Home theater lighting is something you should consider once you’ve got the basics of your home theater set-up, and want to go a bit further and create an atmosphere in your theater. One of the best ways to create the right atmosphere in any room is by using lighting, and home theater lighting has the added advantage that it actually improves the quality of the image on a screen. Most of us are used to watching movies in darkness, and its generally agreed that all displays are at their best when the room is dark. So you just switch all the lights off, right? Well, yes and no. You need the lights on to get yourself set-up and operate the remote control before the movie starts, the last thing you want is to have to get up and cross the room to switch the lights off. The answer is to have a remote control home theater lighting system with which you can dim or switch-off the lights from the comfort of your sofa. This can either be bult-in if you’re starting from scratch, or retro-fitted to an existing setup.

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For those who are tired of pulling at their curtains and ruining the fold arrangement, manufacturers have come up with a wide offer of motorized drapes. Darkening or letting the light in is just a touch away due to the more or less sophisticated devices that lie behind this revolutionary drape model. The first willing to turn to such technological advantages are home owners that have dressed their windows with pretty heavy insulating curtains, given the fact that motorized drapes can provide control over at least sixty pounds of draperies. This makes remote closing and opening a piece of cake actually.

In the last few decades, architects have demonstrated their creativity with lovely arched or chapel windows. These windows, although attractive in appearance, often present a challenge to decorators. This is particularly true for windows that are positioned to allow sunlight to enter during the day. One elegant solution to this dilemma is arched window treatments. Before these products were designed, homeowners had few options for regulating the amount of sunlight that filtered through arched windows. They could use window treatments such as drapes or valances that partially blocked sun rays, or they could use shutters that blocked light altogether.

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Your decorating choices “customize” your home by reflecting your personality and interests. And nothing makes a more immediate design statement than your window treatments. While curtains, draperies, blinds and the like can be found in stores ranging from the big box home improvement stores to department stores to on-line sites; custom made window treatments ensure that you will never see your window treatments in someone else’s home! A custom window covering is professionally designed specifically for your window. A professional drapery designer or workroom can enhance and reinforce the mood you have chosen for that room by offering you a wide variety of choices. Many drapery designers now use design software that lets you see how the treatments will look in your room before the treatments are made.

Choosing the right blinds and shades can get a little more complicated than these few choices. For example there are motorized blinds, cordless, valance options, wand control and more. But for the purposes of this article I will stick mostly to the major themes as mentioned above. Once you have chosen the appropriate blind, shade, shutter or drape, you can decide if you want to add any of the convenience options offered by the manufacturer.

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Motorized Window Treatments
Motorized controls are a huge convenience if you have very tall arched windows to cover. At the touch of a button, you can set whatever lighting and filtering you want by angling window blind slats or raising and lowering the stack for even more flexibility. The motorized cellular shades are not too expensive to install, but do remember to consider wiring needs. Integrated lighting control systems can even dim or brighten the lights in concert with the setting of arched top window blinds or shades. You can have a setting for waking to filtered early morning sunlight, one for late evening privacy, and another for rainy days when it’s dark out and you want to let in every last bit of natural light!

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Stewart Filmscreen Corporation®, the industry leader in precision projection screen technologies for the commercial and residential markets, today announced their first window treatment product, the Ambience Shade, a convenient and beautiful solution for systems integrators that must control and black out sunlight in commercial applications. In the past, projected light and ambient light didn’t work well together. Today rooms with a view and a top-end front projection system are no longer incompatible due to Stewart’s advancements in projection screen technology. Now it is possible to view a clean, vibrant and detailed image even with a lot of ambient light. However, there are those times when it’s necessary to control the amount of light (and heat) entering your windows. For those situations, Stewart provides the Ambience Shade.

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The remote control has become a standard element in the lives of many people around the world. Most will have a remote to their TV and stereo systems, while others may have remotes to other things such as their computer or printer. But what about having remote control blinds? That’s right… instead of having to use a cord to open, close or draw up your window covering, you can conveniently use a remote control. These are known specifically as motorized blinds, since a motor is used as part of their mechanism.

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