Are Wireless Shades the Best Option for Your Home?

Very few technology upgrades are as simple and rewarding as adding motorized shades to your home. Even just adding a few throughout the house will reduce your monthly energy bills, make your TV sessions more enjoyable and enhance your family’s privacy. Not only that, but motorized shades reduce clutter by eliminating the need for cords and wands to manage them.

If not installed correctly, though, motorized shades can bring some dangerous clutter of their own. Once you add the shades, you need to power them, which in a worst-case-scenario means messy wires running from the window to the nearest outlet. 

Wireless battery-operated shades offer one excellent alternative for a more streamlined installation. You can also go with professionally installed hard-wired solutions with wires hidden behind walls. Once you read this blog outlining the pros and cons of each option, you’ll be able to gauge which is the best one for your Atlanta, GA home. 

SEE MORE: Why Your Shades Need to Be About More Than Just Style

Should You Go with Battery-Powered Shades?  

These days devices ranging from speakers to thermostats like to boast about their wireless capabilities. Reducing wires is always a big perk, but it's still worth considering how doing so will affect performance. Even with something as simple as shades, there are pros and cons involved with a wireless approach.  

On the positive side, battery-powered shades are much easier to install and generally cheaper than their hard-wired counterparts. Especially when it comes to retrofit solutions where you don’t want to be pulling walls for a wiring foundation, these are often the ideal option.  

For many people, the main negative is having to switch out batteries down the line. The good news is that our partners at Lutron offer batteries that last from 3-5 years and are easy to access from the front, so you don't have to remove the shade to make the change.

Is a Hard-Wired Solution the Right Choice?

Professionals will keep wires hidden within walls so hard-wired solutions don’t affect your interior décor, but this option will require additional time and money compared with battery-powered shades.  

Hard-wired installations make that additional investment worthwhile by offering more reliability and a greater lifespan. You have greater variety when it comes to fabrics, models and control options. Their motors are also quieter, which is perfect for sound-sensitive rooms like bedrooms or home theaters.

Most battery-powered shades are limited to roller or honeycomb models. Lutron offers additional blinds and drapery models in their wired solutions. You can also customize them with the fabrics and colors that best fit your design, with experts available to guide you on your choices along the way.

Perhaps the most significant benefit of wired shades is that they're easier to integrate with your lighting control or home automation system. While most battery-powered shades work through mobile apps or dedicated remotes, the possibilities are practically endless with hard-wired ones. Choose from voice control, motion sensors, timers, or dedicated touchpads to manage them.

Still not sure whether wireless or wired motorized shades are the ideal fit for your home? Set up a consultation with one of our shading experts by calling (770) 258-6614, filling out our contact form, or clicking the chat box in the bottom right corner of your browser.