apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'd do a Roman shade with black-out lining, outside mounted so they work with the blinds as is. Open, they'll act like a decorative valance.

i had the same issue in my apartment recently. i nailed pieces of wood to the top of the window and mounted the roman blinds to that (so it's on top of the regular blinds). the roman blinds cover the wood so it doesn't look unsightly. i bought the jute/poly roman blinds from west elm. you can always remove the piece of wood (and the blinds) and fill the holes when you leave.

My bedroom window is similarly configured (albiet without the blinds), and I went for a blackout roman shade, which is fantastic. I'd agree that an outside mount would probably work best in your case. I was very happy ordering online from SelectBlinds. They arrived very quickly and fit very well.

I found fantastic wide wooden blinds at Ikea. In a light wood or rich choclate stain, they can be pointed down to block the heat, open for full-light or closed for pitch-black. best investment for our windows.

I know you said you don't want to remove the blinds, but...

...it's so easy to pull them out of the mounting hardware and replace them when your lease is up. If you are at all familiar with a sewing machine or even a needle, you can make your own roman shades to fit the mounting hardware. A rod can hang your nice silk draperies or whatever on either side of the HVAC unit.

I would install curtains using 2 sets of curtain wires (they sell them at Ikea among other places) since you don't have much room for curtain rods, and I'd put white cotton floor-length panels closest to the window and another heavier darker linen on top.

Also, as has been mentioned, it's usually pretty easy to take down the blinds while keeping the brackets on the window frame, so you can easily put the blinds back up when you move out.

oh yeah, and about the radiator, if you're mounting curtain wires, you can easily position them so that the curtains fall just in front of the radiator (unlike with curtain rods).

I know your looking into curtains and all but have you considered plantation shutters? In my experience they fit nicely into the recess of a window ledge, block light (because it is usually made of solid wood) and yet it still can allow air to pass through (if you open the blind such that the sun doesn't shine right on your face).

i had this issue in one of my previous apartments...i used curtain wire and placed it so it would fall in front of the heater...i aldo made my own curtains using dupioni on one side and black out fabric on the other..worked out great. but it also led to me oversleeping since it was so dark...oh well...

I had this issue as well - since it was a rental I used a curtain tension rod on the inside of the window and hung vintage curtains that were lined...it was so dark i slept til 4pm one Saturday.

But just a note about tension rods - the plastic can stick to some kinds of paint and yank it off in big chunks. This happened in our bedroom. We're using real curtain rods now, the kind that screw into the wall, and planning to spackle dilligently whenever we move out.

I have the same problem coupled with being one level above the street. I hung dark lined curtains and butted them with lightweight sheers...looks like a reverse oreo cookie. When I want to sleep I pull the darks across the windows, and when I want light (with a little privacy) I sandwich them in the middle and pull the sheers.

Blackout Blinds will change your life. Worth the money and the trouble. I don't know how much light your willing to deal with, but unless your willing to spend on some heavy dark colored curtains and a relatively strong rod (which will also get pricy) I would pony up and trot down to the home depot and order some blackout blinds. you won't be sorry, and you may even be able to talk your landlord into paying for them since it is an upgrade. In my experience landlords WANT to rent to people who will go the extra mile and make their property thrive. Even if your dealing with a management company the worst they can say is no.

patrick(the other one) had the right idea with his first comment. You can get blackout fabric in just about every color. I have a half window that doesn't allow a full length curtain, so I have a natural white roman shade from Smith and Noble. It doesn't black out the light, but I'm pretty sure they sell ones that do:

www.smithandnoble.com