Beautifully sleek with contemporary design features, roller shades have established themselves as one of the most popular window coverings. They fit easily, offer simple operation, and roll up and out of the way. What’s better than that? How about the innovation of motorized roller shades? Within the Hunter Douglas collection, there are 7 types of roller shades to choose from. It’s time to discover the life-changing magic of automation.
Choosing Motorized Roller Shades
When it comes to controlling motorized roller shades, you choose an operation a way that suits you. This information could help you determine your favorite features when it comes to motorized blinds vs smart shades.
One Tap Convenience: You’ve got options with a beautiful hand-held remote or a surface-mount remote that attaches to the wall. You can instantly adjust multiple shades or put them into your favorite setting with one tap.
Smart Home Compatibility: Use your device or smartphone to adjust the motorized roller shades in an instant, with your saved favorites, or with a “scene” that you’ve created. This allows individual windows to adjust for an ideal atmosphere, depending on the circumstance or time of day. Set up schedules so your automatic shades adjust around you.
Smart Home Integration: Hunter Douglas PowerView® automation can work within the smart home system you already use. Set schedules, use voice command adjustments, or allow triggered opening and closing based on other smart devices.
Ideal for Hard-to-Reach Windows: motorized roller shades are great for high-up windows, ones that are out of the way, and those that are more difficult to access. Choose how they open and close on a schedule that is effortless to manage.
See Automatic Shades Move
Once you see what’s possible, you’ll start to visualize what’s possible in your own home. Close one set of windows as the sun rises, while others remain open. Allow motorized roller shades to respond to the changing light over the course of the day, always delivering exactly what you need.
The Benefits of Motorized Roller Shades
It’s easy to see that light control and privacy are effortless with motorized roller shades. But, what do the benefits *really* look like?
Energy Efficiency
This is a big deal here in Florida. The sunshine we see so much of the year is intense. If you’ve heard about the insulating power of cellular shades, but love the idea of motorized roller shades, it’s time to check out the Sonnette collection. These cellular roller shades create a barrier of protection to help maintain interior temperatures.
Home Safety
We are sure you’re aware of the dangers of blind cords. They tangle and pose a risk of injury to children and pets–so much so that Hunter Douglas offers child-safe solutions to prevent accidents. Motorized roller shades are cordless. But, that’s not all. The options they offer also improve the privacy of your home, which effects the feeling of security. Even when you’re away from home, the shades will still adjust. Continual movement of your window shades over the course of the day provides the appearance that someone is home.
Light Control
While it’s true that roller shades are a simple, effective way to add light control to your home, you have to see some of the options! You can enjoy blackout roller shades, or light filtering roller shades–and it all depends on which direction your windows face, whether you need to block direct light or just reduce the glare. But what about both? Dual roller shades are an amazing upgrade that gives you an incredibly wide range of control. Two shades operate independently so you can create the ideal environment at any time of day.
Powering Your Shades
If you find yourself wondering about the operating system behind motorized roller shades, we’ll just say that knowledge is “power.” (See what we did there???) What are some top questions? Let’s discover more about powering these shades.
AA Battery Power
Powering automated shades is a common question–homeowners are interested in what’s available. For many years, the most popular option has been AA batteries. The pros of this? AA batteries are easy to acquire, and they last 1-2 years depending on daily use. The hesitation with this is the waste and cost of disposable batteries. And of course, the ability to change the batteries. Not such a big deal for a standard window, but when you have floor to ceiling windows, or a house full of motorized blinds, the cost and time commitment, plus the use of a ladder to reach the headrail, can be a cause for concern.
Rechargeable Battery Wand
Let’s look at a new favorite. We call it a wand–because it looks like one. And, when you find out more about it, you might call it a “magic” wand! But, you won’t be waving it around. It doesn’t control the shades. It simply powers the shades. This rechargeable battery solution for smart shades was created to reduce the maintenance costs of replacing batteries. It’s also a great option for sustainability. Another great move by Hunter Douglas–these wands can be retrofit to previously purchased motorized shades with PowerView or SoftTouch Wand Motorization. That means, even if you originally chose AA battery power, you can replace that with this new battery pack. This one time purchase can save you money in the long run and reduce waste.
Solar Powered Shades
Another option that is new to the market is solar-powered shades. This incredible feature is a great way to power your smart blinds while reducing waste. This slim charger works in new motorized shades, or in most previously purchased shades. The charger is capable of being placed in low-light windows, or north-facing windows that don’t receive as much sunlight. Plugging into the shade, it can either be adhered to the glass of the window in the least obvious spot, or it can be attached to the jamb of the window. This is offered in black or white color-ways.
Hard-wired Shades
The final way to power remote control blinds is with hard-wiring. This is often done when building a new home or renovating, due to the low-voltage wiring that needs to be in place. We can send a Hunter Douglas PowerView® automation expert out to your home or the job site to meet with you. You can invite your electrician or general contractor to meet with us to talk through the project. If you already have wiring in place, we can take a look and let you know if anything needs to be adjusted.
Installing Motorized Shades
When homeowners think about the installation of window shades, there are a number of things to keep in mind. To begin with, if you’re considering a “do it yourself” approach, we want you to prioritize safety. Our window treatments are installed by professionally trained window treatment installers–for good reason. Safety measures are in place, they are certified to do the job properly, and the window covering products are installed correctly. Imagine putting yourself at risk, damaging your investment, and then having to replace them because they aren’t working the right way.
Oftentimes, when clients want motorized roller shades, they’re having them placed on windows that are well out-of-reach, maybe even at the top of a second-story wall of windows. It’s just not a risk that we would advise. Then, if you are successful, who sets everything up for you, or helps you troubleshoot issues that might arise with technology? Our team is there for you–setting you up from the day of installation, ensuring that you understand how everything works, and troubleshooting issues that might arise down the road.
Motorization for Every Room!
Curious about which rooms benefit the most from motorized shades? We say–ALL of them! But, if you’d like to choose the right window shade automation solutions for your home’s various spaces, we’ll guide you through atmosphere, convenience, control and safety.
The Entryway
Homeowners love feeling like they can instantly control the privacy at the front of the home, when they are there, but even more so–when they aren’t. Set a schedule that matches your work day. Or, keep the shades moving consistently when you’re on vacation with scheduling, and you’ll feel better about the security of the house while you’re away.
The Kitchen
Everyone has their own preferences for what they’d like in their kitchen, so this one can really depend on the placement of the windows, and what time of day the shades need to be open or closed. We’ll take a guess that it’s nice to see out the kitchen windows when you have the chance. It creates a refreshing vibe that is welcome in this space. But, if there are times of day when you’re meal prepping–maybe at dinner time–and the setting sun is blasting through the windows, you’re going to need a smart solution. Voice controlled shades allow you to keep on cooking, (no hand-washing break needed!), watch as the shades adjust, and then enjoy comfort as you finish up the meal.
The Living Room
We’ve written about creating the ideal living room atmosphere before. It’s an important room for relaxation, conversation, board games or family movie night. Each of those activities can happen at different points throughout the day–and night. They also require different levels of privacy, lighting, temperature regulation…you know–the perfect atmosphere. Hunter Douglas PowerView is a great way to instantly create “scenes” that your family can set and enjoy. These saved favorites can set each individual window shade in a designated position for what is needed.
The Bedroom
This one is a given. You want to sleep in? With one tap or voice command you can close the shades on a Saturday morning. Better yet, schedule them to stay closed on the weekends, and you won’t have to lift an eyelid.
The Kids’ Rooms
Room darkening window treatments can have a dramatic effect on your children’s sleep. They go to sleep easier, achieve more consistent sleep–and possibly even sleep in longer in the morning. But, when kids play in their rooms, chances are they want the natural light entering, with views of the neighborhood and sky. If the shades are on a schedule, they close at bedtime, so as you’re settling in at night, the environment is prepped for sleep. Motorized shades are also cordless, which a huge safety benefit for kid’s rooms. As for teens, if you want them out of bed, opening their shades from a different spot in your home is great way to wake them up without having to say anything at all. (No guarantees!)
The Cost of Motorized Window Treatments
Probably the most asked question of all time, clients want to know the cost of motorized roller shades, and for good reason! Window treatments are an investment–with the innovations of today, it costs more to produce high-quality, beautiful, and safe window treatments than ever before. But they also increase the value of your home, especially with a top brand like Hunter Douglas. Adding motorization to blinds, shades, shutters, or drapes will cost more than traditional operation. However, you’d be surprised how affordable smart home technology has become now that it’s part of our everyday lives. It’s just another feature that can be added or removed from the quote you receive. Why not ask?
Ready to Try Motorized Roller Shades?
We’d love to chat with you about creating the right environment throughout your home over the course of the day. With motorized roller shades, it’s effortless–and very satisfying! Get in touch with our Fort Myers area team for your free in-home design consult.
