Custom Fabric Decor in Portsmouth, RI

A Bright Side and a Shaded Side

Portsmouth sits on an island with bay views on both shores, and that gives many of its houses a sunny face toward the water and a darker face away from it. A cloth that looks warm and rich in the shaded back bedroom can look washed out on the sofa in the bright front room. That is the first thing to plan for with custom fabric decor in Portsmouth, RI: the same pillows, covers and upholstery fabrics behave differently on each side of the house.

The houses themselves vary just as much. The cottages of Island Park and Common Fence Point are compact, close together and full of small rooms. The newer colonials off East Main Road have more windows, larger family rooms and bedrooms of a regular size. The larger homes have open plans and long runs of glass. Each gets its own approach.

• Pillows, duvet covers and some upholstery, planned with the window fabric
• Colours chosen for the side of the house each room is on
• Fabrics laid out to compare at our showroom in Swansea

Fabric Pieces for Portsmouth Homes

Cushions for the sunny side

Yellows, greys and natural weaves that stay true in strong light, cut from or matched to the panels at the window.

Covers for the quiet side

In a bedroom that faces away from the water, a soft cover keeps the room light without needing a window full of sun.

Fabric shades in small rooms

A Roman shade suits a cottage window that has no room for a drape, and its cloth can return on a seat cushion nearby.

Roman shades in Portsmouth

Planning Custom Fabric Decor in Portsmouth, RI by the Light

Every room on the island answers to the water in some way, and planning custom fabric decor in Portsmouth, RI starts with which way the room faces. We look at that first, then at the kind of house, because a cottage at Island Park and a colonial off East Main Road deal with light in very different ways.

The bright side

Rooms facing the bay take direct sun for much of the day and reflected light off the water on top of it. They are cheerful rooms, and the obvious place for the main seating, but they are demanding on fabric. Cushions on a sofa under those windows sit in the light every afternoon.

For these rooms we usually suggest colours that hold up well in sun and look good in it: warm neutrals, soft yellows, sandy stripes and clear blues. Very deep shades, especially some reds and navies, can soften faster under that kind of light. A woven pattern tends to keep its colour longer than a printed one, and a cloth with some texture hides the gradual change better than a smooth, flat one. Lining the drapes protects them, and if the room has a shade that cuts glare during the brightest hours, the cushions in front of it will thank you for it.

The shaded side

The rooms facing away from the water, often bedrooms, a study or a back family room, get softer, cooler light. Here the risk is different: colours can look flat and the room can feel duller than it should. Warmer tones, such as rust, ochre, coral and warm whites, come alive in shade where cooler ones can look grey. A duvet cover in a light, warm colour and pillows with a little sheen to catch what light there is make a north-facing bedroom feel brighter.

This is also where you can use the deeper, richer colours that would fade on the bright side. A velvet cushion or a strong print on the bed holds its colour for years in a room the sun rarely reaches.

One scheme across both sides

Most households want the house to feel connected rather than split into a sunny half and a dark half. The answer is a shared family of colours, used at different strengths on each side. A sea blue might appear as a pale stripe on the bright-side cushions and as a deeper solid on a pillow in the shaded bedroom. A sandy neutral can run through both. Seen as you walk through the house, the rooms feel related even though each is suited to its own light.

How the seasons move the light

The split between bright and shaded rooms is not fixed through the year. In winter the sun sits low, and on the water side it reaches deep into a room, across the floor and onto furniture that stays in shade all summer. A chair at the back of a bay-facing living room may only catch direct light in the depth of winter, but it catches it then for hours. When we talk through a room, we ask where each piece sits and how far back the winter sun travels, so the cloth on every seat suits the light it will really get.

Cottages at Island Park and Common Fence Point

The cottages in Island Park and Common Fence Point are compact, often close to their neighbours and close to the water. Rooms are small, ceilings are often low and space is precious.

In houses like these, fabric decor should make the most of a little room. A short Roman shade or a café panel at a small window leaves the sill and the wall clear. With so little cloth at the window, the cushions and the bed carry the colour. A few pillows on a built-in bench or a compact sofa, in a print taken from the shade, give a cottage living room character without crowding it. In a bedroom barely bigger than the bed, a cover in a pale colour with one or two patterned pillows keeps it feeling airy.

Because the cottages sit close together, privacy matters at the windows facing the neighbours. A lined shade on those windows can be plain and practical, and the pattern can go on the cushions inside, where only you see it. Cottage kitchens and eating corners often share one room with the living space, so a single cloth used at the kitchen window and on the cushions of a nearby bench makes the whole small house feel planned. Porches and sunrooms added to the cottages take the brightest light of all, and they suit the toughest, most sun-tolerant cloths you choose.

Newer Colonials off East Main Road

The newer colonials off East Main Road are a different kind of house: two storeys, standard window sizes, plenty of windows, a family room at the back and a run of bedrooms upstairs. The windows are easy to measure and the rooms are a comfortable size, so the questions are mostly about style and practicality.

A family room in one of these houses often has several identical windows and a slider to a deck. A simple, repeating treatment across all of them, such as matching panels or shades, gives a calm backdrop, and the colour and pattern then go on the sofa pillows and any chair cushions. Picking up the panel cloth on two of the cushions ties the windows and the furniture together.

Upstairs, the bedrooms are usually similar in size and laid out along a hall. A cover for each bed in a related colour, with the pattern on the pillows, keeps the floor consistent, and the main bedroom can have the boldest fabric. In a child’s room, a cloth that washes well and a design that will not be outgrown in a year are worth more than an exact match to the drapes.

How an Order Runs for Portsmouth Homes

You hear from us at every point, right through to the finish. A typical order for custom fabric decor in Portsmouth, RI goes like this.

1. Use the call button or the form to tell us about the house, and we arrange your free quote.
2. One of our specialists measures each window at your home and notes which rooms face the water and which face away.
3. At the showroom, you compare cloths for the bright rooms and the shaded rooms side by side and choose a short list.
4. We write up every item, from the drapes and shades to the cushions, the bed covers and any upholstery we have agreed to take on.
5. The quote comes to you with each piece listed.
6. Everything is made from the same set of choices, and our team installs the window treatments.
7. We keep in touch until you are happy with every room.

The Larger Homes

The larger homes in Portsmouth often have open plans, high ceilings and long runs of glass toward the bay. Their scale changes the fabric decisions. A row of small cushions on a long sectional can look lost, so fewer, larger pillows usually suit better. A big print that would overwhelm a cottage bedroom looks right on a king-size bed under a high ceiling.

Open plans also need fabric to hold them together. When the kitchen, dining area and family room are one long space, repeating a cloth in each zone, at the windows in one, on the cushions in another and on a bench in the third, if that bench is upholstery work we can take on, gives the eye a path through the room. In these homes, the bright side and the shaded side may both be part of one open room, so a colour that looks good in both kinds of light earns its place.

Mixing prints, solids and texture

A dependable recipe for most Portsmouth rooms is one patterned lead cloth, one plain cloth taken from its colours and one texture. Put the lead cloth where it is seen most, perhaps the main sofa or the bed. Let the solid and the texture fill in. In a cottage, two of the three may be enough. In a large open room, all three, repeated in different places, keep the space from feeling bare.

Watch the scale of a pattern against the size of the piece. A large repeat suits a full-length panel or a whole bed. On a small cushion it may show only part of a motif. Seeing the pieces together at full size in the showroom solves most of these questions before anything is cut.

One room first, the rest in time

Very few houses are done all at once. A sensible start is the room you use most, usually the bright-side living room, chosen with the rest of the house in mind. Bedrooms and the shaded rooms can follow later, each borrowing a colour from the first. Keep the name of the lead cloth and a small offcut, so later cushions or covers can be matched to it. In a cottage, where rooms open into each other, even one finished room tends to make the next decision easier.

Sea air and fabric care

Being on an island, every house in Portsmouth gets some sea air, even those without a view. Moist, salty air is hard on cloth over time, and fabrics near open windows collect a light film. Covers that come off for washing or cleaning are worth having on everyday cushions. A cloth with a little texture shows that film less than a smooth, pale one. Duvet covers in a cotton that copes with frequent washing make sense in a house where windows are open much of the summer.

If you are unsure how a cloth should be looked after, ask when you choose it and we will tell you what it needs.

Cushions, covers and some upholstery

The details of each cushion are up to you: the cloth, the size, the shape and the edge, plus how many go on each sofa, bench or bed. A duvet cover can share the window fabric, use a companion print or stay plain with the pillows carrying the pattern. Share the bed size and how often it is washed, and we will recommend a cloth that fits.

Some upholstery is also part of what we do, always connected to the fabric at the windows. Furniture varies so much that we prefer to hear about your piece first, by phone or with a photo at the showroom, before agreeing to it.

Why Portsmouth Calls Window Works

Window Works has been a family store in Swansea since 1988, and the second generation runs it today. Over 37 years it has worked on Aquidneck Island and right across the Rhode Island East Bay and the SouthCoast of Massachusetts.

• An experienced team who specialise in window treatments and the fabric that goes with them
• Measuring done in your home, window by window
• Our own installers put up the window treatments
• Regular contact with you until everything is done
• Warranties offered on what we sell

More for Portsmouth

Every service we offer on the island is gathered on the Portsmouth window treatments page. For the window side of the job, see custom drapes in Portsmouth, and for sun and salt, our guide to coastal window treatments. The full range of pillows, covers and upholstery is on the main custom fabric decor page.

Compare Fabrics Side by Side

A swatch on a screen tells you little about how a cloth will look in a bright bay-side room or a shaded bedroom. At the Swansea showroom you can unfold the bolts, put a cushion cloth on top of a drapery cloth and carry a sample to the window to see it in daylight.

Bring a cushion, a throw or a photo of each room, and tell us which side of the house it is on. Our specialists will help you choose cloths that suit both.

Visit the showroom

Get Started

The first step toward custom fabric decor in Portsmouth, RI is a free quote. Ring the Swansea store using the call button to talk through your rooms, book measuring in your home or ask about installation, or use the form and we will get back to you. To begin with the cloth itself, head over the bridge to the showroom, with directions on the contact page. Window Works holds a 5.0 rating on Google.