Cascade Blog

Now any home can be a smart home

Nov 26, 2017

A few years ago, a smart home may have been something you saw in episodes of Tomorrow’s World, Eureka or The Jetsons, the thought of being able to control items in your home at the touch of a button was a very sci-fi concept to some, or so expensive to implement only the mega-rich could afford it, but not anymore.

Many homes have hubs that have the ability to connect to multiple devices via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, so you can now quickly and easily build a home network, controlling devices and items from a single point, be it your music through a Sonos app or watching Amazon Prime Video through a Roku box the controls are at your fingertips.

Well with Cascade Blinds you can also control much more, we specialise in light control through our smart shade systems, controlling you blinds, shades, curtains and awnings with an app on your mobile device, a dedicated remote control or even a wall mounted button, just like a light switch, there’s an option to suit everyone. With recent software updates and integrations, you can also now control everything simply by saying what you want! For example, using an Amazon Echo or Google Smart Home device, you can simply ask your curtains to close themselves, or tell your blinds to let in a little more light, as our MD demonstrates in the video below.

But I’m not finished yet, you can also use the power of extra applications to automate your life further, incorporating a system like ‘IF THIS THEN THAT’ (or IFTTT) you can set up a million more options, if you decide that you want your curtains to close at a particular time you can set that, if you want you security camera to send you a notification when it detects something you can set that, if you want your Philips Hue lights to come on once you disarm your home alarm system then you can set that, or if you want your blinds to lower when the room gets too bright then you can set that.

This may all seem complex but it’s really not, it is as simple as deciding that ‘IF THIS’ happens ‘THEN THAT’ should happen (see what they did there with the name of the web app, smart eh!). I’ll be writing a piece soon to tell you all about the power of IFTTT but it really is easy to use and can make forgetting to turn the lights off a thing of the past.

Cascade Blinds can supply and fit everything you need to automate you window dressings, and lots of other smart home tech, with a huge choice of blinds and shade types accompanied by an even bigger range of fabric choices and designs, there really is a style to suit everyone.

So why not pop in to our studio at 9 Chanonry Road South, Elgin, Moray IV30 6NG to try out the different systems and see how home automation can simplify your life, and remember, now any home can be a smart home, with Cascade Blinds.