Roman Shades for Homes in Taunton, MA

Tall Windows, High Ceilings

Downtown Taunton was built upward. The Victorians and triple-deckers near the Green and through Weir Village have tall, narrow windows set in rooms with high ceilings, and that shape is the starting point for roman shades in Taunton, MA. A long, slim window looks its best with a shade whose folds suit its height, mounted at the right line and stacking in proportion when raised.

Further out the town changes. The 1950s ranches across East Taunton have lower ceilings and broader windows. The larger, newer colonials off Bay Street sit somewhere between, with generous glass and open rooms. A fabric shade can suit all three, but it is made quite differently for each.

• Flat, hobbled and relaxed folds, cut from our showroom fabrics
• Sized to tall downtown windows and wide ranch windows alike
• Measured in the house and put up by our installers

What We Make for Taunton Windows

Flat fold

Regular, crisp pleats with a smooth, unbroken face when down. On a tall window it shows a long run of fabric, so a good print looks its best here.

Hobbled fold

Cascading loops all the way down. On a long Victorian window it reads as rich and formal, like a drape in miniature.

Relaxed fold

A plain face that curves gently at the hem. Softer and more casual, a good match for a ranch living room.

Drapes for tall rooms

Floor-length drapes beside a roman shade use the full height of a high-ceilinged room.

Drapes in Taunton

Pillows and covers

Cushions and duvet covers cut to match the shade carry its fabric into the room.

Fabric decor in Taunton

Plantation shutters

Some tall windows suit shutters instead. Worth comparing before you decide.

Shutters in Taunton

Sizing Roman Shades in Taunton, MA for Tall Windows

Getting roman shades in Taunton, MA right in an older downtown house is mostly a matter of proportion. A tall, narrow window has a lot of height and very little width, and the shade has to look right across both. Three questions decide it: where the shade is mounted, how deep each fold is, and how much space the raised stack takes up.

Where to mount

In a room with a high ceiling there is usually wall above the window, sometimes a good deal of it. Mounting the shade inside the frame keeps the original trim on show, which in a Victorian parlour is often worth doing. Mounting it higher on the wall, above the trim, makes the window look taller still and lets the raised shade sit above the glass rather than over it.

Which is right depends on the trim, the frame depth and how much light you want when the shade is up. In a room where the casing is carved or unusually wide, we usually suggest keeping it in view. In a plainer room, or one where every bit of daylight matters, a higher mount is often the better choice. We look at each window in person, because the frames in a house of this age rarely match from room to room.

Fold depth and fold count

A roman shade folds into a set of horizontal pleats as it rises. On a short window there are only a few; on a tall Victorian window there are many more. The depth of each pleat changes the look. Deeper pleats give a bolder, more relaxed shade with fewer folds. Shallower pleats give a crisper shade with more of them.

On a long window, the folds should look even and deliberate from top to bottom. We plan the pleat spacing for each shade from the measured height, so the folds fall evenly and the hem lands where it should when the shade is down.

The raised stack

When a tall shade is raised all the way, its pleats gather at the top of the window. The longer the shade, the more fabric is in that stack. On a high window with wall space above, a higher mount hides most of the stack above the glass. Where the window runs close to the ceiling, the stack will cover the top part of the glass, and a flat fold, which gathers most neatly, is usually the better choice than a fuller hobbled one.

Victorians and Triple-Deckers near the Green

The Victorians near the Green and in Weir Village were built with formal front rooms, tall windows and plenty of decorative woodwork. They suit a hobbled fold particularly well. The cascading loops echo the soft lines of the period, and a richer cloth gives a front parlour or a dining room the weight it was built for. In a bedroom upstairs, a flat fold in a simple cloth is often enough.

Triple-deckers bring a different set of rooms. Each floor is its own home, often with a front room facing the street, a long middle section and a back room with a porch. The front room windows look onto the street, so privacy in the evening matters, and a lined shade does that job well. The rooms in the middle of the building often have windows facing a narrow side passage and the house next door, where a lighter, unlined cloth keeps what daylight there is.

Bay windows are common in both house types. A bay is best handled as a set of shades, one to each window, made to match in cloth, fold and mounting height so the bay reads as one shape. Where the bay has a curved or angled top, measuring every opening on the day is the only way to get the shades to line up.

High ceilings and tall rooms

A high-ceilinged room can feel cold and bare if the windows are left plain, and a roman shade adds softness without filling the room. In a large front room, a roman shade inside floor-length drapes uses the full height of the wall: the drapes give the vertical line, the shade handles light and privacy. Where the shade and the drapes are cut from cloths that suit each other, the window becomes the focus of the room.

On very tall windows, a long shade carries a fair amount of fabric, and a heavier cloth adds weight. We will talk through how the shade is raised on each window, and whether a lighter cloth or splitting a pair of windows into separate shades makes the daily use easier.

Stair windows and landings

Many of the older downtown houses have a tall window on the stairs or the landing, sometimes set halfway between floors where it is hard to reach. It is seen from below and above, and it often lights the whole stairwell. A roman shade there is usually left mostly raised, so the stack and the look of the folds at the top of the window matter more than anything else. A flat fold in a pale cloth, mounted above the trim, keeps the stairwell bright and looks neat from both floors. Where the window is out of easy reach, we will talk through how the shade is raised and lowered before anything is ordered, so it is practical as well as good looking.

Bedrooms in tall rooms

A tall bedroom window lets in a lot of early light, and a long shade on an inside mount leaves a strip of light down each side. For a bedroom that needs to stay dim, a backed shade mounted outside the frame, a little wider than the opening and a little higher than the top of the trim, covers the edges and keeps the room dark in the early morning. For a guest room or a child’s room where full darkness is not the aim, roman shades in Taunton, MA bedrooms can stay inside the frame in a softer cloth, with the trim on show. In both cases the shade can be cut from the same cloth as a duvet cover or cushions, so the bedroom feels finished.

East Taunton Ranches

The 1950s ranches across East Taunton are a different job altogether. Ceilings are lower, windows are wider and shorter, and the living room usually has one broad window facing the street.

On a wide ranch window, a single roman shade becomes heavy and hard to raise evenly. We usually divide it into two or three shades in matching fabric that sit side by side and rise independently. That also means you can lower just the part of the window catching the afternoon sun. A relaxed fold suits these rooms well; its soft curve at the hem takes the edge off a plain, horizontal window.

With lower ceilings there is less wall above the window, so the stack height matters again. An outside mount just above the frame, with a flat or relaxed fold, keeps as much of the glass clear as possible when the shade is up. In the bedrooms at the back, a lined shade on an outside mount covers the frame and keeps early light out.

Newer Colonials off Bay Street

The colonials off Bay Street have the generous glass and open rooms of a newer house. Kitchens open into family rooms, and a wall of windows or a pair of tall windows either side of a fireplace is common. Here a run of matching flat fold shades in one fabric keeps the open space calm, while a hobbled fold in the dining room or the main bedroom gives those rooms their own character.

A window above the kitchen sink is a natural place for a roman shade in a light, unlined cloth that lets daylight through. In a two-storey entrance hall or a family room with windows set high above the main ones, the upper glass is often best left bare or given a fixed treatment, with roman shades kept to the windows you can reach. We will look at those high windows with you on the visit and say plainly what is sensible for each one.

For the slider to the back deck, a roman shade is rarely the practical answer, and we will point you to a treatment that handles a sliding door better.

Picking the Cloth

Every Window Works roman shade begins with the fabric, and drapery has long been the store’s specialty. The showroom holds a broad range, and it is worth handling a few cloths in your own light before choosing.

On a tall window, the fabric is seen over a long drop, so pattern and texture count for more than they would on a short one. A vertical stripe can make a high window look taller. A large print shows several full repeats, which suits a long flat fold. A plain cloth with a woven texture gives a quiet, expensive look in a formal room. On a hobbled fold, a softer cloth falls into the loops more gracefully than a stiff one.

Light matters as well. An unlined shade in a pale linen glows when the sun is behind it, which suits a kitchen or a hall. Backing the cloth makes the shade more private and firms up the folds, which suits a street-facing parlour or a bedroom. Many houses use one face fabric throughout, backed in some rooms and not in others.

How the Work Is Done

You hear from us all the way through, from the first enquiry to the day the last shade goes up. A Taunton order normally follows this path.

1. Contact the store with the call button or the form, describe the rooms, and we arrange your free quote.
2. One of our specialists comes to the house and measures each opening, including the height to the ceiling, the trim, the frame depth and the wall space above.
3. You decide on the cloth, the fold and the backing for every window, looking at samples at home or at the showroom.
4. We send a written quote, broken down window by window.
5. Each shade is made from the measurements taken in the house.
6. Our installers fit every shade, run it up and down until the pleats fall evenly, and talk you through how it works.

Seeing the whole house

If you are dressing more than one room, it helps to plan the street-facing windows together. On a triple-decker or a Victorian the front of the house is seen as one, and shades in one colour family on every front window look tidy from the pavement, even if the rooms behind use different folds. Inside, the window treatments for each room can then be chosen for how the room is used. Our Taunton window treatments page shows everything else we make for the town, and the roman shades page explains each fold in more detail.

Keeping shades looking right

Give the pleats a light going over with a brush attachment now and again to stop dust settling in the folds. On a tall shade, lowering it fully first makes the whole face easy to reach. Dab at a mark rather than scrubbing, and try any cleaner on a hidden corner first. Washing at home usually shrinks cloth and distorts the pleats, so send a shade to a specialist cleaner instead. If an older shade has a worn cord or a headrail that sticks, bring it to our attention and we can take a look.

Why Taunton Homes Choose Window Works

Window Works has been a family business in Swansea since 1988 and is now led by the second generation. In over 37 years it has fitted window treatments in homes across the SouthCoast of Massachusetts and the Rhode Island East Bay, Taunton included.

• An experienced group of window treatment specialists
• Fabric and drapery at the centre of what the store does
• Every window measured in place, every shade hung by our own installers
• Warranties offered on the products sold
• Kept informed at each stage until the work is complete

The showroom displays the fabric range and the Norman range of blinds, shades and shutters, so you can weigh them up in daylight.

Visit the showroom

Book Your Free Quote

When you are ready to talk about roman shades in Taunton, MA, a free quote is the place to begin. Call the Swansea store with the call button to book a measuring visit or ask about installation, or fill in the form and we will reply. You are welcome to see the fabrics in the showroom before deciding; directions are on the contact page. Window Works is rated 5.0 on Google.