Window treatments for rental units

I’ve got a 3 family building I’ve been renovating. I’m currently living on the renovated 3rd floor and I need window treatments. Once I finish the building, I’m moving out.

The rent is about 3500/floor if that’s any guidance.

I’ve done solar shades in my Manhattan rental and I think the tenants like it. But that was expensive.

Ideally I want something that is easy to clean between tenants.

What do you guys recommend?

decoart

in General Discussion 1 year and 3 months ago

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Guest User | 1 year and 3 months ago

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I order vinyl. Fabric shades dirty way too easily for rentals
https://www.blinds.com/cleaning/how-to-clean-roller-shades

decoart | 1 year and 3 months ago

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@JeremyKiltsPropMgr how do you clean white roller shades?

Guest User | 1 year and 3 months ago

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Mini blinds get dirty too easily. Install white roller shades inside the window frame. Tenants can install decorative curtains over top of window if they prefer while never needing to remove the functional but neutral black out roller shades

decoart | 1 year and 3 months ago

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The windows are roughly 33″ wide by 72″ tall. I’ll look into mini blinds. Thanks guys!!

slimc | 1 year and 3 months ago

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Cloth curtains that can be machine washed seem like a good option to me. Perhaps a sheer layer and a blackout layer ? All you need is a sturdy rod and a curtain that is larger than the window, really no customization at all.

brokelin | 1 year and 3 months ago

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When I was a renter, I appreciated the few times the place came with basic window treatments (most of my places had nothing, and I spent a lot getting custom sized stuff for just a few years). But they have to be clean and well-functioning – dirty, half-broken mini or other blinds are a turn off to even renting a place. Mini blinds can work, in the right setting, but it depends on the windows and the style of the apartment – in other places, especially places with deep window moldings, wider slat blinds work better aesthetically – they don’t have to be wood, just sturdy – decent looking plastic ones that imitate wood will work – not wood tones (too dark) and the color, white or cream, should match the wall paint (or trim paint) color fairly closely (if you paint your walls gray, I have nothing to say to you.)

Only use mini-blinds if you are going to keep them clean or replace them when they are beyond cleaning – but they are a pain to clean in places where the air outside is dirty with soot, whether they are plastic or metal; the wider ones are easier to clean and d ust. Slat blinds are good because they allow you to alter the amount of light a privacy at various levels.

Roller shades also work – they can last for decades – I’ve been surprised to learn that some people think they fail because they don’t know there’s a spring in the side you can rewind, and need to, every so often – used to be basic knowledge back in the day when they were the standard window shade, before mini-blinds were around. I also had a rental with those pleated paper shades that were nice – not the temporary ones, but the ones with strings like blinds – they were probably cheaper than metal mini-blinds. I think it is a nice gesture to provide something, and it keeps people from having to drill holes to provide something each time the tenancy changes.

Something fairly cheap can be quite good, as long as they don’t look too cheap for the place – for example, I had a rental with plastic mini-blinds in the bathroom window, which was fine there, but they would have been horrible if they were what was in the windows of the other rooms which were quite grand looking. I think the plastic minis only work in utilitarian looking rooms. And cheap is fine if there is the understanding that they will need be replaced every so often so they aren’t filthy-looking – nothing lasts forever, and in places with a lot of soot in the air, nothing lasts as long as they do in other places.

Guest User | 1 year and 3 months ago

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When I had non-brownstone 3-4 family places, I always put up mini blinds. It also helped make the exterior of the building look more finished.

cate | 1 year and 3 months ago

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We have very tall windows. Roller blades fail, mini-blinds work, anything else is too expensive. We supply the mini-blinds and if they tenants want to put up curtains as well, they can. If our tall windows came with built-in wood shutters, as many do, that would be ideal, but our house was not built with shutters, alas.