2 years ago I put beautiful roller shades in my large family room window after a huge remodel. They are beautiful, but I miss the ability to control light, and the "all up or down" situation. We also need to control our light due to hardwood floors, so we have kept them mostly open. Now our backyard neighbors have put in a two-story addition. I wish I had stayed with blinds, faux wood or wood. I am curios how faux wood ceh4010 used in Las Vegas are holding up to the heat and sunlight. We live in a similar climate.

Before having any wiring done, you need to decide on what product you are using! Most of our customers go with the battery-powered motorization (because the shades are installed post-construction). But, with our customers who have chosen to go with the hard-wired option, we started working with them and their contractor during the construction phase, so everyone was on the same page as to wiring, specs, etc. If you are going to spend the money to have hard-wired shades, find a good local company to work with. If they know what they are doing, they will work with the contractor/electrician. Plus, you want someone who knows how to repair and troubleshoot these shades if there are issues after installation (always a possibility with electronics).

My wired solar shades (south facing windows) are Lutron and are awesome and whisper quiet. These are hard wired as it was a new build. For my vacation house I installed rechargeable battery motorized shades and like them also. Not as beautiful and quiet as the Lutron but I like that I can control the unreachable upper windows in my vaulted room. Another advantage is if you have a large quantitiy of windows (I have 9 in my master suite) the electric ones can be grouped together and opened/shut together rather than manually doing 9 seperate windows in the morning and evening. I still have manual shades in some rooms that only have one or two easily accessible windows. It really depends on your situation whether its worth the extra expense.

WOW Great spaces. Really liking all that natural light. While I may well be in the minority, I'd like to suggest you at least consider vertical blinds. Before downsizing, I had them in the living/entry space, the den and the dining room. Would definitely use them again if I ever again have an other sliding glass patio door. They come in vinyl, wood, faux wood and fabric . I'd personally recommend the vinyl and using all one neutral color -- white or beige. Vertical blinds make it a lot easier to use the doors as doors and open and close them for that purpose -- or you can quickly just push them aside in an emergency. They're great for light control because in addition to open or closed -- pulled over the door and completely shut or pulled all the way to the side and fully opened -- when pulled over the door, the slates can be straight -- fully open -- or you can choose partially open with the tilt of the slats in either direction ... you gauge how much of a tilt and in what direction based upon sunlight available (and from what direction) and how much of it you do or do not want to let fully into the room.