Ask any of our clients what their favorite feature of their smart home is, and a surprising number will say the shades. Not the theater. Not the lighting. The shades.
It makes sense when you think about how much time you spend interacting with window treatments. Every morning — opening. Every afternoon in summer — blocking the west sun. Every movie night — closing. Every time you forget when you leave for work. It's one of the highest-frequency manual interactions in a home, and it's one that automation handles flawlessly.
Why Lutron
Lutron's Palladiom Shading System is what we specify on nearly every project. Lutron's motor quality is excellent — quiet, precise, long-lasting. The integration with their lighting control system is native and seamless. When you tap a "sunset" scene on your keypad, the lights shift and the shades close simultaneously, exactly as designed.
The Sivoia QS line is our choice for projects where Homeworks QSX is the lighting platform — the integration between Lutron shading and Lutron lighting is unmatched. For projects on Lutron RadioRA 3, the Ketra-integrated shade motors work in the same ecosystem.
The Schedule and Scene Value
This is where automated shades earn their cost. A programmed schedule that opens the bedroom shades at 7:15 AM (not at 6 when the sun starts hitting the east-facing windows, not whenever you finally drag yourself to the window). A noon-hour automatic close on south and west exposures during summer to cut heat gain — this can meaningfully reduce cooling load in an LA summer. An automatic evening close at sunset across the whole house.
Scenes that coordinate lighting and shades together: "movie" lowers all the living room shades and dims the lights. "Entertain" opens everything to the view and brings lighting to a social level.
Working With Your Designer
Shade fabric is a design decision. We work closely with the interior designer on every project — there are hundreds of fabric options across opacity, color, texture, and light-filtering quality. The right choice depends on the room orientation, the view, the interior palette, and the performance requirements.
Layering is common and smart: a solar shade that preserves the view and cuts glare during the day, with a blackout roller behind it for when you need full darkness. Two motors, two fabrics, one pocket — coordinated through the same Lutron system.
Battery vs. Hardwired
New construction: always hardwired. The rough-in is cheap during framing and the system is cleaner.
Retrofit: Lutron's battery-powered motors have gotten genuinely good — 12–18 months between charges, and they integrate with the same Lutron system as hardwired motors. We've done whole-house retrofit shade installs without touching a single finished wall.
