Cellular Shades for Homes in Berkley, MA

What Two-Sided Light Means for a Shade

Most houses in denser towns have rooms lit from one side, so a single choice of shade suits the whole room. In Berkley it is common to stand in a living room and see sun streaming through one window while the other stays grey and cool. A single treatment for both windows would be a compromise for at least one of them.

Cellular shades in Berkley, MA homes let you treat each wall on its own terms. On the sunny side, a light-filtering single cell shade softens the glare, protects the floor from fading and slows the heat building up on a summer afternoon. On the cold side, a double cell shade adds a second layer of trapped air, which helps the room hold its warmth on a winter night. Because both shades come in the same colour, the room looks consistent, and from outside the house looks even.

There is a comfort benefit too. In a room with windows on two walls, warm air is lost through both. Lowering the shades on both sides at dusk closes the room in, and corner rooms that used to feel draughty become some of the most comfortable in the house.

The principle behind it

Each cell in a honeycomb shade is a closed pocket of air. Glass lets cold through readily, but air held still does not, so a lowered shade puts a layer of insulation between the window and the room. A double cell shade has two rows of pockets, one behind the other, which is why it is the better choice for the colder wall. The same layer works in reverse in summer, slowing the sun’s heat coming in.

Capes off Padelford Street

The capes in town follow the classic plan: living room, kitchen and perhaps a bedroom downstairs, with more bedrooms upstairs under the roof. Downstairs, the living room usually has a front window and a side window, and the side often faces into open yard. Upstairs, each bedroom has a dormer at the front or back and sometimes a small window in the gable end.

Those upstairs rooms are a textbook case of two-sided light. A dormer on one wall and a gable window on another can face entirely different directions. We often suggest double cell for whichever faces north or into the prevailing wind, and single cell or a room-darkening fabric for the one that gets the early sun. Dormers are narrow and close-walled, so the honeycomb’s slim headrail and small stack keep the little window as clear as possible.

Cape kitchens

A cape kitchen is usually small, with a window over the sink and sometimes another on the side wall. A light-filtering single cell shade keeps the room bright, and a cordless lift is easy to reach across the counter. On a side window that faces the morning sun, a slightly heavier fabric can take the glare off without making the kitchen dim. Keeping both kitchen shades the same colour as the living room’s makes the downstairs of a small cape feel more open and connected.

Ranches on Generous Lots

Berkley’s ranches put every room on one floor, spread out along the lot. With space all round, many rooms get windows on two walls: the living room at the front corner, the main bedroom at a back corner, and the kitchen with a window to the side yard. The front windows usually include a wide picture window, which is the largest single piece of glass in the house.

That picture window often benefits from two or three shades side by side, lined up with its divisions, so you can raise one section for light while the others stay down. The corner windows can take a different cell or fabric, depending on which way they face, in the same colour so the front of the house still looks uniform.

Ranch bedrooms

Ranch bedrooms at the corners of the house often have one window to the back and one to the side. Double cell on the colder one and room-darkening fabric on both is a common plan, and it keeps a corner bedroom noticeably warmer when the wind swings round to the north at night. It is especially useful in children’s rooms, where the early summer light can wake a light sleeper long before anyone else in the house is ready to get up. If one window faces the road, a top-down, bottom-up lift lets light in over the top while the lower half stays closed.

Newer Colonials and Their Larger Windows

The newer colonials off Myricks Street and elsewhere in town have more glass than the capes and ranches: taller windows, more of them, and sometimes a family room with a wall of windows across the back. They are built tighter than older houses, so draughts are rarely the issue, but the amount of glass means the rooms still lose warmth in winter and gain a lot of sun in summer.

In these houses, cellular shades in Berkley, MA tend to be planned room by room around the sun. South and west windows get light-filtering fabrics that cut glare and slow summer heat. North windows and bedrooms over the garage get double cell. Front windows all share one colour on the street side. For tall windows in a two-storey entry or family room, motorised shades raise and lower from a remote or a wall switch, so nobody needs a step stool.

The family room with glass on two walls

Family rooms in the newer colonials are often at the back corner of the house, with windows on two walls and a slider in one of them. That is a lot of glass, and the room can feel cold in the evening and bright in the afternoon. Matching honeycomb shades on the windows, lowered together at dusk, make the room far cosier. For the slider itself, a vertical blind usually works better than a honeycomb on a door that opens many times a day, and we can match it to the shades.

Waterfront Houses on Assonet Bay

At the edge of town, houses on the Assonet Bay waterfront face a different set of conditions. The water side of the house is usually where the main rooms and the largest windows are, and the view is the reason for them. These rooms take the wind off the water in winter and strong reflected light in summer.

A honeycomb shade’s small stack is the key here. Raised, it leaves the view almost entirely clear. Lowered through the brightest part of the afternoon, a light-filtering fabric tames the glare while keeping the room bright. Lowered at night, a double cell shade puts two layers of trapped air between the room and the glass, which helps a great deal on a windy January evening. Rooms on the land side of the same house may need something quite different, which is the two-sided question again, on the scale of the whole house.

Pale colours suit waterfront rooms best. They keep the room light, look calm from the water and absorb less heat at the window. We bring samples so you can judge them in the real light of your room. Waterfront windows also tend to be opened often in summer for the breeze, so we check that each shade clears the sash and any crank handle, and with a cordless lift there are no cords to blow about in the breeze through an open window.

Planning Shades for a Whole House

When you are doing several rooms at once, it helps to plan by the direction each window faces rather than room by room. Here is how we usually think about a Berkley house.

North-facing windows. Double cell. These are the coldest and get little direct sun.

South-facing windows. Single cell in a light-filtering fabric. Raised in winter to let the sun warm the room, lowered on summer afternoons.

East-facing windows. Room-darkening in bedrooms, where the early light arrives; light-filtering in living spaces.

West-facing windows. Light-filtering, lowered on summer afternoons to keep the heat and fading down.

Road-facing windows. Top-down, bottom-up where privacy matters, and one colour across every front window.

Home offices and the screen problem

A spare bedroom turned into an office is common in town, and with two windows it often has a glare problem: sun across the screen from one side in the morning and from the other in the afternoon. A light-filtering honeycomb on each window lets you lower just the one the sun is on, so the room stays bright without reflections. A top-down, bottom-up lift adds another option, letting light in high on the wall while the lower half shades the desk.

Rooms used mostly at night

A den or television room with windows on two walls benefits from room-darkening fabric on both, so the screen is easy to see in the evening and the room holds its warmth. When planning cellular shades for a Berkley, MA den, we often suggest double cell on whichever wall faces north, since it is a room people sit still in for hours on winter evenings.

Bathrooms with a side window

Bathrooms in the ranches and capes usually have one small window, often on a side wall facing the yard. A light-filtering single cell shade gives privacy while keeping the room bright, and it stacks small enough to leave the window clear when you want air.

Shades with drapes

In a corner living room or a main bedroom, side drapes on both walls add colour and softness and a second layer across the glass when drawn at night. We make custom drapes for Berkley homes as well as shades, so both can be chosen together and measured on one visit.

Using the shades through the seasons

In winter, raise the shades on the sunny wall in the morning to let the sun in, then lower everything before dark to hold the warmth. In summer, keep the sunny-side shades down through the hottest hours and open the shaded side for light. With windows on two walls, you can nearly always have light from one side and protection on the other. Used this way, cellular shades in Berkley, MA houses work with the sun through the year instead of against it.

Your Order, Step by Step

You will hear from us throughout, from the first conversation to the moment the last shade is working. This is how an order usually unfolds.

1. Reach us through the call button or the form, tell us about the rooms and which way they face, and we fix a time for your free quote.
2. A specialist measures every window in the house, notes which way each faces, and checks frame depth and any handles or locks in the way.
3. With samples in your rooms or at the Swansea showroom, you choose cell, fabric, colour and lift for each wall.
4. You get a quote that lists every window.
5. Each shade is made to the measurements taken on site.
6. Our installers put them up, check each one runs evenly and talk you through the controls.

A little care

A soft duster or the gentle brush of a vacuum keeps the cells clean; a slightly damp cloth handles small marks. Lower and raise the shades with an even hand and the pleats stay sharp for years. If an older shade develops a fault, ring the store and we will tell you whether it is worth repairing.

Our other services in town are listed on the Berkley window treatments page, and the main cellular shades page goes into more detail about the honeycomb itself.

Arrange Your Free Quote

Tap the call button to talk to the Swansea store about a free quote, measuring in your home or installation, or send the form and we will reply. If you would like to see the range first, the contact page has directions to the showroom. Window Works holds a 5.0 rating on Google.