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Choosing the Best Outdoor Shades for Your Home

A home’s exterior showing shading from Progressive Screens lowered around a patio area.

How The Patented MagnaTrack Stands Out

When it comes to enhancing the comfort, usability, and aesthetic appeal of your outdoor spaces, selecting the right shading solution is crucial! Whether it's for a patio, porch, or outdoor kitchen, the ideal shades offer protection from the elements and blend seamlessly with your architecture, contributing to the overall ambiance of your Northbrook, IL, home.

With a variety of options available in the industry, it can be a daunting task to choose the best fit. However, for those looking for an innovative, reliable, and versatile shading solution, the MagnaTrack shading system from Progressive Screens is a standout choice. Keep reading below to find out more!

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What Is the Best Brand of Solar Shades?

A modern enclosed patio with retractable solar shades, showcasing an outdoor dining area with rattan chairs and tables.

Why We Recommend Progressive Screens for Our Clients 

Picture the perfect outdoor family gathering in your backyard: the sun is shining, but nobody is squinting or uncomfortable. That's the magic outdoor solar shades bring to your Highland Park, IL, home. With the right shades, patios, decks, and porches transform into year-round retreats for relaxation and entertainment. Progressive Screens offers outdoor solar shades that shield against the sun's glare, reduce heat, and even protect against pesky bugs. This blog explores how their products make your home the ultimate destination, regardless of season. 

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Outdoor Motorized Shades Provide Comfort, Beauty, and Privacy

Outdoor motorized shades partially lowered around a patio area with furniture and a grill.

Enjoy the Pinnacle of Outdoor Living

Living along Lake Michigan in Lake Forest, IL, comes with incredible beauty, open spaces, and the opportunity to live in one of the most desirable suburbs in the nation. In this community, many homeowners have made their outdoor spaces extensions of their homes, a seamless flow of indoor and outdoor living carried by music and outdoor audio, fireplaces and firepits, and outdoor kitchens and grills. Essentially, it's the pinnacle of outdoor living.

You can maximize these living spaces using outdoor motorized shades, also known as retractable screens. These shades become part of the outdoor living design, added to three-season additions, patios, decks, outdoor kitchens, gazebos, and even garages. They create more livable space while retaining beautiful views. With the touch of a button, you create comfort, protection, and privacy.

In the world of automated outdoor screens, one company stands above the rest—Progressive Screens. 

Let's explore their benefits and features and how to maximize the time you enjoy your outdoor areas.

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Winter Is Here… Thankfully So Are Motorized Shades

Two dining room windows featuring Lutron motorized shades.

Motorized Shades Will Save You Time, Energy & Money through the Winter and beyond 

Now that cold weather has made its way to Wilmette, IL, it is once again time to watch the temperature readings go down and the energy bills go up. Unless, of course, you own a smart home with an integrated climate control system. 

At Avidia, we have everything you need to keep your home warm and energy efficient through the cold months ahead. That means smart thermostats, automated lights, and even motorized shades. Best of all, these same devices will cool you down in the summer as well! 

In this article, we will explore the different ways that motorized shades will save you time, energy, and money through the winter months and beyond! 

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3 Unique Applications for Your Lutron Shades

A living room with Lutron motorized shades halfway down

Add more convenience to your lifestyle with Lutron’s motorized shades

Motorized shades are subtle yet powerful additions to enhance your interior design and increase the comfort of your spaces. With the variety of fabrics that Lutron’s battery-powered solutions offer, you can bring more colors and textures into your décor while enjoying the convenience of managing your shades with one simple touch of your Lutron app. 

While all those benefits are great reasons to incorporate automated window treatments, the perks of motorized shades don’t end here. Keep reading our blog to learn three unique ways your shading system enhances your lifestyle.

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Enhance Your Home’s Style With Smart Lighting

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Lighting can be one of your home’s biggest design element. Once you've picked out the right furnishing and painted the walls your desired color, it's time for lighting to do its work. It’s not only about what fixtures you include or where you place them; it's about how you use them. That's where a smart home lighting control system steps in. With centralized access to your lights, it’s easy to manage them to set the mood or highlight specific features.

See More: How Many Ways Can You Control the Lights in Your Home

Set the Perfect Lighting With Dimmers

A major element in interior design is texture. This has to do as much with your couch material as it does your lights. Through the use of dimmers, you can find the level you want for every fixture in your home from LEDs to floor and table lamps. With centralized control, you can find each light within your user interface and set its specific level. By setting different levels for each fixture you create texture in your lighting, adding depth to your space while spotlighting certain features.

Make Stylish Arrangements With Scenes

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How Do Motorized Shades Work? Avidia Tells All.

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Explore the Many Uses & Benefits of Automated Blinds

When it comes to the subject of motorized shades, you may be wondering—haven’t people gotten by with manual window treatments for many years? Why would anyone need motorized shades? The introduction of new technologies often prompts this question. But the more you learn about this smart solution, the more you will discover how it can benefit your household.

To learn how motorized shades work and all they can accomplish in your Glenview, IL home, continue reading below!

 

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How to Make the Most of Your Patio with Outdoor Motorized Shades

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SEE ALSO: How do Motorized Shades Work? Avidia Tells All

 

Blocking Wind

Chicago isn't known as the Windy City for nothing. Our proximity to Lake Michigan and relatively flat geography can make for windy conditions even on lovely days. With outdoor motorized shades, one touch of a button can lower shades and help minimize the wind. So enjoy that meal outside on a sunny and crisp day. Add a patio heater, and even cool spring and fall days are fair game for outdoor entertainment.

 

Temperature Control

Even though we mentioned three seasons, you could go further and take advantage of sunny winter days too. If you opt for thicker screen fabrics that have more insulation properties, when you add a patio heater or fire pit (or both) you could be sipping a warming hot chocolate in cozy comfort on your patio. It might feel a little bit like camping outside, only much more comfortable.  

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Transform Your Home with Lutron Lighting and Shading Solutions

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SEE ALSO: How Many Ways Can You Control the Lights in Your Home?

 

Tailored Lighting Solutions for Any Size Home

Start small in one room or integrate smart lighting control throughout your entire home with Lutron lighting systems. Lutron offers multiple lighting control solutions perfect for any space and budget. Plus, their control systems are easily scalable, so if you want to begin in the kitchen and bedrooms but expand to other areas later, you can.

Wired and wireless dimmers, switches, and keypads make commanding single or grouped lighting fixtures simple by replacing standard wall switches with dimming and integrated control capabilities. Lutron also works seamlessly with your Control4 home automation system so you can integrate your lights with other devices and control everything from the same interface.

Reap the benefits of tunable lighting that changes in color temperature and intensity to mimic natural light. Ketra tunable LEDs, now part of the Lutron portfolio, can be fine-tuned to color temperatures ranging from 1,400K to 10,000K, bathing your home in the perfect lighting for any task or time of day.

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Office:
655 Academy Drive
Northbrook, IL 60062
p:  (847) 868-9200
8am -5pm CT

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Office:
655 Academy Drive
Northbrook, IL 60062
p:  (847) 868-9200
8am -5pm CT

Join our mailing list
Stay up to date on the latest smart technology ideas and innovations.