There are few categories currently in the custom installation industry that are as hot and trendy as shades. 

Lighting and shades are opening new doors for integrators addressing the needs of modern homeowners that want more than a nice home theater or even a robust network to stream and work from home (WFH).

Today’s shade products allow integrators to help their clients control their homes’ energy efficiency and natural sunlight simply and easily. Offering integrators a choice of indoor and outdoor shades, Powershades offers integrators a complete product line that includes a choice of styles, materials and power options that include its Verona Daylight product. 

Working with the company, I measured a pair of windows in my living room that let in an enormous amount of sunlight during the day to help manage the situation. 

Responding promptly, once my wife had chosen the fabric type and color, Powershades sent along the shades with the Verona Daylight material for my wife and I to install and live with now that we’ve entered the direct sun, winter months in Massachusetts. 

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Powershades Verona Daylight Shades Features and Setup

Circling back to a couple of things I mentioned earlier: Powershades offers a large variety of hardware styles, power options that include battery, PoE and manual. I also noted the company offers a large selection of fabrics—realistically too many types to list, and of course the company makes custom sizes to support just about any installation scenario. 

For our application, my wife chose the Verona Daylight, which is a privacy blackout material from Mermet. 

Choosing a specific color, my wife picked “Nova” (000NOV). The Verona Daylight fabric is described as a fancy weave with an openness factor of <1%. According to Powershades, the fabric is rated to provide 99% UV blockage, and it is classified NFPA 701-10 TM#1, California U.S. Title 19.

Moving on to the hardware, my wife chose an open roll style shade with the company’s “old” antique brass finish. 

CE Pro Features:

• Power options include everything from manual to PoE
• A wealth of solar, light blocking and light filtering materials, as well as colors are available
• Powershades customizes the exact size of the shades to complement a range of windows
• Open roll, cassette and fascia are among the housing styles offered
• Powershades also offers outdoor shade solutions

Once I submitted the measurements for the windows to Powershades they turned the order around in about 10 days—which was much faster than I had anticipated. 

With the shades at my home, I unpacked the boxes and pulled out the shades and bags of hardware that were shipped. Confident with the ease of install, Powershades told me the installation is similar to a traditional shade product, so I enlisted my wife to help me with the installation (full disclosure, prior to this installation, I’ve never installed a shade in my life, but my wife has installed many). 

Laying the hardware out, we grabbed a drill, screwdrivers, a pencil and level. After figuring out the assembly of the shades—Powershades sent shades with the electric power option—we were able to install the first shade. Realizing that we had installed the “right” shade on the left window we pulled the shade down and a few minutes later we had the left shade covering the left window and the right shade covering the right window. 

The packaging could have been marked better for us to differentiate the left and right shades, but it wasn’t a big deal. Installing the Powershades Verona Daylight shades without any sort of training wasn’t a big deal either. My wife and I concluded that after performing the installation once we could streamline our installation efficiency and become more proficient performing the installation of the products. With that said, if someone wants training, Powershades offers online videos and pdfs, and those materials may help to expedite the setup process. 

With the shades physically installed, the last step was to program the companion remote control, including the shades operational limit parameters. 

Going online I found a video that explains how to program the remote and set those parameters and that was it. The remote functions took a few minutes to finalize and we were ready to go. 

Performance and Final Thoughts

With the shades installed and running we have primarily used them to help control the amount of light that enters our living room, particularly when someone is watching TV during the weekends. 

The sunlight washes out the screen, and it creates a lot of glare on the screen too. Upgrading to a Sony X85J series KD50X85J 2021 4K television from a 2014 Vizio has made some difference due to its increased brightness capabilities and overall, much better image quality. However, the new Sony did not completely resolve the issue.  

Having the Powershades Verona Daylight blackout shade products did resolve the issue. During peak daylight hours we are able to grab the remote control and eliminate the sunlight that’s affecting our TV viewing experience. Once day turns to night, we grab the remote and bring the shades up and go about our business. 

When the shades are down, I think my wife did a good job of picking out a fabric color that complements our living room … the shades look good when they are deployed. 

Just to get an idea of how loud the shades are when they are operating, if anyone is familiar with the old Stewart Filmscreens’ retractable projection screens, I think the Powershades are a little quieter than my first-generation retractable FireHawk screen. So, it is pretty quiet and I think that as the material breaks in, it could get a little quieter as it moves up and down. 

Having the shades really does make a difference in the quality of video, particularly with a nice TV like Sony’s latest products, and I am sure in the summer months they could also have an impact on energy consumption of my house and the amount of air conditioning we use. 

Other than the little bit of the learning curve we endured during the installation as on-the-job training—which I will underscore was not that bad—the installation of the Powershades Verona Daylight shade products in my living room was great. Putting in another way, if we can figure out the installation in a reasonable timeframe, I am sure installers will have no issue with the installation of these products. 

Additionally, as a solution that brings style and functionality to the home, I think Powershades has hit a home run. Based on my experience of choosing the type of shade, material and color; the quick order turnaround, the installation and functionality of the products, I am impressed with Powershades. 

Click here to see more photos of the product’s packaging, cabling and more.

CE Pro Verdict:

Pros:

• The products install reasonably quickly without any training
• Powershades offers a number of style and fabric options
• Remote options make the shades convenient to use

Cons:

• There was some guess work to piece together the installation of the shades
• Support could be better organized

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