(NC) – According to the experts, motorized shades are hotter than ever – and no wonder.
Energy management, convenience, glare control, privacy, and security, UV protection for furniture and carpeting, plus an increasing number of skylights and hard-to-reach windows are cited as the leading reasons why.
With or without power, Hunter Douglas window treatments excel as window dressing solutions. Now the company has announced its new Platinum App to give you more precise than ever before of its battery-powered products from your mobile device.
This is the first ‘shade-control’ app available as a free download with no service fees. The Platinum App is controlled directly from an Apple mobile device – and the setup is easy and requires minimal hardware. After a few short, preliminary steps, the app lets you operate all the Hunter Douglas window coverings in your home (or in your rooms) at the same time, or one shade at a time – in real time. Or, you can use the timer feature to schedule your shade movement for later. Operate the window coverings by scene (activity), by room or by time.
The Platinum App puts you in control without complicated wiring or the added expense of an electrician. Other benefits at your fingertips will be:
• Enhanced energy efficiency: You can set your shades to lower when the sun is the hottest or raise them in the winter to let in the solar heat to help manage heating and cooling costs. You can also adjust window covering vanes and slats to harvest light deep into the room to reduce the need for artificial lighting.
• Convenience: With the app, any media room takes on a “Hollywoodian” air. Prefer your window dressings positioned a particular way when you’re reading? No problem. Create a personalized “scene” with the app and it will move the window treatments to the exact position you wish, whenever you wish. It’s simple to program and easy to use. In fact, a single swipe of the app’s slider bars can tilt and raise or lower the product.
• Glare control: Having trouble with the glare on your computer screen while finishing that proposal for the office or emails to friends and family? The app gives you total control.
• Privacy and security: Many homes these days are built cheek-to-jowl, requiring something special to guard one’s privacy and security…and comfort level. The app lets you adjust your window fashions for when you are not at home. Set scenes and raise them during the day, lower them at night, or raise some and lower others to avoid suspicion and help protect your home.
• UV protection: We all know the havoc the sun’s ultraviolet rays play on our skin. The same holds true with artwork and furnishings. If exposed to too much sunlight they can fade, discolour or become otherwise damaged. Obtain the happy medium – sun protection with light and a view – with products such as Silhouette and Pirouette window shadings. The sheer facings protect against UV rays even when the vanes are open. With the app, you can adjust the vanes as the sun becomes brighter and more control is needed.
• Difficult-to-reach windows: We all love the look of skylights and oversized windows, but most of us don’t like having to get out the ladders to reach them. Hunter Douglas points to its SkyLift, a new system that covers skylight window openings of up to 80 square feet. The Platinum App works on products with this option as well, for control above and beyond expectations.
• Child safety: Motorized treatments are free of operating cords, making them ideal for homes with tots underfoot.
Motorization has gone mobile and it’s not going back.
More information is available online at http://www.hunterdouglas.ca.
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