I love what I do and am so thankful everyday that I can bring beauty into my client's homes. This month I want to write about Motorized Blinds.
Motorized Blinds
With the advancement of technology, motorized blinds and draperies are no longer a onetime luxury for the rich but now anyone on any budget can afford this interior enhancement.
Motorized blinds, shades and draperies offer many benefits for many people. Parents with young children, the elderly and even just the average person will benefit from having motorized window coverings, which eliminate the need to fuss with wands or cords. If you suffer from mobility or dexterity issues, or are just tired of dealing with tangled cords, this investment can help your window coverings function flawlessly. Choose battery or hardwired systems for privacy and light control with just a touch of a remote button or wall switch.
Seven Benefits of Smart/Motorized Blinds ( I loved this article below and want to share) https://eponline.com/articles/2016/11/15/seven-benefits-of-smart-blinds.aspx When paired with smart lighting, smart blinds can help maximize the amount of daylight in your home to cut down on electricity usage. For example, opening the blinds can trigger smart lighting to turn off, and vice versa.
Smart, motorized shades can help control the solar gain and heat loss your home experiences naturally throughout the day simply by opening and closing at pre-programmed times. With the addition of smart home technology, the blinds can actually learn when they need to open and close based on temperature and sun light, maximizing the energy efficiency of your HVAC system. Here's a look at the benefits of smart blinds to help you decide whether they are a good fit for your home.
1. Convenience Motorized blinds can be opened and closed simply by touching a button, a remote control, or an app on a smartphone. Window coverings are a proven way to reduce solar gain and prevent heat loss, and if they are this easy to open and close, it's much more likely you'll remember to do so to benefit you and your environment. Additionally, the ability to set schedules to open and close them at specific times means you may never have to worry about them at all.
2. Energy Savings Connecting motorized blinds to a smart home hub can help minimize the amount of energy your HVAC system uses by allowing the blinds to react independently to readings from temperature and sunlight sensors also connected to the smart hub. Consequently, the blinds will actually know when to close during the hottest part of the day to reduce HVAC usage or whether to open during a sunny day in the winter to allow the sun to heat a room naturally.
3. Smart Home Integration Smart thermostats have a trove of data to use to determine whether opening or closing the smart blinds will help reduce energy use, such as what time of day it is, what the weather is like outside, and what the temperature is in the home. Using all these data points, the thermostat can sense a room is getting too hot and close the shades instead of turning on the air conditioning or do the reverse when it knows a room is cooler than it should be.
4. Smart Lighting When paired with smart lighting, smart blinds can help maximize the amount of daylight in your home to cut down on electricity usage. For example, opening the blinds can trigger smart lighting to turn off, and vice versa.
5. Add R-Value Even without smarts, motorized blinds can add a significant insulation value to your windows. The traditional roller and honeycomb blinds offer an R value of 4.3. (A typical double glazed window has an R value of 2.0.) You can also get motorized drapes that will add an insulating layer to your windows.
6. Safety As any parent will know, the lack of cords with motorized blinds is a major safety bonus—you won't have to worry about keeping them out of reach of your children. However, in a smart home, shades can also provide additional safety benefits.
7. Security By remotely controlling or setting a schedule that makes it look as if someone's home, smart blinds can help fool would-be burglars into thinking a home is occupied. Similarly, when connected to a smart home system, the blinds can shut when the occupants leave and open when they return, courtesy of geo-fencing and a smartphone.