The Benefits of Ketra’s Tunable Lights in Your Smart Home and Your Health 

Modern smart homes are filled with systems and devices engineered to simplify and improve our lives. Smart locks and surveillance cameras keep us safe, AV systems entertain us and encourage spending time with each other, and climate controls offer both comfort and energy efficiency at home. Lighting control is no exception to this rule. In fact, what if we told you that smart lights could lead to better health? 

At Barrett’s Technology Solutions, we partner with Ketra to design and install circadian lighting systems for our clients in Chicago, IL. Read on to learn more about Ketra’s tunable lights and how they improve every space in your smart home while keeping you and your family on the path to wellness. 

Lutron's Elegant Wireless Palladiom Line Is the Perfect Solution for Existing Homes

Imagine waking up to the first rays of sunshine peering in through shades slowly rising. As the day progresses, your window coverings automatically raise and lower, letting in the diffuse light of the sun that brings beauty and natural light while limiting the direct UV rays that harm furniture and floors. Your electric light responds, dimming and brightening based on the available daylight. When it’s time for the family dinner, one tap on a touchscreen lowers the shades in perfect unison, offering privacy. 

A life of luxury. 

Motorized shades offer ease of living and convenience once unimaginable. No more pulling on cords to close shades when the sun shines on your computer screen or missing another sunset because you’re preoccupied. We can program shades to raise and lower based on preset schedules or set up sensors that detect changes in temperature and direct sunlight. The result is the perfect environment and level of light throughout the day. 

Even better? Today’s motorized shades come in numerous styles and over 1,000 fabrics, enhancing any home’s aesthetics. At Barrett’s Technology Solutions, we partner with Lutron, the industry leader in lighting and shade control. Let’s look at one of their most popular motorized shades—the Palladiom line—and what it can offer your home in Chicago, IL.

Bring Your Home Theater to Life with the Latest Sony 4K HDR Projector

If you’ve searched “home theaters” on the internet, you’ve undoubtedly seen every type of home theater design, from red velvet curtains and plush, reclining tiered movie seats to sectionals and loveseats designed for comfort and casual viewing. You’ll find home theaters that incorporate pool tables and arcade games and even outdoor theaters by the pool. 

What the best of these have in common is the bigger-than-life viewing experience with crystal-clear images and brilliant colors. At Barrett’s Technology Solutions, we specialize in home theater design, installation, and automation in Hinsdale, IL, and the surrounding areas. With flat-screen TVs growing in size and projectors increasing in image quality, we are often asked which display we recommend. 

Let’s explore the options and one of our recommended brands.

Design Your Media Room for the Way You Use It

We've talked before about media rooms as entertainment SUVs. The ever-popular SUV is prized for its carry-anything, go-anywhere versatility. The media room can be an equally versatile entertainment center, just as comfortable when hosting a Bears watch party on a Sunday afternoon as enjoying family movie night with the latest Marvel epic. So what does that mean for your media room installation? 

Your media room doesn’t need to follow any rules. Not that you needed to follow them anyway. To some, home theaters are more "formal" entertainment spaces, while media rooms are more fluid. In other words, anything goes in media rooms. It can be a home theater-esque space with fixed theater lounge seating or a more freeform game room. Regardless of which way you want to roll, you get to decide what setup is right for you. And along that line, if you are considering a media room project, here are some things to spark some ideas for your "SUV" entertainment space in your Chicago, IL home. 

Ensure a Robust Home Network and a Reliable Internet Connection for Work, Studying and Fun 

Our homes have become technology powerhouses, with the number of connected devices increasing almost exponentially. Today, your average U.S. home has about 16 connected devices. When you add smart home automation, the hybrid workforce, video conferencing, and the kids returning to school, it’s clear we ask a lot of our home network.

If you have continued adding internet-connected devices without upgrading, you may be experiencing signs that suggest it’s time for an enterprise-grade home networking solution in your home in Naperville, IL. Let's look at the signs and the solutions that will ensure your family stays connected while doing online schoolwork and enjoying 4K streaming movies over the weekend. 

Enjoy Peace of Mind Knowing Your Loved Ones and Property Are Protected

In the week from September 12 – 18, 2022, the Chicago Police Department reported 181 robberies, 144 burglaries, over 400 thefts, and 558 stolen motor vehicles. We share these statistics with you not to scare you but to make you aware of what you probably already know: the crime rate in Chicago is increasing. 

The CPD reports a 26% increase in burglaries and a 63% increase in thefts from 2021 to 2022. Some of these residential burglaries involve offenders representing home repair personnel before entering the home.

The good news is that you can protect yourself, your loved ones, and your home. Today’s home surveillance system offers crystal-clear video once limited to commercial applications and can take proactive measures, stopping intruders before the unthinkable occurs.

Let’s explore how these systems help protect homes. 

Barrett’s investment in unique deployment processes removes the pain points in smart home installations

What should you look for when you want to add smart home functionality and advanced entertainment systems to your home? The reality is that in a large market like Chicago, IL, you will find several integrators that can offer the same solutions. Those might include top-tier solutions from Savant for home automation, Lutron for lighting controls, and several others. But we like to think the real difference in your experience will come down to your integration partner.

As a company providing home entertainment and technology solutions for over five decades, we have always been continually evolving, not only with the technologies we offer but also with how we implement them for clients. Our goal is to provide clients with the best experience, and that includes the process for deploying these solutions in the home. If we do it right, we think you'll be a client for the next five decades.

To that end, We’re very excited to tell you about our latest investment in ensuring a superior client experience – our Advanced System Implementation Process. We've even given it a name because we think it's that important. Please keep reading to learn more about our process, and we hope you'll see how it differentiates us from others in this space. 

Smart Home Automation Makes Entertaining and Holidays a Breeze

It's still late summer in Illinois, so why are we already discussing the holidays? As you know, if you don't think about them, they're upon you before you know it! But there's a reason we're bringing up the holidays now. With a little planning right now, you can have a Savant home automation system and Lutron lighting control that get you through the holiday season in Western Springs with less effort and more enjoyment. 

Ready to see how a smart home system can help? Keep reading below!

A Dedicated Home Theater Installation Provides Endless Fun

Some people might see the words "home theater" and immediately think of a darkened room to watch movies. Certainly, a dedicated home theater installation is the perfect place to enjoy a film in its full glory, with a large screen, comfortable seating, and powerful, enveloping surround sound. But even if you watch no movies at all, a home theater gives you the ultimate place to gather friends and family for the best audio and video entertainment in the house. 

What else can you do in a home theater in your Chicago, IL home? Keep reading to see more!

We Help You Think Through What’s Important

Some people have called this the Golden Age of Audio. As an integrator that’s been around since 1966, we have seen many stages in the evolution of audio technology. And whole home audio systems are no exception. The transition to digital audio has created a wide array of products, such as IP-connected speakers, high-resolution audio capability, wireless streaming, and much more. These days, there are many solutions for multiroom audio for your Chicago, IL home. So how do you choose? 

There are many areas we could discuss, but for the purpose of this blog, we broke it down into three key things to consider. Ready to learn more? Please keep reading below. 

Updating Your Lighting Might be Easier than You Think

What’s one of the things that can transform the way you see your home? The lighting. Many homes have basic lighting packages. Unless you built a completely custom home or did a very extensive remodel, your home lighting might be making do with the basics. You may have overhead can lighting in the ceilings for ambient light, but these are fairly basic and generally fall into the category of budget fixtures. 

But here's the good news. Since you have all the electrical wiring in for those cans and the switches that control them, replacing them with modern LED lighting is not arduous. Why would you want to do that? LED is up to 80% more efficient than those incandescent floods and spots you may still be using. And if you have newer, more efficient CFLs, those are eclipsed in efficiency by LED, and LED is instant on versus the annoying minute that it takes CFL to warm up to full power. 

So why not easily upgrade those existing cans in your Chicago, IL home with modern, flexible, aesthetic lighting? It’s easy with the help of a lighting retrofit company. Keep reading to learn more! 

A Little Planning Goes a Long Way for Your Dream Smart Home

In life, a little planning goes a long way. Do you plan your vacations? Most people do it for a better result. Even if you love serendipity and spontaneity, planning can eliminate nasty surprises and save lots of time for what you really want to do.

If you’re building or remodeling a home in Chicago, careful planning also eliminates surprises and saves on cost. Typically, these projects are also the best time to consider adding smart home features. For the best results, any smart home technology should be well integrated with your project, including planning with your architect, interior designer, and builder. So what are some key things to know about planning your smart home installation? Keep reading below!

The Future is Here – Why Wait?

Those of a certain age might remember the Jetsons, the cartoon series from the 1960s that depicted a future as imagined in that era. The Jetsons foresaw flying cars, robots, drones, holograms, and video calls. If you think about it, that future – save for flying cars – is mostly here. 

The Jetsons was ideated over 50 years ago, so we can only imagine what’s to come in smart home technology in the next 50 years. While that might be fun, today’s reality is amazingly Jetson-like and worth getting right now. So let’s explore the possibilities for your Hinsdale, IL home – available right here, right now!

Make Your Vacation Home Easier to Manage and Secure

For many in the Chicagoland area, Lake Geneva has been a spring and summer escape for decompressing and getting away. Historically known as the “Newport of the West,” the area's natural beauty and grand summer homes have lured many for decades. While today’s summer homes may not have quite the same splendor of the past, like any second home or vacation property, they require attention and maintenance.

Shouldn’t a vacation home be more fun than work? We think so too, and with smart home automation, you can take some of the stress out of managing your Wisconsin getaway. Keep reading for three ways you can use smart technology to worry less and enjoy more.

You Don’t Hire a Plumber to Do Your Electrical

The words “technology integrator” might seem amorphous to you. You intuitively know other home-related professions and trades, like architects, interior designers, plumbing, electrical, and carpentry. Is a technology integrator a jack of all electronic trades? Is it an elevated title for a company that does low-voltage wiring?

When it comes to Barrett’s Technology Solutions, we can answer both of the questions above with a hesitant “Yes," but technology integration is much more than electronic expertise and installation. So let's explore our vision of what it means to be a technology integrator – and what we can do in your Hinsdale, IL, home.

Elevate your connectivity and enhance every activity at home!

Now more than ever, network connectivity plays a huge role in our everyday lives. We rely on our home networking setup for virtually every activity at home. Whether you want to have a better entertainment experience, enhance the efficiency of your home office, or just keep full control of your smart home, a robust network is a key element to help you enjoy all that. Keep reading below to learn more about how you can elevate your living by incorporating a top-notch home networking system in your Lake Geneva, WI, home.

Got Cabin Fever? Take the Entertainment Outside

Spring in Chicago may not be the warmest in North America, but we can look forward to more temperate days and opportunities to get outside. Plus, it means summer is around the corner! With winter in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to cure cabin fever and get outside.

Getting outside is even easier when all you have to do is step out onto your patio or yard. Want a way to make the most of it? Just add audio and video entertainment! Explore some fun ideas for outdoor entertainment at home below.

Keep Your Lake Geneva Property Safer All Year Round

Is your Lake Geneva property a summer escape or a year-round residence? Either way, you’ll want to keep your Wisconsin home safe while you’re there or away. When you pack up at the end of summer, a modern video surveillance system can help keep an eye on your home from anywhere. Keep reading below to learn about the latest features and options in home video surveillance.

The Great Outdoors Is More Fun with Your Favorite Entertainment

As spring rolls into the Chicagoland area, it's time to shed winter's heavy coats and accouterments and enjoy a little more time outside. And this is the time you might be looking at adding something to make your outdoor areas at home more inviting and entertaining in the warmer months.

Whether you are looking to extend the patio, build a fireplace, add a pool, or renovate the landscape, may we suggest that all of these go better with audio and video entertainment. Bringing music, movies, shows, and other pastimes outdoors will help you make the most of your outdoor investment and spend more time outside. Keep reading below to see how outdoor audio and video add the crowning touch to all the alfresco activities in your Naperville home.

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.