A Hunter Douglas Install on Remote Baker's Bay

Baker's Bay, nestled in Great Guana Cay, Bahamas waters, offers unparalleled beauty, tranquility, and leisure. This private getaway, often considered one of the farthest west barrier islands in the Bahamas, is a textbook example of remote luxury: Accessible only by two planes and a boat journey, it offers an exclusive escape often enjoyed by A-list celebrities and discerning paradise seekers.
The idyllic island features exclusive real estate opportunities. The breathtaking backdrop and serene environment provide a perfect setting for property owners to create their ideal ambiance and functional simplicity for worry-free living. But, given the geographical constraints of the island, designing for a laissez-faire lifestyle requires a confident team of designers, technology integrators, and a trustworthy product mix for first-time-right results.

No Room for Error on a Remote Island

A recent custom home project in Bakers Bay required planning and flawless execution between the designer and technology integrator to bring a homeowner’s vision to fruition. To create a calm, functional waterfront oasis that pays homage to the home’s surrounding soft beaches and lush vegetation, the homeowners and architects enlisted full-service design studio Carly Ahlman Design to bring their vision to life. With years of experience designing spaces in the Bahamas and Caribbean region, Carly and her team developed a perfect plan to bring the vision to life with conscious architectural, furniture and palette selections.

To master the look and offer the homeowners luxurious leisure, the home also presented a perfect opportunity for automated lighting and shading. Automated window treatments are becoming increasingly popular for home design and integration projects. They provide a quick and easy way to enhance privacy, comfort and natural lighting control, making them a perfect addition to any aesthetic. However, installing automated shades can be a complex task that requires precision and experience, even for those with a keen eye for design. The project had a tight schedule, leaving no room for error. Moreover, the smart shades needed to meet several high expectations for aesthetics and functionality to bring value to the living experience the project truly sought to create.

Knowing this, the Carly Ahlman Design team called on long-time partner Jazz Almanla to guide the technology integration. A Hunter Douglas dealer since the late 1980s and a longtime supporter of the brand’s Custom Integrator program, Almanla founded integration firm Shade and Sound in 2006. Since then, the business has specialized in transforming spaces with window treatments, including classic Roller Shades and specialty styles like Silhouette® Window Shadings. Complimented by a gradual expansion into additional AV and lighting product categories, Shade and Sound has become the long-trusted integrator of choice for clients in Miami's upscale neighborhoods and surrounding getaways. Almanla's experienced team frequently delivers exceptional results in projects involving a dynamic mix of lighting, AV solutions, and window treatments, with some projects finishing with 20-30 shades in total.

Even though running on island time was tempting, Almanla knew that the custom shades needed to not only match the design vision but also work perfectly as intended on the first try. Due to the project’s seclusion, any delay could lead to incompletion. The automation system had to be reliable, simple and customizable, deploying scenes without a hitch to ensure the homeowners could enjoy their leisure in perfect natural lighting.

In addition to the precise integration requirements, the shades selected for the project must be design-forward and functional. Focused on the living experience and how the shades could complement the home, Ahlman had a precise vision for the window treatments: timeless lines and neutral colors to suit the backdrop of the Atlantic, complemented by razor-sharp control capabilities to suit the natural lighting demands at any time of day.

Almanla explained that everything needs to be perfect in a project like this: “There is no room for mishaps. All the materials are custom-measured, ordered, and shipped to the island beforehand. Custom smart shades can be intimidating for this reason. They demand precision, and getting them right can be very difficult.”

Tailoring Luxury: Designing the Perfect Window Treatments

Shade and Sound worked closely with the designer to achieve all requirements, recommending the Hunter Douglas portfolio and PowerView Gen 3 Automation. Choosing Hunter Douglas would enable a blend of integrated functionality and complimentary aesthetics, creating a foundation of advanced technology to harmonize with the beauty of Baker's Bay.

“Carly and the team had specific ideas about how the look and feel of the shade could complement the other design elements of the house. These products needed to look good and be highly functional for a vacation home, providing privacy, comfort, and light cpontrol for the powerful sun rays of the Bahamas,” shared Almanla. “Having the technology and comprehensive portfolio of colors, fabrics, and styles from Hunter Douglas helped us bring this plan to fruition.”

Shade and Sound recommended and ordered a range of Hunter Douglas Provenance® Woven Wood Roller Shades, Roman Shades, and Palm Beach™ Polysatin™ Vinyl Shutters. Offering dimension and artistic texture for the common areas and bedrooms, Provenance Woven Wood Shades in natural tones would complement the aesthetic of the home’s coordinates while also enhancing privacy. Meanwhile, the Roman Shades in a neutral white tone would also bring elegant, soft light filtering to some of the bedrooms. Meanwhile, the bright white Palm Beach Polysatin Vinyl Shutters would suit the privacy and comfort demands of the bathroom and kitchen areas in the home while standing up to UV and humidity exposure.

The Shade and Sound team automated all the shade styles using the advanced PowerView Gen 3 Automation solution from Hunter Douglas. This automation solution has been recently reimagined to ensure easy and reliable installations at any scale. The team relied on PowerView Gen 3 Automation to support a seamless installation process and meet the tight installation schedule. The system would also be ready to use after the project, offering user-friendly App control and scheduled automation scenes to perfect natural lighting throughout the home. The intelligent automation of the shades would also complement the other technological features of the home, including SONOS speakers for surround-sound entertainment and Lutron lighting for optimal luminance at any time of day.

A Practical, Design-Forward Transformation

After ordering the shades and completing the process of bringing them to the site for installation, Almanla was pleasantly surprised with the seamless installation: "The team installed it, we plugged in the Gateway, and it started communicating instantly. The app picked up the shades, and I could immediately rename them, program them, get them set up for the client to use immediately."
The entire house, featuring at least 20-30 motorized shades, was programmed and ready to be controlled through the PowerView App in just 30 minutes, consolidating the control of all the shades into one ecosystem. Almanla, who has experienced the transition from the previous system, described the new system as a vast improvement: "It's like night and day compared to how shade integration used to be. It's a lot easier now."

The Provenance Woven Wood and Roman Shades brought a timeless aesthetic to the bedrooms, offering enough room darkening power for a restful slumber and the ability to raise shades with the sunrise to take in the views of the deep blue. Meanwhile, the Palm Beach Polysatin Vinyl shutters enhanced privacy in the bathrooms and kitchen, offering light filtration and a sleek, beachy aesthetic. The custom fit of the shades contributed to the success of the installation: By accommodating the range of window sizes, light filtration, and aesthetic requirements, the designer and Amlanla were satisfied to find each window covered by an intelligent yet design-centric solution.

By recommending Hunter Douglas for this Baker’s Bay home, Shade and Sound both complimented the interior design elements executed by Carly Ahlman Design and ensured their seamless, effortless integration that addressed practical needs like privacy, comfort, and light control that were defined early in the planning process. These products were seamlessly integrated into a cohesive ecosystem using the PowerView App, which showcases the synergy of innovation with the island's natural beauty. Tranquility and technology now coexist seamlessly, delivering a unique experience to the client lucky to call this remote island paradise their own. The completed project is a testament to the successful collaboration between visionary designers, expert technology integrators, and innovative solutions providers – all coming together to play an essential role in making the vacation home paradise a reality.