Smart Blinds for Darker Evenings: Privacy at the Touch of a Button

As autumn arrives and the evenings start drawing in, we naturally spend more time at home with the lights on. It is also the time of year when we become much more aware of our windows.

During the summer, you might leave your blinds open well into the evening. By autumn, it can be dark outside before you have even finished work. With the lights on indoors, it becomes much easier for people outside to see into your home.

Closing your blinds is a simple way to give your home more privacy. With motorised blinds and smart controls, you do not necessarily have to be there to do it yourself.

Make Your Blinds Part of Your Daily Routine

Motorised blinds are something we often recommend for convenience, particularly where you have several blinds or windows that are difficult to reach. However, when combined with Somfy’s TaHoma smart hub, there is much more you can do with them.

TaHoma allows compatible motorised blinds to be controlled through an app on your smartphone or tablet. Rather than walking around the house opening and closing each blind individually, you can control them together or create routines to suit the way you use your home.

For example, you could have your bedroom blinds open as part of your morning routine and then have the blinds downstairs close again in the evening.

Importantly at this time of year, those routines do not have to rely on a fixed time. TaHoma can create scheduled scenes based around sunrise and sunset, so your blinds can close as daylight fades, even as sunset gets progressively earlier through the autumn and winter.

Close Your Blinds Even When You’re Not Home

One of the useful things about smart blinds is that you can still control them when you are away from home.

If you are going to be home after dark, for example, you can use your phone to close compatible blinds remotely rather than leaving your windows uncovered until you get back.

It is a relatively small feature, but one that can make a noticeable difference to how private and comfortable your home feels during the darker months.

There are useful options when you are away for longer periods too. TaHoma can be used as part of a wider smart-home setup, with scenes combining compatible blinds, lighting and other connected equipment. Somfy also offers a holiday scene designed to simulate occupancy by operating equipment at different times while you are away.

More Than Just Opening and Closing

Smart control also gives you the opportunity to make your blinds respond more closely to conditions around your home.

With compatible sensors and the right setup, TaHoma can use factors such as sunlight and temperature within automated scenes. Your blinds could therefore react to strong sunshine or changes in temperature rather than waiting for you to adjust them manually.

It means motorisation is not simply about replacing a blind cord or chain with a button. Your blinds can become part of a system that responds to your routine and how you want your home to feel throughout the day.

Are Smart Blinds Right for Your Home?

You certainly do not need a fully connected smart home to benefit from motorised blinds. Some customers simply want the convenience of opening and closing a blind with a remote control, while others want to automate several blinds and integrate them with other smart-home equipment.

The best option will depend on your windows, the blinds you choose and what you would actually like them to do.

If you are interested in motorised blinds or would like to see how Somfy TaHoma could work in your home, speak to our team. We can talk you through the different options and help you find a solution that suits your home and the way you use it.

Contact us to arrange a free, personalised quotation, or visit our Norwich showroom to discuss your options with our team.