power motorized shades 1-2 years (depending on daily use).
Rechargeable Battery Wand: This is not a magic wand, just the name of a specialized battery that Hunter Douglas created to work in new and existing motorized shades. Yes, the rechargeable battery wand can be retro-fit to most previously purchased PowerView shades.
Solar Powered: A newer option on the market, this power supply sits inside the window–on the glass or the frame–providing power to the shades.
Controls
Individual Motorization: A new option in motorized shades has become popular. The SoftTouch wand offers motorization right at the window, with a gentle nudge up or down for adjustment. This is ideal for when you need simple, convenient control at only certain spots in your home, usually 1-3 windows.
Remote/App Motorization: The next level of control comes with the Hunter Douglas PowerView system and offers adjustment of more shades, but a simple tap on the remote or in the app is all you’ll need. There are options for saved favorites, scheduling and scene setting with this level of motorization. The convenience of this control means you can adjust multiple windows with the touch of a button, or choose select shades to adjust.
Automation: Taking control to the next level, PowerView automation integrates with your smart home system. Schedule adjustments based on times of day or temperature, even season of the year. Create scenes and adjust favorites by room or individual window. Check in with your smart shades when you’re not at home, using the app to experience two-way communication. Voice commands allow you to use your smart devices to make adjustments.
Sound Levels
There have been amazing advancements in window shade automation over the last couple of decades, and the noise level of the moving shades has been one element to see innovation. Having all of the benefits of motorized shades can be wonderful, but if they’re noisy every time they move, it kind of ruins the experience for you. Many companies will boast of “whisper quiet” operation, but don’t let that description be the deciding factor. This is one of the reasons our clients appreciate stopping by a showroom. Not only can you play with the adjustments and the operating features, but you can experience firsthand exactly how the motor sounds. It won’t affect just you–the sound will have an influence on everyone in the family, including your furry companions. You don’t want them running for cover each time the window shades adjust.
How Much Do Motorized Shades Cost?
This is a frequent question–as it should be. And, it should be. While we would love to give a standard price for motorized shades, each project is customized, based on a number of factors.
- Motorization system chosen (individual window control, remote, smart home)
- The number of window shades
- Sizes of windows
- Specific types of window coverings & fabrics
- Additional features chosen (dual shades, top down bottom up)
Room Benefits of Smart Shades
When choosing to upgrade your home to motorized window treatments, it’s smart to go room-by-room to decide which spaces you’ll benefit from the most. Let’s walk through the home to see which spaces need this control feature the most.
The Entryway: This is an area that needs privacy, security and light control. With motorized shades, those adjustments can happen in an instant, or on a schedule–and both of these features are great for the entryway windows of your home. If you have windows at the front of your home that face direct sunlight, having the option to instantly adjust the shades can play a huge part in creating a pleasant atmosphere.
See how Chicago homeowners are styling their homes with motorized shades.
The Kitchen: This is a busy room where your family spends time off and on throughout the day. Make it easy to continually adjust the shades to meet the needs of this atmosphere of ever-changing light. The kitchen is a great candidate for remote control blinds because of the hands-off approach to adjustments.
Discover how Los Angeles homeowners are using smart shades in their homes.
The Living Room: A gathering place in the home, this space is all about atmosphere. There’s no better way to create the perfect scene than with PowerView automated shades. In this space, homeowners care about reducing the glare, or blocking heat gain. They want natural light entering, but they want it controlled. And, in the evening, it’s nice to close out the world for some much-needed privacy.
Take a look at what motorized window treatments are doing in Nashville homes.
The Home Office: This space deserves the right amount of light, and it needs to have glare reduced. Using a screen to be productive is a large part of making this area a success. Being able to adjust the shades instantly is a great way to increase privacy and concentration during the day.
Find out more about which motorized blinds work best for Portland Oregon homes.
The Bedrooms: We don’t have to tell you–light control in the bedrooms of your home is of the utmost importance. Fall asleep–and stay asleep longer–with smart shades that know your schedule. Set the automations up so you can get up on time for work, but sleep in on your days off. Close the shades in the kids’ rooms so nighttime distractions don’t wake them in the middle of the night. Get the sleep you need and the privacy you deserve.
Look into how smart window treatments are changing New York City homes.
The Design Consultation
You’ll work one-on-one with a window covering specialist to determine the best window shades, fabrics and operating systems. You can visit a showroom to see everything up close, and interact with the smart shade system features. Scheduling an in-home consultation is the next step to deciding what you’d like in your home. Most Hunter Douglas products take between 4-6 weeks once the order is placed.
The Installation Process
We see installation as a key factor in how your motorized window coverings will perform. We know that professional expertise is required, due to wiring, shade calibration and location of windows. Oftentimes, homeowners choose window shade automation for hard-to-reach windows; it makes sense, but that can lead to some challenging installs.
Our team has been well-trained to meticulously install the shades with expertise. Incorrect installation can cause the edges of the fabric to rip and snag over time. We also trust our installers to guide homeowners through the process of activating the smart shades, scheduling adjustments and saving settings for the ideal scenes.
Why Choose Skyline Window Coverings?
As an authorized Hunter Douglas dealer, we know you have a wide selection of choices for window treatments. Adding motorized window treatments into your home is an investment, and it’s one where it’s important for you to trust the brand and the products. We offer local expertise in the Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland and Nashville areas, ensuring your project is a success from start to finish. Visit one of our showrooms and chat with your own personal designer that will guide you. We have professionally trained installers that will install your smart shades and teach you how to use them.
Hear it from one of our clients:
We love this review from Google, from a client that perfectly describes her experience with the team, as she went from a troublesome experience with another brand, to the Skyline difference:
Skyline to the rescue! We had been dealing with old Graber power shades that were a nightmare. They were not always responding to the remote, they would roll up crooked and eventually, we just stopped trying to use them.
Chrissy from Skyline came for an in-home consultation and took into consideration our existing paint color, our southwest exposure, and our very tall windows facing a busy intersection when making her recommendations. Her sample books were huge but she didn’t overwhelm us with choices. She showed us how the darker or lighter colors would affect the room when open and closed. Her suggestions were perfect which made it easy to feel comfortable with our final choice. She offered details on how to get the best fit in the windows by suggesting we remove a small piece of trim.
We decided on a “top-down, bottom up” shade that would help control the intense afternoon sun while also allowing us to maintain privacy by just lowering the top portion of the shade. We also opted for the full powerview system and hub so we could easily control them from our phones or ipads while in the home or even when away. We have integrated Alexa controls in our lighting, TV and now we added the new shades to our Alexa voice controls. Mike showed us how easy it was to add it to our Alexa App. We now control our shade scenes by talking to Alexa.
Mike called when he was on his way to my home. He was very professional in his installation. He took time to protect our new floors from ladders and tools and was very detailed in his approach to the install. He took his time to show me exactly how to use the app and the powerview portion of the shade, which wasn’t hard at all. I was creating new scenes myself right after he left. He used a very cool 360 degree laser light to check the level of all 6 new shades to ensure they were perfectly matched. He didn’t leave until I was totally comfortable with all the products. He even helped to integrate our older hunter Douglas shades in the guest room with the new hub.
We couldn’t be happier with Skyline or the product. They were installed just a day before the coldest weather Chicago has had since the 80’s. The insulating nature of the shades did wonders for the sub zero temps. They make a huge difference in the winter. We raised just one shade and immediately, we felt the cold air from the window. There’s a reason this company has so many perfect reviews. We couldn’t be happier.
Let’s Explore Your Options!
At Skyline Window Coverings, we work one-on-one with you to determine the best selections for your home, from styles and fabrics, to operating systems and innovative features. Making everything work together seamlessly is an important factor in bringing a brand into your home. As we mentioned, your install team will be vital in kicking off the use of your new shades, understanding how everything works together and various features and benefits that will help you use this technology to its full potential! Our designers listen to you to help understand how to best improve your life–and your home. Let’s work together to create the ideal atmosphere and look. Get in touch for your free in-home design consult.
