Mission Impossible: Blinds that say "shhhh..."

People always ask us: "What is the craziest thing you have ever been asked to do?"

Past, current, and new clients call on us every day for much-needed support and we don't think any of the tasks are crazy, but some of the requests are definitely unique.

This week's MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: Find motorized shades that open and close so quietly that our client can sleep through the sound of them opening and be awakened by the natural light.

We've done some legwork working with multiple (not so great) shade and blind companies for clients' new homes over the years, so this mission wasn't, ahem, the blind leading the blind. But we had to do some very specific on-site research to get our client exactly what he wanted.

This one? Too loud. That one? No remote control. This one? Juuust right.

The Goldilocks of motorized window shades? Lutron Electronics. Great products, quick turnaround time, a showroom in NYC, and of course, excellent customer service.

After 3 years with shades that kept breaking, loud motors, and radio silence from the original company, our client can finally get a good night's sleep (literally) and has beautiful, smart (app-based command control!), and most importantly—quiet—shades for his West Village studio. The city that never sleeps? Pshhh.

Night night.

(photo courtesy of The Boston Shade Co)