apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I would do a double rod with opaque sheers underneath and panels you could slide shut for night. Hung to the ceiling. Would look beautiful.

These are the people you need to work with to get some solar shades installed:

www.bluesage.biz

They have years of experience with exactly your type of situation.

1 or 2 layers of hospital tracking would be really pretty. you could even make is curve in the corner.

Really something that can disappear when you don't want it : maybe a large grey shade that goes all the way up during the day.

There was an interesting post on this last week. Those windows look lovely without curtains, and the view is really interesting, "bauhaus-geometrical".
It could be risky but I'd be tempted to make a Mondrian like statement by putting different colored shades or special contact paper in each panl, but it might look gaudy.

i was going to make a suggestion, but looked at the website bepsf posted...that is your solution.

storm shutters?

Put nothing in the clerestory (the top row of windows) and try different colors on the two walls, red on one wall blue on the other.

Hi Wilma! I actually live in that community too (thought it looked familiar!), although in a different model, so we didn't have to contend with the wrap around windows (so, so beautiful!).

We went with curtain panels from IKEA. It was a cheap solution for now, and really went with the overall feel of the modern Eichler-esqueness of the community. I don't really like the solution of plantation shutters because it just doesn't look right with the exterior.

In this photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyau/2403866143/
you can sort of see what we did. I attached the rails to the wall though, instead of the ceiling. Honestly, we couldn't be happier.

Feel free to email me (tyau30 at gmail.com) and let me know if you want to stop by.

Those windows are beautiful. A shame to cover them. How about a white film in clean white in the center windows for privacy and to defuse the light and keep the top and bottom without.

Thanks everyone for the recommendation!

The sky view is beautiful. Unfortunately, my unit can be view from across the street directly or neighbors walking by. I will be like living in a fish tank thus leaving them uncovered is not an option.

I'm deciding between several options now:

1. Solar Screen underneath and Curtains on top. The pro is that I can still have the view and some privacy during the day.
2. Solar Roman Shade underneath and Curtains on top. Similar to 1 but Roman Shade gives a different view vs Screen.
3. Use something like Hunter Douglas Silhouette Sheers which I can leave it sheer or turn the vane if I want the privacy.

One hard problem I have is that for curtains, couple store I went to told me the curtains are too long (15'), they either don't make them or it will be very heavy. Then with the heavy drape, most store said regular curtain rods can't handle the weight and recommend some hardware that cost $2500 to me.

Solutions?

Wilma, I'd say it depends largely on the style you want for your interior. Since the building is kind of modern/mid-century inspired, a nice "clean" look to the window treatments would compliment the architecture.

I have similar windows with high transoms like yours, and I'm going for 2" aluminum venetian blinds. I'm a big fan of venetian blinds because they can be adjusted to allow light and air to pass through while preserving privacy at the same time. Opened or closed completely, the lines of the room are still crisp and clean. I'm only using the 2" width because it fits the scale of my windows; you might prefer a smaller width for yours.

http://www.levolor.com/products/metal-blinds/

Cellular blinds are another attractive option but don't allow for any ventilation when closed. They do come in a huge variety of colors and finishes though.

http://www.smithandnoble.com/sn/product_category.jsp?nav_cat=-17994

Good luck!

The good stuff can be expensive, though prices have reduced since you posted your question a year ago. Smaller companies are getting much more competative with pricing and you might want to try shopping again if you ended up going with a cheapy solution like smith and noble or whatever.

i'm in a loft situation very similar to yours in emeryville. I'd feel like I was living in a fishbowl if it wasn't for my rollershades. I went motorized for the hard to reach shades, and manual for the rest and worked with http://www.advancedshading.com