Month: December 2021

There are lots of different options for motorized shades, from wonderful pre-made and DIY to custom shades.

Custom shades often save homeowners a lot of time, hassle, headache, and stress. While there are some great kinds of pre-made, off-the-shelf shades out there, there are a lot of arguments to be made in favor of ordering custom shades for your home:

1. Custom Means Custom – If you have an oddly shaped window, need shades to fit around a door handle, or have a unique color-match need, custom shades are the way to go. The sky is the limit when it comes to creating the exact shades you and your home need.
2. Customer Support – The vast majority of custom-made window shades come with built-in customer support, as each shade is made to the customer’s specifications. You are usually free to get help with installation, troubleshooting and even maintenance questions. This is especially true if, for some reason, your custom shades don’t fit. Pre-made shades often don’t fit right, and homeowners are left to figure out the issue by themselves, which can often lead to damage and costly repairs. Custom shades come with much better customer service and support by nature.
3. Eco Friendly – Custom shades are also more eco-friendly than other kinds as less adjustments and modifications means less waste. Also, a better fitting shade will mean better insulation and higher energy efficiency.
4. Convenience – Custom shades are the definition of convenience. You order them to your specifications, install them and move on. There is no need to settle for less that your ideal home vision or waste time making shades fit.
5. Easy Installation – Ready-made shades you can buy off the shelf are made in a few standard sizes. However, everyone’s home is different. What may be standard for one home may not fit on another. In fact, many homes have window spaces that differ from room to room. Even differences as small as fractions of an inch can make installation a pain with cutting and shimming to try and get perfection. With custom shades, you can order each pair to fit exactly, down to a 1/16th of an inch, where they need to without any extra work. A custom shades frame will mount right on the window opening, allowing you to spend the time you have focusing on hanging the shades panels on the frame.
6. Quality – Though custom shades can be more costly than pre-made, this additional cost often means higher quality. Custom window shades can be made from almost any kind of wood or material to meet your specifications or home needs and are crafted with an eye for detail and design.

Don’t settle for something less than perfect for your home. If you want to get great motorized shades for your home, McNeill Palm is here to help. You can pay us a visit or give us a call today for more information on what we can do for you and your windows.

Plantation style motorized shutters are made up of panels, or the shutter doors that swing open and closed to allow you to open the shutters fully or close them completely. Usually mounted inside a frame or hinged directly to your window casing, shutters panels are very important for the function of your shutter.

If you’re installing new shutters, you will most likely have the choice of how many panels they want their shutters to have. Should you go with more panels? Less panels? How to choose? To decide if you want or need more or less panels for your window shutters, you need to think about two main things: how you plan on operating your shutters and how you want them to look.

You have to think about style when deciding on the number of panels you want your window shutters to have. Wider shutter panels, meaning fewer panels for each window opening, gives a very modern look as they have long clean lines and less light blockage. You can use 3 ½” or 4 ½” slats and a hidden tilt rod for an even more modern vibe. On the other hand, narrow shutter panels, meaning more panels on each window, has a more classic or colonial style. You can pair smaller panels with 2 ½” slats and a central tilt rod to further bring an old-style air to the space.

The number of panels you need also depends on how you will operate your shutters. Some people choose to operate their shutters by swinging the panels open to allow in more light and outdoor visibility and swinging them closed to block light and create more privacy. If this is how you will operate your shutters, you might want to go for more panels. Having multiple narrow panels allows you to fold them away to the sides of the window without taking up too much space on the walls. Others choose to keep the shutter panels closed and mainly use the shutter slats to control the amount of light that comes into the room. In these cases, its best to go with fewer shutter panels for each window opening as wider panels will allow in more natural light and will appear less busy or overcrowded.

Additionally, having more panels allows for even more control of the amount of light and visibility in each window. Finally, if you have a nearby window obstruction like a faucet or limited wall space, a larger number of smaller panels is ideal. Also, keep in mind the overall feel of the window and the space when choosing the number of panels. If you go too wide, they will look too heavy, but if you go too small you might get too much material over the window opening or a busy look.

Want more advice on choosing what kind of motorized shutters you want for your home? McNeill Palm is here to help. Stop by and pay us a visit or give us a call today to learn more.

Adding the right kind of shutters home can give you and your house a lot of benefits, especially when it comes to motorization. Shutters are definitely one of the most covetable window covering options on the market as they offer a wide range of benefits.

For example, closing plantation shutters can help minimize drafts, helping keep rooms warm in the winter. Shutters are also flexible and easily customizable to match with other curtains or blinds, as well as different kinds of windows. They provide privacy without reducing light, as a simple tilting of the slats keeps passersby from seeing in but still allows in light, help reduce noise pollution from the outside, and increase a home’s property value, as they have an elegant and highbrow air. Also, as the slats minimize light pollutions, they allow for better, undisturbed sleep through the night and into the morning. Tilting but not shutting the slats allows for air ventilation and privacy, and security at the same time.

If you’re considering adding shutters to your home, it might help to learn more about them. For starters, some of the important parts of a shutter are:

• Hanging Hinge – This hinge holds the shutter panel to the hanging strip or window jamb.
• Stile – Stiles are the vertical pieces of solid wood between which the louvres rotate.
• Top Rail – The top rail is the horizontal bar at the top of a shutter panel that provides the stability and structure of the shutter. The top rail also has a notch for the tilt bar.
• Tilt Bar – Sometimes called the tilt rod, the tilt bar is a horizontal piece that links the louvres together so they open and close simultaneously.
• Mouse Hole – The mouse hole is an indentation seen on both the top and bottom rails and is designed to hold the tilt rail.
• Bottom Rail – Similar to the top rail, the bottom rail provides stability and structure but at the bottom of the shutter.
• Louvers – Often called slats, the louvres are the movable horizontal pieces of wood that open and close the shutter.
• Mid Rail – This horizontal bar separates the louvres into top and bottom sections.
• Motorization Features – These additions can range from remote controls to batteries and plugs.

The parts of the shutter aren’t the only important shutter terms you should know. You should also know terms like double tier. Double tier shuttles have one set of shutters at the top and another on the bottom that open independently from one another. Frame is also important, as you need a frame to mount full height shutters to a window opening. A panel is one side of a pair of shutters, or a single shutter. Most shutters consist of more than one shutter panel. Finally, a window jamb is your window opening’s vertical side where the shutters are attached.

If you want to learn more about shutters or have questions about your options for Hunter Douglas PowerView Motorization, McNeill Palm is here to help. Call or visit us today!