Month: July 2022

From setting a mood and highlighting a room’s strengths to creating depth, improving functionality, and regulating sleeping cycles, lighting is key. But how do you plan a room’s lighting design? Use these tips, from installing motorized shades to choosing a mood and function, to create a good lighting design plan:

• What’s the Light Like? – What’s the light in the space like already? The natural light in a room changes throughout the day and depending on the direction the windows are facing. Afternoon sun can be hot and intense, morning light is warm. North and south facing windows offer steadily regulated lighting during the day while East and West windows let in sharp slants of light and total shadow depending on the time of day.
• What are Your Light Resources? – What light sources and fixtures do you have to work with? Once you know what you have you can adjust as needed. You can add a dimmer switch to a lamp or install window treatments like motorized shades. Motorized shades are like dimmers for natural light, allowing you to control the amount of natural light that comes into a room depending on how you adjust them. As a bonus, motorized shades also help reduce your energy consumption. You can also install or remove windows as needed.
• Highlight Key Features – You can use lighting to highlight the best parts of a room and downplay the parts you don’t like as much. You can put a bright lamp by your favorite chair and angle it away from that corner that has all the kid’s toys or point a spotlight at that gorgeous piece of artwork. Don’t forget to light for function, too. Game tables or project spaces need bright light.
• What’s the Mood? – Different rooms necessitate different moods. For example, bedrooms should be cozy and relaxing while kitchen should be bright and cheerful. The lighting in a space has a big impact in its mood, so decide what you want the mood of your room to be before you make any lighting plans.
• What is the Function? – Similarly, the room’s function is also deeply tied to its lighting. Kitchens need to be bright and light for chopping, cooking and other daily tasks, while bedrooms need to have control over the light for sleeping and waking cycles. The same principles apply to TV rooms that need dim light to reduce glare or studies with plants or other light-sensitive items that need more or less sunlight.
• Variety is Vital – The eyes get tired if there’s no variety in a room’s lighting. Incorporate variety of light in the form of shadows, highlights, and lowlights throughout the room by installing different kinds of motorized shades, lamps, and other lighting fixtures.

We are here to help with more design tips or information on motorized shades. We have a long history of expert work and can help you design, choose, and install the perfect motorized shades to make your lighting design come to life. Call or visit us today to learn more.

With busy homes filled with family, it can be tough for your home to be your safe haven, blocking out the world’s noise and stresses so you can relax, unwind and re-center. Sometimes you need to carve out a calm haven inside your haven so you can really unwind. That’s where these tips, from decluttering to installing motorized shutters, come in.

All it takes for you to create a calm space in your home is a little time, a few tools, and some inspiration. Create a calm space in your home that can help you destress with these ideas and tips:

1. Choose a Space – The first step is to choose the right space in your home. Pick a room or corner that is quiet and out of the way so you can have the relaxation you need. A basement room, den at the back of the house, or spare bedroom would all be ideal.
2. Add Greenery – Plants are proven to help reduce stress as they impact three of our senses: smell, vision, and touch. While real plants are best, you can always opt for fake plants if you don’t have a green thumb. If you do go with real plants, make sure you have the right kind of motorized shutters to let sunshine in.
3. Declutter – Few things are more stressful than clutter as distractions prevent total relaxation. Try and limit the space to one or two pieces of art on the walls. You can even choose one big, serene piece. This applies to furniture as well. Take out any excess chairs or pieces so you’re left with one comfy chair or pouf, a lamp, and maybe a side table. You can take it even further and only have a nice fluffy pillow to recline on.
4. Get the Good Light – Soft lighting is the ultimate soother. While candles and lamps can help, the best way to get the light right is to regulate the natural light. Motorized shutters can go a long way towards accomplishing this goal as they make it easy for you to customize the amount of light in a room. If you want to let the sunshine in during the morning you can open the motorized shutters, but if you want to block out harsh midday light you can close them.
5. Take Out the Technology – It’s also a good idea to remove technology and screens from the room, including TVs and cell phones. Screens and distracting and stressful, so keep them out of your space. You can have a small speaker if you want to listen to music or a meditation podcast.
6. Wipe Away Noise – Outside noises like lawn mowers, passing cars and neighbors can be distracting. Installing the right kind of window treatment, like motorized shutters, can really help reduce outside noise pollution.

These are just a few ways you can turn any room in your home into a calming space. Want more ideas or information on motorized shutters? We are here for you. Call or visit us today!

Formal rooms like living rooms and dining rooms traditionally have more elegant and traditional décor than other rooms in a home. This is because these rooms have long been used to formally receive and host guests, whether for a special event or a special guest. But what kind of window treatments work in these kinds of formal rooms? Here are some options you might consider for a formal room that needs motorization:

1. Roman Shades – No one thinks “shades” when they hear the word elegant, but Roman shades can be very stylish and chic when chosen and used correctly. Roman shades come in a wide variety of fabrics and colors from olive green, wine red and mustard yellow to white, cream, black and beige, making them a simple and stylish choice for a formal living room or dining room. They can stand on their own or can be paired with other window treatments as desired.
2. Blinds – Again, blinds aren’t a common choice for formal rooms, but when done correctly they can look great. This is especially true for wood or faux wood blinds. Wood and faux wood blinds are the best choices for formal rooms as they look more classic and luxurious than other blind materials like vinyl and aluminum. Like real wood shutters, wood blinds are very sophisticated but come with a larger price tag and more maintenance. Faux wood blinds offer a great alternative that retain the look but lose the expense and extra work. Use blinds alone in a formal room or pair them with curtains to add more style but retain the function.
3. Shutters – Window shutters, specifically plantation shutters, are incredibly sophisticated and chic. They can be custom fit for any kind of window, from picture and double-hung to bay and bow, and can even work for the large windows with arches on top that are common in formal rooms. You can find window shutters in a wide variety of finishes and materials to suite and room design scheme, layouts and décor. You can even coordinate window shutters with different woods and wood finishes that are common in formal dining rooms and living rooms including basswood, cheery, alder, oak, mahogany, walnut and many more.
4. Roller Shades – Thick fabrics and rich colors make roller shades very formal and a great choice for formal living rooms and dining rooms. They can also be paired with long, elegant curtains so you can enjoy the look of curtains but the privacy and light control of roller shades.
5. Motorization – Any kind of window covering is made better with motorization, like Hunter Douglas PowerView. Motorization allows you to easily open and close your window coverings with the touch of button, increasing your convenience, function, and energy efficiency. Plus, any kind of window treatment can be finished with motorization, easily matching your formal décor.

These are just a few options for window coverings for formal rooms. If you want to learn more about motorization, you can call or visit us today.