apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I beleive that your landlord is required to provide blinds. You might want to double check with the San Francisco Tenants Union www.sftu.org
You might be stuck with what ever you landlord decides, or you might be able to work with him to get something that you like...

Smith Noble has some nice UV blocking shades. They are very sleek and simple, and can block UV and glare while preserving views. You can choose from different grades depending on the amount of view/privacy you want.

i'd get long white flowy parachute silk material, hung from hospital tracks on the ceiling. but that's me!

For windows like this its nice to keep simple clean lines- how about Castec Rollstar shades. They defuse the light, can't see in but you can see out. Big bonus is that the look great from the outside as well as the in. Also, these are high quality which you need for such tall windows, the mechanism works really well.
http://www.castec.com/details/solar/ros.htm

I think I recommended them before and I'll recommend them again: The Shade Store.

I've got pretty big loft windows too and found it very easy to get what I wanted from them:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_chel/624109142/

I don't think that you need to go the entire height of your windows do you? You could go as high as the first transom. Or you could split the windows at the transom and have two sets. That would be pretty cool because you'd have several options for letting light out/in. I don't think you'd want to be stuck with an "all or none" approach with 16' windows.

If you've got a big slush fund, go for some remote control blinds from Silent Gliss.

Buy eye masks. There's not too much you can do from shades. They will cost a fortune and won't really do much about the heat. I have 11 foot windows.

You can also get anti glare coatings for computer screens.

Solar Shades:
www.bluesage.biz

I believe that since you live in one of those "Live/Work" lofts which is technically a commercial space, your landlord isn't required to provide anything but 4 walls and access to electricity and running water.

Ooo home tour plllease!!! =)

The San Fran Tenant's Union acronym is STFU.... Oh my. That's most unfortunate.

Um, and it's SFTU...

http://www.sftu.org/

I have a similar problem in my not-nearly-so-cool ranch home -- an entire window-wall facing south and south west. I've tried the solar shades from Smith and Noble, and they went chemically-smelly after a while (something in the material breaking down ... I think fiberglass). They frayed at the edges, too. I've had bad experiences with Smith and Noble. I finally went with wood blinds (not suggesting them for your mod place), and they help with the heat and cold. They go about 3/4 up the wall. I got the windows filmed, as well. The film helped a lot with glare, and a bit with the summer heat.

If your place were mine, I'd go with a translucent, white window covering (I like that parachute silk idea), and cover all of the solid wall, and up to the first horizontal bar on the other section. But that's a bit of money, and it doesn't help the heat/cold and sleeping-in issues. Honeycomb shades would help, but they seem to sag when used in long lengths. Changing your computer desk location to the adjacent wall would help with the glare. Would it be possible to run a theatrical-looking curtain from the ceiling all the way across the end of the apartment (and so enclose that nook)? It could be pulled to the side and hooked back for daytime.

who assumed she rents?

my vote is for ,modern roller shades.

she does rent, she says so in her posting right after the picture.

...I know where you live.

No, seriously, I've been in one of your neighbor's apartments. I've always loved their windows, but theirs came with blinds. Maybe your landlord overlooked it?

Looks like Yerba Buena Lofts to me, my friend lives there. Your landlord definitely should be paying for them.

Blinds won't do much to keep the room warm, though they can block out light to keep the room cooler in the summer.

If you really want to control the temperature, heavy drapes or a heavy shade are your best options, preferably with some kind of thermal backing.

I've had roller blinds in a bedroom before and they looked great but were awful if the window was open - air movement would suck them into the window recess or the bottom bar would keep knocking against the window frame.

The Shade Store makes nice, modern solar blinds. We had them in our kitchen and were very happy with them - good quality. They have different levels of opacity so you can choose how much light to block and privacy you need (though solar blinds won't provide total privacy). Then you can cut down on the sun blasting in but not block the light and view completely. It won't do much for maintaining warmth however.

www.theshadestore.com

The problem is they won't be cheap for windows that big!

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! I've sent an email to my landlord, but (surprise, surprize) haven't heard back yet.

In the meantime, we're going to get price estimates for a few options (roller shades, blinds, curtains) and move the desk to the windowless wall.