Lutron Shades

Technology is growing by leaps in bounds in all areas of industry, and that includes the new technology being developed for the window and shading industry.  That iPhone you are holding isn’t just for Facebook chatting anymore – with a few more apps you can control most of the electronics in your home, and that includes the beautiful Lutron shades you have been looking to install.

People may have a tendency to think about lighting in terms of actual light fixtures, but the sun and moon provide the most natural light for our homes and offices, and electronic control systems allow us to easily regulate that light no matter where we are.

Within the shading industry, one of the most well known names in shades, that incorporates the newest technology is Lutron.  In fact, their Sivoia QS Wireless cellular shades are wire free (an industry first!) and have a battery life of 3 years.

Taking into consideration the outdoor light along with the indoor light when designing a room, electronic systems like Lutron allow you to fully set the ambiance that you want for specific times of day.

For example, installing Lutron shades in a bedroom can allow you to program pre-set levels.  Are you a morning person who loves to wake up to the sun streaming into your bedroom and look out on a fresh new day?  Set your Lutron system to open your shades right before you want to wake up.  The silent smooth movement will not disturb you, and soon you will feel the sun on you so that you can greet a new day the way that makes you most happy.  Needless to say, those of you who prefer to ease into the morning at a slower pace, can program your Lutron shading system to let in a little light at a time.

Did you ever think of your living room space in terms of ambiance?  If you are headed home from work after a long day, and you want to leave the bright fluorescent lights of the office behind, you may want to return home to a room flooded with natural light.  But, do you really want all of that sunlight flooding into your home during the day heating it up and raising your electricity bill?  You can have it both ways now by pre programming your living room shades to rise at the end of the day after the heat of the sun has passed.

What we have found is that once customers realize how much the lighting ambiance in a room can affect their own feelings of comfort and relaxation they want the flexibility to have different lighting goals at different parts of the day and/or season.  The Lutron systems are one of the easiest ways to approach creating that ambiance, and having the flexibility to change it along with your needs.

Retractable Awning

What a better way to revel in the warm air of summer than to enjoy your outdoor spaces?  In fact, over the past few years, as more and more people have learned about the possibilities in outdoor design (kudos to HGTV for that!) these spaces have become less a luxury enjoyed only by a few, and more a planned space for those with homes, and in many cases with apartments.

The first step in deciding what type of outdoor shading will work well with your space is to decide what areas you want to provide sun cover.  Do you have a small balcony that is surrounded by walls and lacking air flow?  You may want to shade the entire space, but utilize a shade that allows air to circulate.   If you are looking to shade a large area that is open and allows air to circulate, you might opt for a more opaque shade and gain a constant cool spot for guests to enjoy.

You also need to determine what activities you might be doing in the space that you are shading.  Many people want to shade the areas where they will be dining, and others want to reserve the shady spots for lounging out of the sun on a hot day, or in a soft summer rain.

For spaces that are close to your home structure an awning is always a classic choice.  But we are not talking about your grandpa’s awnings here.  Awnings can come with remote controls and automated settings that can serve to cool off spaces (indoor and out) at specific times of the day.  Awnings are also now designed to add to the aesthetics of your outdoor space in a variety of styles and fabrics, while doing double duty by cutting glare, and even blocking harmful UV rays.

One trend in outdoor design that we often see people getting wildly creative with are structures that either add on to the home (in the case of some luxury outdoor kitchens that have become popular for entertaining) or that are built for other areas of your outdoors (greenhouses, pool houses, pergolas, etc).  Remember, when you are building structures like this for your outdoor spaces, that light and airy is key to maintaining a feeling of being outdoors.  Wherever you can, use materials that allow you to keep structures open (windows, or simply openings), knowing that there is a shading solution to meet all of your needs and allow you to cover and protect these spaces as necessary.

Solar Shades

Woven solar shades have long been popular with designers focused on commercial spaces.  However, woven solar shades have seen an uptick in popularity recently.  Perhaps most important to the homeowners who have decided to decorate with woven solar shades is the added bonus of window treatments that block UV light without blocking the views that a window may offer.  Have a window that looks out on a fabulous pool?  Does your apartment window overlook a fantastic daytime skyline?  Or do you have a glass wall in your suburban home that peeks out at a breathtakingly landscaped lawn?  Woven solar shades will let you block out both the harmful rays and the glare, and still let you appreciate the view that lies on the other side of the glass.

However, one of the important facts to keep in mind when deciding whether or not woven solar shades are right for your home design, is that this same view is possible for people on the other side of the glass as well.  What do we mean by that?  Well, because woven solar shades are not opaque, and allow you to look out the window, they also allow people outside your home to see in.  Woven solar shades can typically be ordered according to what level of “privacy” (or opaqueness) that you prefer.  This means that we recommend woven solar shades for homes that have a relative level of privacy (fencing, wooded surroundings, apartments above sidewalk level, etc).

Because the makers of solar shades have started to incorporate designs and weaves that are more suitable to home design than previously, many homeowners are finding they make an excellent option that allows for protection against the harsh glare of the sun, and yet a way to still feel connected with a home’s surroundings.

Some might say installing woven solar shades is an easy way to make your home feel more open, and to incorporate your environment into your design plan.  Whether your home is located deep in the woods, and you want the great outdoors to be visually incorporated into your dwelling, or you live in an apartment in the city surrounded by the beauty of steel structures, unobstructed views of the world around your home can be a strong design statement.

Woven Wood Shades

If you live an eco-friendly lifestyle, natural woven wood shades can add a natural look to any of the rooms and window treatments in your home, and the shades and textures of the eco-friendly window treatments can evoke a tropical, exotic feel to your living space. For many of our New Jersey customers, natural woven wood shades remind them of their honeymoon or a dream vacation. While on a getaway of a lifetime, they may have enjoyed the look and diffused sunlight of natural woven wood shades and were inspired to ‘bring that same feel home’ for their everyday enjoyment.

Today’s natural woven wood shades are available in sustainable materials, from bamboo to matchsticks, large reeds, flat wood slats, braided rattan and even assorted grasses. Colors range from barely-there tan to chocolate browns, reddish browns to tortoise greens, and natural woven shades can be designed with alternating rows of color – such as light and dark tan or a more dramatic light tan and dark brown – to create a natural, island-inspired effect and exotic feel.

This relaxed design of popular window treatments can instantly transform a room, allowing your existing wood elements like planters and wood tables to ‘pop,’ bringing more attention to items like your photo frames and natural wood collectibles.

The amount of light allowed in through natural woven wood shades varies from model to model, with some shades allowing in a lot of light and more tightly-woven shades allowing just a bit of a glow from sunlight outdoors. You choose the design, color and light efficiency, and you can also pick out styles that have been woven with exotic beads and other colorful, island-style accents.

Woven wood shades can be paired with a color-complementary valance but are most often left unadorned to capture attention as the focal point of a living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchen, den, or bathroom, and custom designed window treatments can be created in this style for bay windows.

You can also choose custom shade liners to provide extra solar protection, or to add to the warmth of your home during cooler months, making these eco-friendly window treatments serve double duty as an attractive window shade style and as an energy-conserving element of your green lifestyle home.

Patterned Window Shades

To add a burst of decorative color and pattern to a room, consider graphic patterned window shades. This top new trend in window treatments allows great creativity to your home décor plans, and lets you easily transform a room on a budget. It’s just a simple flat panel fabric shade with your choice of color and pattern. Here are some of the most popular colors and styles of graphic patterned window shades:

• White flat panel shades with bright, colorful stripes in yellow, red, blue, green, orange or another cheerful hue.
• White flat panel shades with a chic, sophisticated black pattern such as stripes, damask, or trendy chevrons.
• Brightly-colored shades with a different bright color of chevrons, stripes, or gingham.
• Light blue shades with a darker blue delft china-type pattern for an antique-inspired pattern.
• Bright yellow shades with orange stripes, chevrons, and other patterns.
• Light orange shades with brighter orange patterns.
• Light gray shades with black or darker slate gray patterns.
• Multi-colored stripes for a candy-themed playroom or child’s room.
• Brightly-colored shades with a vibrant balloon pattern for a child’s room
• Sea blue colored shades with an Under the Sea theme of fish, starfish, seahorses or other motifs.
• Tan-colored shades with a natural-themed brown pattern in criss-cross patterns or artistic free-form swirls.
• Garden-chic shades with sage green background and a pastel floral motif.
• Zebra-stripe shades in color – purple, orange, yellow – for a teen’s room.
• Contemporary pastel shades with brushstroke effects in watercolor effect
• Contemporary pastel shades with ‘bubbles’ of soft colors
• Botanical-inspired window shades with a background of bright green, purple, terra cotta or other shades, and a vine or leaf print in white
• Pastel-colored shades with a brighter hue in paisley, a top trend in patterned window shades

As an alternative to an all-over colored pattern providing a visual focal point in the room, you can also choose to have your flat panel window shade decorated with just a wide stripe of color and pattern along the bottom edge of your window treatment. This option is popular for kids’ room window treatments, with just a handful of trains, planes, flowers, moons and other fun children’s room décor motifs adding a subtle pop of color coordinating with a colored window valance.

When you choose a graphic patterned window shade, keep your wall colors solid to avoid over-doing the color and ‘busy-ness’ of a room, and coordinate with key décor items such as bed pillows, vases, and throws in one color from the patterned window shade to perfect your room makeover on a budget.

Blackout Shades

Getting a good night’s sleep can be frustrating if the first rays of morning light wake you up, but with blackout shades installed as a bedroom window treatment improvement, you’ll finally get to sleep past 6:30am in the summertime, especially on weekends. Blackout shades will provide just that – a total blackout in your bedroom with pure darkness for your body’s ultimate rest and a great night’s restorative sleep that’s so important to your well-being. Health experts say we need at least eight hours of sleep, and if you’re going to bed at midnight and waking at 6:30am when the morning sun shines through your too-thin window shades, you’re missing out on the health benefits of good sleep.

Add to the morning light the maddening repetition of car headlights zooming through those thin window shades as well, waking you up over and over again throughout the night. If there’s a bright streetlight outside, you’ll never get the total darkness you desire. The full moon? That can brighten up the neighborhood and glow through that wimpy shade, and many of our New Jersey customers come to us with tired eyes, tired of the basic pull-down shades on their bedroom windows, hung incorrectly or not the perfect width for their windows, with the shades leaving gaps on the sides through which nighttime lights (including the moon!) shine into their bedrooms.

Blackout shades are custom-measured and custom-fit window treatments that block all light through the shade itself, and also use side channels to prevent any light from getting through. These ‘light-tight’ blackout shades do the job 100%, and are best professionally-measured and installed, since windows might not be completely uniform in size. Imperfect window installations or simply aging and settling of your home can create imperfect angles that a professional window treatment company will discover and make adjustments for. Trying to DIY this home improvement task will likely leave some gaps that ruin the blackout effect you’re after.

Blackout shades are in-demand by those who are sensitive to light and wake easily when the sun begins to rise, and parents find that their newborns and little ones also sleep and nap better when their rooms are completely free from any light. A rambunctious toddler taking a good, long nap? Many parents wish for those rare days, and now they can be most days when a totally dark room eases a child into needed naptimes or a longer night’s sleep.

Those who work nights and sleep days finally get their eight hours with blackout shades as a welcome window treatment, and when you’re feeling under the weather, a darkened room is a welcome relief for sleep that heals what ails you.

Many hotels and resorts feature blackout shades and heavy, overlapping curtains to provide guests with a good night’s sleep as a luxury and what they call a ‘comfort of home,’ so for better sleeping comfort, blackout shades can turn your bedroom into a comfy suite.

It’s not just bedrooms that benefit from blackout shades. Many of our New Jersey customers request these top window treatments for the rooms in their houses, condos or apartments that get high midday sun and resulting heat. Blackout shades keep that hot daytime sun from heating up their house and costing them a fortune in air conditioning, and when blackout shades are features of an entertainment room or den where you watch movies and television shows as a family, your viewing experience can be all the better with a completely dark room in movie-theater style.

Darkness can be a sweet relief, day or night, and blackout shades can be the perfect ‘bright idea’ to finally solve your sleep problems once and for all.

Motorized window treatments

Smart-home technology has come to the world of window treatments, with programmable timers raising and lowering your blinds and shades at the perfect hours during the day when you’ll want more or less light in each of your rooms. With custom motorized window treatments, you won’t have to spend your valuable time going all through your home to lower blinds against the scorching sun that can raise your home’s temperature, and thus your energy costs when your air conditioner has to work overtime. Instead, your programmable motorized window treatment system does all the blind- and shade-lowering for you, creating a comfy environment and saving you a fortune in energy costs, especially when they work their magic while you’re away on vacation – which also adds safety to your home, making it look to the outside world like someone is in the house and thus deterring robbers from targeting your home.

Speaking of safety, you or a family member won’t have to climb up onto stepstools or stepladders to reach high-up blinds or shades, and there’s no need for a telescoping pole to hook onto a shade’s pull. There are no safety-risk dangling cords that can pose a danger to children, and older, pregnant and mobility-challenged residents of your home won’t have to risk falls or injuries just to lower a shade. A motorized window treatment system makes your home a safer place for all who live or visit there, and it’s quite fun to impress guests when you push your remote control button for instant window transformations before their eyes!

You’ll find that your custom window treatment company in New Jersey can offer many different styles of window treatments that work on a motorized system from Roman shades to folding shades, flat roller shades, sloped shades, honeycomb shades, all in a wide variety of materials and colors to give you more choices for a clean, simple interior décor look of your home. Especially attractive are skylight shades on motorized systems, closing against outdoor sunshine to cool your home, and opening to provide a pretty view of the sky or stars at dusk and nighttime.

Motorized window treatments for hard-to-reach and even simple-to-reach window shades and blinds are practical, energy-efficient, and easily programmable for New Jersey’s wide range of weather conditions and temperature extremes. It’s just an easy few clicks on your programmable timer, and all of your window coverings behave at your command, keeping your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, and – perhaps most importantly – making your home safer and more protected.

As an added bonus, when sunlight streams onto certain types of wood flooring and wood furniture, those surfaces can get bleached by the sun’s harmful UV rays. Your motorized window treatments can block those harmful sun rays from fading your valuable floors and furniture, adding years to those investments, all without worry and hassle.

Motorized window treatments are easy to install, add value to your home, and instantly start saving you money on energy use.

Bathroom Shades

Beautiful new window treatments in your bathrooms can quickly transform the look and feel of these rooms, adding much more light than your bathrooms had before – which can make them look bigger, airier and newer. When you consider that a full bathroom remodel can cost over $25,000 in many cases – and many of our New Jersey customers say that’s the amount their contractors charge just for labor! — it’s a far more affordable room makeover to simply choose from the new trends in bathroom window treatments, some of which are the very same window treatment effects you’ll see in top spas and 5-star hotels and resorts.

Here are the top trends in bathroom window treatments:

1. Sheers. Light, flowy, translucent sheers allow far more light into your bathroom than heavier curtain fabrics that can ‘weigh down’ the visual effect of the space. Sheers can be drawn to cover the entire window, or pushed to the sides to frame each of your windows, and still provide a light touch of color emanating through a softer-weight fabric. When sheers are drawn closed, they offer privacy for large or small windows.
2. Roman shades. The gently folded effects of Roman shades provide a touch of artistry in your professional window treatments, especially when your chosen Roman shade colors match or complement the colors within your bathroom tiles, walls, sinks and bathroom hardware. Custom-ordered Roman shades provide a great deal of privacy above a spa bathtub or next to a spa shower when lowered, and when easily raised, they create a gentle, folded effect that emulates the look of soft, folded spa towels. Professional window treatment companies now offer custom Roman shades in waterproof materials to prevent mildew issues and keep your shades looking their best for a long time, extending your investment.
3. Mid-level sheers and open tops. When designed for placement in front of a beautiful spa bathtub, mid-level window treatments feature an attractive window curtain rod extending across the mid-section of your windows. From that rod hang pretty sheers providing privacy, yet still allowing filtered light to make your bathroom brighter and more spacious, especially since the top half of your windows aren’t covered by custom window treatments, with the exception of a delicate coordinating window valance or drape at the very top for decorative effect. This is one of the top spa-inspired window treatments for ultimate brightness in your bathroom spaces.
4. Woven shades. Add a touch of natural beauty and texture to your bathroom design by switching to custom window treatments made with natural materials such as bamboo or other woven natural materials that can, again, coordinate with the shades and tones in your bathroom or shower tiles, sinks, vanity, and bathroom accessories. Natural material window treatments evoke not just a spa feeling, but may also remind you of the window shades at a tropical resort, light, easily-raised and secured, letting just a bit of slatted light into the room.
5. Long, flowing sheers and curtains. They’re not just for living room window treatments or dining room window treatments. Now, bathrooms get to feature long sheers or light-fabric curtains that extend from the top curtain rod all the way down to the floor, with custom curtain material left longer, pooling on the floor for a softer effect that’s more modern and chic than curtains cut right to floor level. Full-length sheers make your windows look larger as well, and light-colored sheers and curtains will glow with the sunlight behind them, making the entire room look larger.
6. White, light and neutral window treatment colors. When you choose lighter colors, you can create that spa effect if everything in the bathroom is sand-colored, white or a soft shade. Or, you can go light with your custom window treatments in light shades, and then have some fun designing your new bathroom wall colors, perhaps adding some pastel or darker shades to your ‘new’ bathroom’s look. Remember, though, that lighter colors make a small space look bigger, while dark colors make a room look smaller. Still, a pretty mint color on the walls can freshen your bathroom’s trendy look, especially if you select new window curtains or new window sheers in a neutral, or in a floral or striped motif – two of the biggest pattern trends in window treatments – that has a bit of that mint color in it. Choose your palette. Window treatments let you transform your room over and over again, several times a season.
7. Coastal chic. White window treatments, window curtains, shades and sheers evoke memories of beach vacations, and will make your bathroom look like one of the prettiest, inspiring bathrooms in interior decorating magazines. Choosing an all-white palette adds an airy effect, you can still add visual interest with different textures throughout your bathroom space, and additional coastal and nautical décor and accessories complete your bathroom makeover.
8. Ornate. As the polar opposite of coastal chic bathroom designs, another top trend in bathroom window treatments is opulence, choosing heavier fabrics in such rich colors as gold with a bit of shine to them, layering or draping opulent window fabrics for a regal look. Opulent silk curtain treatments with gold in the fabrics can coordinate with gold-colored wall sconces for added effect.

Bay Window

Bay windows have become a favorite in most homes. Sometimes, these three paneled windows are used with seating for a unique reading space. Other times, bay windows are found in the eat-in kitchen. Really, bay windows can be found anywhere. Choosing your window treatment options for the bay window are endless. Some people opt for no window treatments at all!

If you’re wondering what the best option would be for your bay window, consider the space where the window is located. Is it high traffic or a quiet space? Does the room require extra privacy, or is it facing your fenced or wooded yard? Would you like to be able to adjust the natural light easily, or do you want to maintain the same feel on a regular basis?

Bay windows can be furnished in almost any type of treatment. From curtains to blackout shades, the decision is up to you as the homeowner, but we’ll go over the most common choices for bay window treatments.

In the kitchen or breakfast nook, most homeowners opt for sheer curtains that cover half of the window. Why? Homeowners choose this option because it’s traditional, offers natural light, and provides the illusion of privacy. If your bay window faces a busy street or noisy neighborhood, you will appreciate the subtle privacy this option gives you. Instead of feeling like you are eating outdoors, you’ll feel cozy and safe.

In the living room or library space, heavy curtains are a favorite, especially when the bay window includes a seat! You can easily enjoy this quiet space whether it’s bright or gloomy outside.

For the dining room, many homeowners opt for having no window treatments or just a valance. This is especially true for dining rooms with quiet outdoor views.

If you’re looking for design ideas to treat your bay window, Pinterest and Houzz are great social networks that let you compile your ideas in one, neat space. You won’t be clipping magazines and making a mess. Instead, you can chat with other homeowners about your options and find the best prices possible for the window treatments you desire.

Conservatory Windows

How do you shade a room consisting of three walls of windows? It seems intimidating, but this project is actually quite fun. First, consider the décor and style you would like to maintain in the room. Next, pick a type of treatment.

For conservatories, you can use shades, curtains, blinds, or sheers. The options are vast, so let’s compare the different choices.

Shades

Shades are a great option if you want to control the amount of light entering the room. Unlike curtains, which typically offer open or closed options, shade levels can be adjusted to allow some light in while blocking blinding rays. In conservatories, shades are a great option because you can stagger the levels or leave the sun-facing side closed while still taking in the outdoor views from the other windowed walls. If some residents prefer to have absolutely no light, blackout shades can also be used in a conservatory, allowing the room to have multiple uses.

Curtains

Curtains will provide a dramatic touch to the conservatory space. You can choose from sheer or heavy options to suit the mood of your conservatory. Curtains can also be layered with heavy and sheer styles so you can change the feel of your room on a whim. For rooms used mainly for nighttime entertaining, curtains are a great option because they can be fully opened for sunset views, but when more privacy is required, outsiders will not be able to see through the heavy fabric.

Blinds

Traditional blinds swork well in conservatories because you have the best of both shades and curtains. Lighting can be easily adjusted with a wand, and you can change the level of sunlight exposure using the drawstring. Blinds offer an ironic twist to the conservatory, since blinds are the most common type of window treatment and would be used in a rare room find.

Sheers

These can come in almost any variety: shades, curtains, or blinds. Allowing natural light into the space without direct sunlight, sheers provide a soft feel to any interior. Sheers are a great option if you want to take advantage of a spectacular outdoor backdrop without squinting. This option is also nice if the feel you want the room to convey is one of relaxation. Most homeowners choose sheers in rooms that are likely to be used for reading or other quiet activities.

If you’re lucky enough to have a conservatory in your home, embrace the challenge of adding window treatments to all three walls. There are no rules; be as traditional or eclectic as you like.