Our New Lighting Demo Space Helps You Visualize The Impact of Lighting Choices and Control

Lighting design is both an art and a science. There are guidelines, rules, and skills that professional lighting designers use to add functional illumination to a space and make it aesthetically pleasing. If you are an interior or lighting designer, architect, or builder, you have an eye and experience in how lighting affects your projects.

Barrett’s Technology Solutions is not a lighting designer, but we do offer lighting installation and control solutions for the Chicago area and Lake Geneva, WI, clients. We aim to partner with design and build professionals to show you what's possible with the latest LED lighting and control solutions. To that end, we are excited to announce our new Lighting Lab – a place you and your clients can visualize and experience some of the latest lighting technology and how you might use that in your projects.

Please continue reading below to learn more about what you can experience in our new Chicago lighting lab!

Style and Substance Combine to Perfection with Lutron Keypads

As a design professional, you understand both form and function. Many things in homes need to deliver on everyday functionality and achieve that without sacrificing aesthetics. Lighting is one area where you need to add functional illumination and do it in a welcoming, aesthetically pleasing way.

Let's continue the discussion about lighting but focus on how it's controlled. The lowly light switch is functional, but even adding a dash of color to Decora doesn't make them beautiful. Worse, the many lights in your high-end projects can sometimes result in "wall acne," where there are too many banks of switches in the room. Is there a solution to this unfortunate triumph of function over form? Yes, if you incorporate Lutron lighting control and their elegant keypad controls in your Chicago projects. Keep reading below to learn more about two of Lutron’s most elegant – and smart – keypad lines.

How Home Automation Lets You Worry Less and Enjoy More

With Halloween just behind us, we’re now barreling headlong into the holiday season in Hinsdale. With it, the Illinois fall is also in full swing, and winter – well, it does come early here! But you can be ready for the holidays with a little help from a Savant home automation system. Savant's smart home features can take care of little things, give you peace of mind, and make holiday entertaining just a little easier.

There's a lot to do for the holidays. Whether it's ordering gifts, getting the house decorated, keeping the holiday lights working, or ensuring all the meals and parties are affairs to remember. As always, you’ll be busy! Let a Savant home automation systems take a bit of the load. Here are four of our favorite ways you can enjoy the holidays more with home automation.

Chicagoland builders and designers should keep these systems in mind for their next retrofit or new construction projects

We’re well into spring at this point in the year, which is both a seasonal high point for buying and selling homes. It’s also the time homeowners start thinking about spring cleaning, and both factors make this an ideal time for builders and designers to suggest smart home upgrades for their clients.

But how do you stand out in a crowded market, especially as automation technology becomes increasingly common in homes? As the Chicago area’s leading smart home company, we’d suggest these three systems for your next project.

Everything you as a homeowner needs to know about smart lighting solutions for your home

They may not be something you think about a lot, but your home’s light fixtures play a major role in setting the mood for a room, as well as how you feel. Even if it’s just at a subconscious level, you know that darker lighting in a room puts you to sleep while bright lights wake you up.

With this in mind, wouldn’t you like a system in your home to make your lights easier to manage? And wouldn’t it be great if that same system could boost your energy and help you live a healthier life? You can do all this and more with smart home lighting for your Hinsdale, IL residence. In this blog, we’ll walk you through three of the top benefits of smart lighting control.

Explore the Latest in Lighting Control, Video Distribution and Energy Management

One reason we love working with our premier control system partners, Savant, is their constant innovation. Every year they release new technology to improve their existing solutions and accommodate the latest smart home trends. As Savant dealers, it's our job to keep you up to date with their most recent innovations and help you upgrade your Savant home system.

The newest releases this year include lighting fixtures that enhance your wellbeing, a whole new way to watch video, and a smarter way to manage energy in your Chicago, IL home. Here we highlight each of these new features and offer additional information on how each will affect your day-to-day lifestyle.

Impress your clients with lighting control in these 4 home spaces

Smart home technology is going to be increasingly in demand if you build homes or work in interior design. Prospective homeowners want these devices in their homes because of the convenience they offer and how they contribute to a superior lifestyle. And one of the most common home automation systems your clients will be asking for is lighting control. To show you’re in touch with their needs, here are four spaces you can install or plan for smart home lighting in your Lincoln Park, IL building projects. Read on to see what they are.

Improving Your Overall Wellness Starts with a Smart, Healthy Home

Natural light makes you feel better. Why do you think people like going outside to enjoy the sun? It’s not just to get a tan. There’s something biological that’s happening. Natural light helps to regulate our wake and sleep cycles, as well as provide energy for the synthesis of vitamin D. When you get the right amount and hue of light throughout the day, you’ll discover that your mood, sleep, and overall wellness improve.

Technologically based wellness companies, such as Delos, integrate “healthy” lighting that promotes a healthy home indoors. Circadian lighting, as it’s called, is accomplished through tunable fixtures from Ketra that change in color temperature and intensity throughout the day to mimic the sun’s natural progression across the sky. The result? You’ll wake refreshed, enjoy more energy throughout the day, and go to bed peacefully. Read more to learn how installing circadian lighting in your Chicago, IL, home can help improve your overall wellbeing.