It’s always exciting when the snow starts to melt in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. But in the spring, temperatures can go up and down sporadically as the season transitions from one to the next. How do you keep your home at the right temperature every day and also save energy throughout the year? In this blog we have some tips for you on how to use a lighting and shading control system to stay comfortable and save energy.
SEE ALSO: How to Customize Your Smart Home with Special Scenes
Use an App to Control Lights and Shades Anywhere, Anytime
One of the best things about having a smart home is being able to customize it for your everyday needs and personal preferences. When spring or summer comes, you can set your smart home system to maintain a certain temperature and save energy at the same time.
Adjust your home’s features at any time with an app installed on your phone or tablet. For example, program your motorized shades to lower every day at 11 a.m. when the sun is strong and then raise at dusk. Time your lights to turn on once those shades go down to give you more light.
You could also set your thermostat to lower when it’s hottest, and then raise it once the sun goes down. Then, save the settings to a title of your choosing like “cool down” or “summer mode” so you don’t have to do all the work of putting in the settings again manually.
Create specific sequences or adjust your lights and shades remotely at any moment. You have full control in every weather.
Use Different Shade Fabrics for Varying Seasons
With our motorized shades, you get both performance and beauty. We have various types of fabrics, including ones that block UV rays at various levels, like sheer and blackout. The amount of light you want allowed into your home is up to you. Use super sheer shades in the winter to let daylight in and heat the room, and then blackout shades in the summer to give your AC a break.
We can even install double roller applications that have both types of fabric on the same window. So when the weather fluctuates, your motorized shades will do the same. Get an unexpected snow on Easter morning? Since the sun isn’t out yet, keep your blackout shades down to help insulate the home. Turn your heat up to warm the house and brighten the lighting to liven your mood. As the sun gets higher in the sky and the snow stops falling, re-adjust the temperature and raise the shades to let the sun in.
Another benefit of working with a local automation expert like us is that you can coordinate your technology with interior design style. Our smart solutions never sacrifice beauty for functionality. Get the color and the fabric you want and still reap amazing benefits in the process.
Our team can design a climate control and energy-saving system that keeps you cool in the summer, or warm in the winter too! Just fill out this online form to get started!
In the wintertime, the daylight leaves us earlier, and we tend to spend more time inside. Even in sunny Orlando, Florida it can be easy to get off schedule and feel affected by the time change. One unique benefit of having lighting and shading control is that you can keep your family on a schedule and ensure your home looks beautiful all year round.
You could have stunning furnishings, lovely colors on the walls and artwork throughout your spaces, but the wrong lighting settings will affect the overall look and feel of your home. Control Designer not only meets Florida homeowners’ basic needs of lighting and shading installation, but we also incorporate lighting fixtures, designs, and automation into the overall look and feel of your home. Here are three ways we use lighting and shading control design to make your property look gorgeous.
When you hire Control Designer to install your lighting, we go above and beyond to make your home look as beautiful as possible. As professional lighting installers, we have the ability to strategically place your lights in the right spots to not only illuminate your spaces but also highlight and complement décor. Downlights for example can be placed in the kitchen under cabinets to brighten your beautiful marble countertops, or even near your hanging artwork to bring attention to your favorite pieces. We’ll also ensure each light is evenly spaced and distributed so that every area has coverage. If you enjoy spending time outside, outdoor lighting can help illuminate your driveway, gardens, pool, or patio.
Once you’ve invested in home furnishings, it’s equally important to protect them. Window treatments help preserve your chairs, couches, and artwork since they block harmful UV rays. Solar shades are made of a special material that is able to let in light, but prevent the sun’s rays from harming your home. Double roller applications allow you to use two different types of shades for various uses. We can install a blackout shade for when you want complete privacy or want to enjoy a movie, and also a solar shade for the daytime when you want to let some natural light in but also keep your furnishings in top condition.
Lighting levels are a big part of setting the mood in your home. Bright lighting can invigorate you while soft lighting can make you feel relaxed. Our dimmers make it easy to enhance your lighting and control your environment for every occasion. Reduce the lighting level for a romantic dinner with your partner, or turn them all the way up to full capacity for a high-energy workout in your home gym. Of course, you can always experience the magic of automation as well by integrating your lighting with other functions. Using your control system, save settings together – dim the chandelier in the dining room, turn on the jazz playlist, and set the thermostat to a cozy 74. Hit one button and you’re ready for a relaxing night in. All you need is a nice bottle of wine.
Your motorized shades can also play a part in making your home a cozy and inviting space. Sync your shades and lights together so that when the sun is bright, you get to enjoy the natural brilliance by opening the shades and dimming the artificial lights. Then as the sun sets, your shades will draw to give your family privacy and the lights will slowly get brighter until evening comes.
SEE ALSO: How to Control Your Home with Your Voice
Lights can be automated with local weather and time of day to brighten or lower at needed times. With occupancy sensors, lights can turn on and off automatically once you walk in or leave a room. With time of day, lights can turn on at low levels to create pathways in the middle of the night or turn on high levels when you want to clean.
Would you like us to install a lighting and shading control system in your home? Simply fill out this contact form online.
Residents in the Winter Park, Florida area know how fickle the weather can be. The sky will be sunny and bright one moment, and then dark and stormy the next. Fortunately, lighting and shading control can help you deal with the moody weather. Our intelligent systems can adjust the lighting in your home for every scenario. And weather monitoring is just the beginning. We’ve compiled five areas where intelligent lighting and shading control can improve both your home and your lifestyle.
SEE ALSO: What Really Makes a Home Smart?
How much energy does your home waste each year on unnecessary lighting? According to the Energy Resource Center, the U.S. wastes between 61 and 86 percent of energy. That’s a staggering statistic to make you think twice about leaving a light on. With an intelligent lighting control system, you can go green without any extra effort. Occupancy sensors automatically adjust lights whenever someone enters or leaves a room, daylight sensors identify when to raise or lower shades to take advantage of natural light, and a smart grid keeps track of energy trends over time.
Another big concern is how the sun’s heat can raise the temperature within your home, causing your HVAC system to have to work that much harder to cool the space. Shades block the heat from the sun, reflecting it back away from the room so that your home stays cool without the HVAC system blasting 24/7. The result is a lower energy bill and a much smaller carbon footprint.
Sunlight can be your valuables’ worst enemy, especially if the items are leather or have dyes and inks in them. Once exposed to natural light, things like furniture, rugs, paintings and photographs lose their vibrant colors and fade. In addition, sun exposure is usually irreversible. That’s why it’s important to control the sunlight in your home with shades.
Often our busy lives prevent us from remembering to draw the curtains or blinds. With home automation, the technology does it all for you. Motorized shade controls allow you to pre-program the shades to lift at specific times of day, or you could install a special daylight sensor in the windows to trigger the control system to draw the curtains. We have special UV-resistant roller shades that still allow light in, but prevent the negative effects of the sun.
When you think of home security, your lighting and shades probably don’t come to mind. But with intelligent automation systems, your lights can help keep your home secure while you’re away. One of the biggest factors that affects whether or not a home is targeted by thieves is the “lived in look.” Essentially, if your home looks like people are staying in it on a regular basis, the thieves will move on to easier prey.
Your lighting control system can be designed with a “Vacation” setting that has your lights and shades mimic the usage patterns of your home life. Lights turn on in the evening just as they normally would, then go out throughout the house at bedtime. Your shades move without you there to adjust them, and burglars casing your house will be none the wiser.
Your home has many uses: intimate dinners with family, fun and exciting parties with friends, and relaxing evenings alone. For each situation, you’re going to want different lighting and shading. That’s where personalized scenes really make a difference. You can set the exact lighting and shading you want for each common situation you find yourself in, then save those settings as scenes. For example, a “Movie Night” scene could lower the shades and dim the overhead lights in your family room, leaving only subtle lighting so you can see as you walk in and out of the room. A “Goodnight” scene could close all of the shades and turn off the lights throughout the house.
Instead of walking through your home every evening closing shades and turning off lights, imagine the convenience of pressing a single button and having it all done for you. When you’re cuddled up in bed watching TV and the morning sun is causing a glare on the screen, you don’t have to get up and close the shades. Again, a single press of a button is all it takes.
Are you ready to make your Winter Park home more convenient, energy efficient, and secure? Contact us today to get started on a customized solution perfect for your home.