Living With Light: Custom Window Treatments in Tribeca, Made Effortless

Ask anyone in Tribeca what sold them on their home, and sooner or later they’ll mention the windows. The tall loft frames. The walls of glass. That late-afternoon light that turns an entire room gold.

Living with those windows is another story. The light that’s glorious at five o’clock can be blinding on a laptop at two. And the view that feels wonderfully open can sometimes leave a home feeling a little too exposed.

For more than two decades, Innovation Shades has been quietly solving those problems from its studio at 48 Laight Street. Its founders bring more than 25 years of experience in custom window treatments, and their work can be found throughout the neighborhood.

Innovation Shades has completed projects in most buildings in TriBeCa, 70 Vestry Street, 433 Greenwich Street, 111 Murray Street, 56 Leonard Street, 200 Chambers Street and 145 Hudson Street amongst many others — from century-old lofts to some of the neighborhood’s newest glass towers.

The team also works throughout New York City, New Jersey and the Hamptons. And for anyone beginning the process, their advice is reassuring: choosing window treatments can be remarkably simple when someone else handles the details.

Start with the feeling, not the fabric
There is no need to begin by sorting through hundreds of swatches.

The better question is how you want each room to feel.

A bedroom might need to become completely dark at night. A home office may need glare control without sacrificing daylight. A living room might simply need the sunlight softened while keeping the view as open as possible.

Once those priorities are clear, the choices narrow quickly.

Sheer solar shades can soften strong sunlight while preserving the view. Blackout shades or lined drapery can make a bedroom truly dark. Linen curtains can bring softness and warmth to all that brick, steel and glass.

Big windows are the fun part
Oversized windows can seem intimidating, but they are exactly what custom window treatments are made for.

Every shade is measured and built specifically for its opening, whether it’s an arched window in a converted warehouse, an unusually wide loft window or a wall of floor-to-ceiling glass.

Instead of working around the architecture, the window treatment becomes part of it.

Privacy, without giving up the light
Privacy and natural light do not have to compete.

During the day, solar shades can soften visibility from outside while still allowing daylight into the room and preserving much of the view. At night, when interior lights make a home more visible from the outside, a second layer — such as a blackout shade or drapery — can provide complete privacy.

The result is a home that can change throughout the day without ever feeling closed off.

Motorized shades, even in a finished home
Motorized shades once sounded like something that needed to be planned during construction.
Not anymore.

Rechargeable motors make automation possible in many finished apartments without opening walls or running new electrical wiring. Shades can rise in the morning, lower during the brightest part of the afternoon or move with a tap on a remote, phone or smart-home system.

And when a home is being renovated, there are even more possibilities. Shades can be recessed into the ceiling so that, when raised, they virtually disappear.

From measurement to installation, someone else handles it
The easiest projects are the ones where the homeowner doesn’t have to become an expert.

Innovation Shades begins by understanding the space and how the client wants to live in it. From there, the team handles measurements, product selection, technical details, fabrication, motorization and installation.

For many projects, the homeowner’s job is simply to choose what they love.

The real luxury: not having to think about it
The best window treatments are the ones you eventually stop noticing.

The bedroom becomes dark when you want to sleep. The afternoon glare disappears. The living room feels softer without losing its view. The shades move when they are supposed to.

Everything else happens quietly in the background.

“Tribeca windows are often one of the reasons people fall in love with these apartments, so the window treatments should respect the architecture rather than compete with it. Our clients shouldn’t have to think about motors, measurements or brackets. That’s our job.” — Julia Darmon-Abikzer, CEO, Innovation Shades

About Innovation Shades
Innovation Shades creates custom shades, motorized shades and drapery for homeowners, interior designers, architects, developers and hotels throughout New York City, New Jersey and the Hamptons.

Its work includes residences throughout Tribeca and Lower Manhattan.

48 Laight Street
Tribeca, New York, NY 10013
(212) 343-9900
info@innovationshades.com
innovationshades.com

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Sponsored by Innovation Shades