Golf Course Home, Boca Raton

Shutters by day, dark by morning

A golf course home in Boca Raton, fresh out of a major remodel, with a main house and a guest house on the same property. We worked the whole project in collaboration with the owner's designer, who reviewed and approved our recommendations room by room. The guest house came first: lacquered basswood plantation shutters with 3 1/2 inch louvers and a hidden tilt - no visible tilt rod on the face of the panel - which reads far more modern than a traditional shutter, plus Phifer SheerWeave 2500 roller shades in V21 Charcoal on Somfy Sonesse 30 RTS motors.

Then the owner asked for something shutters alone cannot give: absolutely no light in the morning. Louvers close well, but they are louvers - a little daylight always finds the edges. The answer was a blackout honeycomb behind each shutter, Coulisse Edmonton in White, so that with the shutters open the honeycomb disappears and with both closed the room is dark. Those windows sit 18 feet up, with a staircase in the way and no power at the openings, so the honeycombs run on Somfy Cord Lift WireFree CL32 RTS battery motors, recharged by Somfy solar panels on the glass - nobody will be climbing up there to change a battery.

In the main house, the master bedroom got ripplefold drapery in Kravet Smart 35515-116, a performance chenille, hung under a custom wood valance that hides the track. The shades run from a Telis 16 RTS remote and the Somfy TaHoma hub, and the owner has since added them to the house's Control4 system. A remodel of an older house leaves few openings truly square, so we caulked and finished every frame as we went - the shutters and valance read straight, which on a job like this is most of the craft.