Where To Buy Cordless Shades From?
There are many window treatments manufacturers and home and garden stores which sell cordless shades and blinds. If you need such shades, all you have to do is to ask at the shop that’s closest to your home and you’ll probably find something suitable. But since you’re reading this, I suppose we can help you by letting you know what we’ve found:

Hunter Douglas Duette Honeycomb Shades: there are several light filtering shades models that can be ordered with cordless mechanism. Duette D1 and D2, Duette Panache G9 single cell and Encore G10 double cell. In the blackout range, you can go for Duette D12, D7 or H7.

Hunter Douglas Applause Honeycomb Shades: the cordless option is available on Applause Sunterra E40 and E41 3/4″ single cell light filtering, respectively blackout, on Applause Casuelle E15, E16 and E17 (3/4” single cell blackout)

Hunter Douglas Everwood 2” Cordless Blinds, both in the Original White collection and in the new natural tones. The natural tones faux wood blinds are really beautiful and they are very practical, because they don’t bend, they don’t warp and they don’t crack like hardwood does in time.

Bali Honeycomb Shades: it’s nice that Bali though to include here one model from their Economy range, the 3/8” single cell, which is a light filtering shade. Additionally, they also offer several shades from the DiamondCell range at prices higher than the Economy models.

There are a few bamboo shades that offer the cordless option too, but this will be the topic for another article.

First of all, you have to prepare your DIY project. For that, you need to write down as many details as you can about your finished product. What do you want your blinds to do? Do you only need remote operation, or you want light sensors, or maybe timers, to have them moving at the same hour every day? If you’re away many hours a day, you may want your plants to benefit from light in the morning, but be protected in the afternoon, when the sun is too hot and might damage their leaves. Here’s a nice tutorial on how to build a motorized controller for your blinds. You can do it too, if you buy all those timers, interfaces, sensors and controllers. They come together in packs. An example is the PICAXE 08M Starter Pack, which includes all needed items and which costs $12.95.

This video shows the project in enough details so you can make yourself an idea of what you’re going to obtain.

Bathroom Automation: What’s So Good About It?

I can understand people who want to keep pace with the latest state-of-the-art technology wonders and have their homes automated, that’s why I’m going to try to answer the above question. Beware though, these are all personal considerations, and I’m writing this website for informative purpose only. If you want more details, you’ll have to ask a specialist.

Here’s my take on this topic: basically, most motorization options for window treatment are low voltage, therefore they aren’t dangerous. Moreover, the tubular motors are usually encapsulated in the upper headrail of the blind or shade, therefore steam shouldn’t get in that easily. What I see to be not so wise is the installation of an operating switch on the inside of the bathroom wall. You’ve probably noticed that even the light switch is outside the bathroom. It would be probably a good idea to get an automation system with remote control and if you are really afraid of the shortcircuits, you can choose a battery operated motor, thus being positive nothing wrong might happen.

If budget is not an issue for you, you could automate the entire bathroom, to have all appliances controlled by a remote, so you can enjoy your relaxation time without having to step out of the water to close the shades because the sun has just become too bright and it bothers you. Everything that needs to be moved can be automated: heated towel rails, windows, blinds, fans, lights. There are people who have even installed TV sets in the bathroom, so they can watch their favorite shows while taking a relaxing bath or while enjoying an aromatherapy session. One convenient solution is to have these screens built-in in the bathroom wall. In this way, contacts and plugs on the back panel won’t be affected, because they’ll be inside the wall.

How To Care For Bathroom Electric Blinds

Here are a few tips to help you enjoy your motorized bathroom blinds as much as possible and to keep them like new for a long time:

• The best way to care for your motorized blinds is to make sure that you install a proper ventilation system inside the bathroom, with a powerful fan, able to quickly spread the steam. Also, make sure that the blinds don’t get damaged, and if they do, get them fixed as soon as possible, in order to avoid the rust to penetrate the metal of the headrail.
• When you don’t need it, make sure not to leave the remote control in the bathroom, as prolonged humidity could affect the batteries, resulting in shortening their lifetime.
• After taking a hot bath or shower, wipe the blinds with a soft, dry cloth or with some toilet paper, especially on the upper side, where leakages could appear in time, affecting the motor or the wiring inside of the rim.

If you’re thinking to go for an intelligent house, and you’re researching the possible types of blinds you could choose, here’s a brief overview on the motorization options for the Hunter Douglas ones, with a few characteristics and benefits for each:

• Radio Frequency (RF) Only Remote Control: this system can be used with Alustra Woven Textures, Designer Roller Shades, Designer Screen Shades and Provenance woven wood shades. It consists of a built-in RF receiver and a RF remote control. The operating signal is transmitted via a radio broadcast, just like any radio transmitter does. What’s nice is that you don’t need to align the remote with the receiver to make them operate. You can even do it from another room or from corners of the room that aren’t in the line of sight with the receiver. A wireless timer is also available, for those who may want to program their blinds to operate at certain moments of the day.
• Power Tilt (TM) with Platinum (TM) Technology: this system is based on a combination of infrared and radio frequency technologies. Tilting the slats is very easy to do and you can even do it simultaneously for all windows in the house if so you wish.
• PowerGlide with Platinum Technology: this is another Hunter Douglas proprietary system that combines out-of sight and line-of-sight technologies provided by radio waves and infrared technology, which allows an additional type of movement: the rotation of the fabric vanes featured by the Alustra Luminette Privacy Sheers and by the Luminette Privacy Sheers. It is also suitable for the motorization of Skyline gliding window panels.
• PowerRise with Platinum Technology: this is a motorized lifting system which works for window blinds as well as for shadings. It’s perhaps the easiest to install out of all Hunter Douglas motorization options, because it works on batteries and it doesn’t need any wiring at installation.
• Hard-Wired: this system includes both a wall switch and a remote control. The wall switch features two intermediate positions where you can stop the blinds, therefore a good control of the privacy and light levels.
• Tilt-Only, Full Tilt and Traverse: the Tilt-Only technology is available with PermAlign and PermaTrak headrails, both registered Hunter Douglas trade marks, and they offer the nice facility of being able to stop the vane rotation at any point. The Full Tilt and Traverse is designed to operate the Specialty Systems headrails and they can feature wither a switch control, a remote or both.

When choosing your motorization, the best place to start is a discussion with a local Hunter Douglas dealer, because their staff is trained and maybe the best one in measure to give you pertinent advice, in accordance with your specific situation.

Sensors

Sensors are an important part of a fully automated system which you can set and forget, because they capture information from the environment, then send it to the motor, which then operates the parts that need to move, in order to achieve what’s required. Speaking of window treatments, we can think of the following types of sensors:

• Daylight sensors: they would permanently measure the light intensity, and when it reaches certain levels, they would send a command to the “brain” of the system, which would make the blinds open or close, depending on the threshold that’s being reached by the light amount entering the room
• Wind sensors: the scientific term for these sensors is anemometers. In case your house is in an area that’s exposed to storms, having this type of automation would allow you to get a better protection for your windows, as the storm shutters could be commanded by a system based on such wind sensors. Even if you’re at home, if you have too many windows, you may simply not have enough time to prepare all of them in time before the wind strikes.
• Sun sensors: they could help you never get your conservatory heated like hell again during summer afternoons, when you’re not at home, but you forgot to close the blinds.
• Timing sensors: if you need to let light to enter a room only between certain hours, you can easily have this controlled automatically with timers that would operate the blinds system only at defined intervals of time. This option can be useful in homes with children, in order to prevent the naughty kids to raise the blinds at night.

Motors

Motors are the ones that actually do all the work, after they get instructions from the sensors, via the brain of the system. In case of window blinds, tubular motors are one of the most popular choices, because they can be very well incorporated inside the headrail of the blind. Somfy is a brand that many well-known window treatments manufacturers use for their electric blinds models. Actually, Somfy does more than simply providing the motors: it offers integrated automation systems for homes. Being very concerned in maintaining a high standard, they use only high-quality materials for their products. They are so certain of their products durability that they can afford to offer 5 year warranty on all sensors, motors and controls.

Remote Controls

A home automation system can do without a remote control, but that wouldn’t be so spectacular. Such systems come with wiring which has to be hidden inside the walls, thus creating a lot of troubles and additional work. Besides, it’s more convenient to sit on your sofa and touch a button on the remote than stand up and go operate a switch on the wall. However, there are situations when buttons on a wall are better such as in hospitals, where ill people might lose the remote.

Speaking of remotes, the most frequent case is that they are supplied as a kit with the motor, so you don’t have to worry too much about operational details.

Skylights are roof windows which can either serve only for natural light admission, case in which they are fixed, or provide additional ventilation for the room, case in which they feature an opening system which can be automatic or manual. Skylights can be flat and rectangular, like any other window in the house, or they can have polygonal or rounded shapes. The most spectacular are those who have 3D shapes such as pyramid or dome. Because most of the times skylight windows are not vertical, they can be used to attract and capture heat from the daylight, so they may serve as an important component in the building of passive houses. However, in most cases, skylights with bigger areas need to be very well insulated and UV protected, because they favor thermal exchanges at the glass surface level, thus causing the inside heat to dissipate during the winter and outside heat to enter into the room during summer. This is also the reason why such windows are usually sold and installed together with matching blinds or shades, which can be automatic or manually operated via cranks. Another viable and relatively widespread solution, but which increases the price for this type of windows, is to have the glass panes glazed.

Why Do People Fear Skylights

Despite their beauty and elegance, skylights can prove themselves to be real pains because of several considerations, thus making many people shy away from them:

Leakages: this is maybe the most important reason for such fears. Fact is that if they are already built in the house, it’s difficult to tell if they are going to leak or not when you buy the house. If you can, it would be best to visit it after a heavy rain and see if there’s any damage. If you’re building a house and you think to incorporate skylights, make sure to buy top quality ones, from highly recommended manufacturers, and have them installed by qualified staff. Beware that some roofing materials are incompatible with lead, for instance, so if you buy skylights that contain lead, you may experience early wear and leakages. Besides, if you are the type of guy who collects rain water draining from the roof for domestic purposes, you should know that lead is toxic.

A simple method to minimize leaking is to install a metal edging a few inches up the slope on the roof, which would prevent rain water to run directly over the skylight. Installing such edgings may not be a do-it-yourself project, so you might want to consider hiring some specialized team of workers to have it done for you.

Room overheating: it’s already well-known that rooms at the top floor or immediately under the roof get much warmer during hot days than the rest of the house. Darkening shades can be an excellent fix, but you should bear in mind that they are not exactly cheap. In some situations, prices can be ridiculously high, even if you choose the manually operated system. A remote control would add some more to the price.

You may ask yourself why then install skylights, if they only bring trouble and draw money out of your pocket. Well, the light coming from the roof will make the room so cheerful that you’ll feel better. Well-being is important, maybe more important than money or leakage risks, so why not improve the quality of your life, if you can? Moreover, many people suffering from depressions admitted they felt an improvement after they’ve installed skylights in their rooms. It seems that natural light has beneficial effects on the human mind, as it makes us think in a more positive manner.

Benefits of Skylights Remote Control Systems

Although remote controlling of skylights and of their shadings is not an absolute must-have, it’s a very cool to have feature, for the simple reason that skylights are most of the times hard-to-reach windows. It’s true that you can very well use crank systems or rods to open and close the windows or their blinds, but blockages are quite frequent, because the control over the rod movement is quite poor. If you have the budget to afford structural glazing of the glass or electrochromic windows, that’s excellent, if not, you can surely do without.

One of the most encountered situation in which homeowners prefer to buy remote control blinds is the one of hard to reach windows such as skylights, stairwell windows, sun tunnels or conservatory roofs. These types of windows are functional and decorative, but sometimes they need to be covered from various reasons. Moreover, in such situations, one can choose to install electric windows systems. These windows come with a set of sensors and with a remote control that make it possible to open and close the windows without toughing them. They may also have automatic rain sensors, just like the ones used in cars to detect raindrops and operate the wipers without the driver’s intervention.
We are going to take a look at several remote control blinds from well-known manufacturers of windows and accessories:

Velux Siesta battery operated electric blinds

This type of battery operated motor is very convenient especially in newly renovated rooms, where you may not want to dig tracks into the walls and redo the painting work again. With battery-operated electric blinds, all you have to do is install them at your windows and change the batteries every now and then. This model from Velux grants about 1000 operations before changing batteries is needed.

The Siesta system can be applied on either roller blinds or Venetian blinds, both types being easy to install at the windows. It’s an average difficulty do-it-yourself job for an amateur, but a true children’s play for more skilled individuals.

Hunter Douglas battery operated blinds

Here we have multiple types of blinds. Actually the operating system can be attached on most models of window treatments, among the most popular being Hunter Douglas Duette with PowerRise, Hunter Douglas Country Woods with motorized tilt and the Hunter Douglas EverWood with motorized tilt.

Comfortex motorized blinds

What I like most at Comfortex are the innovative names they give to their products. For instance, who wouldn’t be thrilled to have Shangri – La Eternity light filtering shadings at their windows? What’s the meaning of eternity in this context? Leaving jokes aside, these shades are really beautiful, with their translucent sheer fabric. Besides, they offer a feature other similar window blinds don’t: they can be raised even if the adjustable fabric vanes are open. If you need such blinds, I’d warmly recommend you to order some color swatches, because the colors are so special that it’s hard to figure out how well they match with your interiors only by looking at the computer screen. If you want, you can order free swatches online from YourBlinds.com.

No further than 20 years ago, nobody would have imagined that one day would come when we are going to lay down in bed and operate the TV set remotely. Now, not only are we using a remote to switch on and off the TV, but we also zap through channels, we adjust the air conditioning, we start or stop the DVD player. Some of us went even further, creating the motorized window treatment solutions. While it’s in many situations only a matter of laziness and comfort, there are cases when automated window shades are saving us from big hassle. Even if it’s only about a bit more comfort, if you can afford it, then why not? If your grandparents were washing their laundry at the bucket, it doesn’t mean we have to do the same today. Each generation has its time and ours is a time of convenience and simplification of life, so we can have more time for more important things.

Cases of window blinds where automation is highly recommended

Motorized blinds appeared most probably after the skylight windows and roof windows were invented. Those of you who have lived in a home with skylights know how difficult it is to move the blinds up and down using those long poles or those infinite cords that hang all over the place. Leaving aside the household environment, electric blinds proved to be very useful in offices, cinema and theater halls and other public places. Shutting down the blinds in a huge hall with dozens of windows takes either a lot of time or a lot of people to do it simultaneously. By having them automated, everything is done in seconds, just by pushing a button on the remote control.

One of the most special types of rooms for which motorized shades are highly recommended is the conservatory. A conservatory is a room which has more glass than brick walls, plus a glass roof. As spectacular as they may be, conservatories need special window treatments, because of the big surface exposed to direct sunlight. Thermal insulation is a must-have. Remote control blinds are useful, especially if we think that by definition, a conservatory has a very tall roof, taller than average houses do.

Another situation when automatic blinds can prove to be extremely useful is impairing illness. If you can’t get off the bed and you’re bothered by the sunlight, or on the contrary, you feel like reading and there’s not enough light in the room, instead of asking for help, you could just use the remote control and adjust the window blinds as you wish. The benefits are more important than the extra money you have to pay for incorporating the electric motor and the remote.

Types of Motorized Window Treatments

These are the main window coverings that are suitable to go electric:

• Shades
  • Cellular Shades
  • Pleated Shades
  • Skylight Shades
  • Custom Shades
• Blinds
  • Venetian Blinds
  • Mini Blinds
  • Vertical Blinds
  • Skylight Blinds
  • Roof Windows Blinds
• Shutters
• Draperies
• Curtains

We are going to take a look in detail to each category over the next chapters, with indications of manufacturers where you can order electric window treatments.