Motorized shades in Park City

Three different jobs in one town

Ask for motorized shades in Park City and the right answer depends on which part of town the house is in. A narrow Old Town home, a Park Meadows family house and a mountain-modern home facing the runs all have big or awkward windows, but the reason to add a motor is different in each. This page walks through those three situations separately. For how the motors themselves work, the fabrics and what happens at a visit, our main motorized roller shades page covers the basics, and the Park City area page covers the town as a whole.

Old Town: tall, narrow and close to the neighbors

Old Town lots are small and steep, so houses go up instead of out. That means stairwell windows two floors above the landing, transoms over doors, and tall narrow openings that face a neighbor a few feet away or a busy sidewalk on Main, Park or Woodside. The motor here is mostly about reach and privacy: a shade above a stair that nobody can safely pull, and street-side rooms that need to close quickly at dusk when people walk past. Renovated historic homes often have deep or out-of-square openings, and some have very little room above the window for a roller. We measure the top, middle and bottom of every opening and check the head space before suggesting an inside or outside mount. Where a remodel is still open, it's worth talking to us before the trim goes on.

Many Old Town properties are nightly rentals for part of the year. A remote on the wall, labeled by room, is easier on guests than a phone app, and it keeps strangers from yanking on a shade they can't reach.

Park Meadows: family rooms, bedrooms and fewer cords

In Park Meadows most people live in the house full time, and the motor earns its place in everyday routines rather than on a showpiece window. The common requests are a west-facing family room that gets hot on summer evenings, a home office that faces snow all winter, and children's bedrooms where the parents want no cords at all. A battery motor on those windows means one button closes the room, schedules can drop the west shades before the sun swings around, and there's no loop for a child to reach. Not every window in a Park Meadows house needs a motor, and we'll usually suggest leaving easy-to-reach bathroom and laundry windows manual in a matching fabric.

Slope-facing glass near the resort

Homes above Lower Park Avenue, around the Town Lift, in Thaynes and up toward the resort bases are often built around a wall of glass that faces Park City Mountain. Those windows are two stories tall, catch winter sun reflected off the snow, and are in plain view of the lifts. Here the motor is about grouping: lowering six or eight shades at once to the same height, so the room stays usable at two in the afternoon and the house looks tidy from the runs. These openings usually need large-window planning for shade widths, seams and where the batteries or charging points will sit. On most of them we pair the motor with a solar fabric so the view stays.

Batteries, charging and the reach question

The motorized shades we install run on rechargeable or replaceable batteries, so there's no new wiring through finished walls. The trade-off is that someone has to recharge them now and then. On a stairwell or a two-story window, we plan the charging point or battery access at the measure, so it's something you can reach from a landing or a short ladder rather than an afterthought. Our battery vs. hardwired guide explains the trade-offs, and our post on leaving shades set while a ski home sits empty covers battery care between visits.

Controls that match how the house is used

A full-time Park Meadows family may want a keypad by the kitchen and a sunrise schedule in the bedrooms. A second home near the resort may want an "away" schedule and app access when the system supports it. An Old Town rental may want nothing but clear wall remotes. We set up what fits the household and explain what each option can and can't do on smart shade control. If your HOA cares about how shades look from outside, read our HOA guide before you choose a fabric color.

When a motor isn't worth it

A small bedroom window you can reach from the bed, a powder room, or a garage door window rarely needs a motor. We'd rather spend your budget on the glass you can't reach and the rooms you use every day. Openings that would need lifts or scaffolding, and hardwired whole-home systems, are outside what we offer, and we'll say so at the visit.