Deep Reveals and Historic Fronts
The Federal and Greek Revival houses along Hope Street were built with thick walls, and their windows sit in deep reveals. That depth, together with the expectations that come with a historic district, decides what can be mounted at a Bristol window and where. It also shapes custom fabric decor in Bristol, RI, because when the window itself can only take so much fabric, the pillows, the bedding and the seating are left to carry the colour of the room.
Toward the Mount Hope Bay shore and out on Poppasquash Point, the houses open up to the water, and the fabric questions turn to sunlight, salt and long views.
- Throw pillows, duvet covers and some upholstery
- Chosen around the window treatment the house allows
- Fabrics to see in person at our Swansea showroom
What We Can Make for Your Rooms
Pillows for sills, seats and sofas
Deep reveals often make a perch by the glass. Pillows sized for it, in a cloth tied to the window, turn a ledge into a seat.
Duvet covers and bed pillows
A cover and shams planned with the bedroom curtains, in the same print or a calmer cloth that shares its colours.
A measure of upholstery
We handle some upholstery, always linked to the fabric at the windows. Let us know what the piece is and we will tell you frankly whether it suits.
Custom Fabric Decor in Bristol, RI and the Old Houses
Bristol’s historic houses have a way of telling you what they will accept. A thick wall, a deep window reveal and a run of original trim all narrow the choices at the window, and that is exactly why custom fabric decor in Bristol, RI tends to do more work here than in a newer house. Below is how we approach the main kinds of room.
Federal front parlours on Hope Street
The Federals along Hope Street have refined proportions: evenly spaced windows, slender glazing bars, delicate mouldings. Their front parlours were designed to look balanced from the street and from inside, and a heavy hand with fabric can upset that.
At the window, these rooms often take a slim inside-mounted shade or a simple pair of panels hung so the trim stays visible. That leaves the soft furnishings to bring in pattern. A Federal parlour suits fabrics with some refinement to them: a small-scale damask, a fine stripe, a woven cloth with a gentle sheen. Pillows in two of those, perhaps a stripe and a plain, keep the room as composed as the house itself.
Greek Revival rooms and their wide trim
The Greek Revival houses go about it differently. Their window trim is broad and bold, the rooms are a little plainer, and the overall effect is solid rather than delicate. Fabric in these rooms can be stronger in colour and simpler in pattern: a deep plain linen, a wide stripe, a large geometric. A Greek Revival parlour with plain panels in a strong colour and pillows in a wide stripe that includes that colour looks exactly as sturdy as the house around it.
The wide trim is part of the look, so it is worth keeping the window fabric clear of it. When the panels hang outside the trim or the shade sits within the reveal, the pillows and the seating become the main place the room’s pattern shows.
Deep reveals as window seats
A deep reveal is an invitation to sit. In many of these houses, the sill is broad enough for a cushion and a couple of pillows, and in some there is a proper built-in seat under the window. Pillows made for that space, in a cloth that picks up the shade fitted in the reveal or the panels either side, turn a ledge into the best seat in the room.
Because the seat is right at the glass, the pillows there get more sun than any others in the house. We will steer you toward cloths and colours that hold up to that, and away from the ones that fade quickly.
When the window can only take so much
Sometimes a deep reveal or the trim around it leaves little room for fabric at the window at all: a shade fitted inside the frame and nothing more. In a room like that, the fabric story moves entirely to the furniture and the bed. A bedroom with crisp shades in the reveals might carry its colour in a patterned duvet cover and a pile of pillows instead. A study with inside-mounted shades might take its warmth from a pair of armchair pillows in a rich wool.
This is one of the most useful things custom fabric decor can do in an old house: let the windows stay true to the building while the rooms still feel finished and comfortable.
Halls and stairways in the old houses
Many of the Federal and Greek Revival houses have a generous front hall with a staircase climbing past a window on the landing. That landing window is seen from two floors, and from the front door, so its treatment matters. A simple shade in the reveal, with a cushion and pillow on a deep sill or a small bench beneath, gives the stair a resting point and repeats the fabric of the rooms either side.
Bedrooms under the eaves
Upstairs, the Federal and Greek Revival houses often have bedrooms with windows tucked under the roofline, smaller and lower than those below. Fabric at these windows is usually modest. That puts the duvet cover in charge. A bed dressed in a cover and pillows that share a colour with the small curtains or shade gives the room a clear, finished look even though the window carries little cloth.
Studies and back parlours
Behind the formal front rooms, many of these houses have a smaller back parlour or a study, often with a single window and a fireplace. These are the rooms people actually sit in on a winter evening, and they suit warmer, heavier fabric than the front of the house: a wool plaid, a soft corduroy, a velvet in a deep colour. A reading chair with a pillow in one of those cloths, beside a window dressed in a shade that echoes it, makes a snug room even snugger.
Guest rooms
Guest bedrooms in the old houses are a chance to have a little fun. A bolder print on the duvet cover than you might choose for your own room, plain curtains drawn from one of its colours, and a pair of pillows that pick up the other: guests notice, and it is easy to change later if your taste moves on.
Ready to Get Started? Book Your Free Quote
Call the Swansea store for a free quote, or come and see the samples in person.
The Shore and Poppasquash Point
Down toward the Mount Hope Bay shore and out along Poppasquash Point, the houses turn to face open water. Windows are wider, rooms are brighter, and the bay throws light back into the house from morning to late afternoon. The neighbours are further off, so the window treatments there are chosen for glare and comfort more than for screening, and custom fabric decor in Bristol, RI has a different job to do on the shore than it does on Hope Street.
Living rooms turned toward the bay
When a sofa faces the water, its back is usually to the room and its pillows sit squarely in the light. Colour behaves differently there. Bright blues and greens can look washed out against the glitter of the bay, while sandy neutrals, soft greys and deeper sea colours hold their own. We often suggest picturing the pillows from the window side of the room, because that is the angle from which guests see the sofa, and a photo taken from there is a help when you choose at the showroom.
Long exposure to strong light is hard on dye. If your heart is set on a colour that tends to fade, we can talk about placing those pillows on a chair away from the glass and using a hardier cloth on the sofa itself.
Damp and salt by the water
Houses close to the shore live with damp air and a faint salt film on every surface. A cloth with some texture, a woven or a slub, hides that film far better than a smooth, light-coloured cotton does. It also helps to choose pillow covers that zip off, so they can be cleaned as often as the sea air demands.
Larger houses with many rooms
Some of the properties on Poppasquash and along the shore are large houses with several bedrooms and more than one sitting room. For a house like that, a plan saves a lot of second-guessing. We can map out one colour family that runs through the whole place, perhaps the blues of the bay or the warm greys of weathered shingle, and give each room its own print or weave within it. You can then order a room at a time, knowing every one will belong with the last.
Dining rooms on Hope Street
The dining rooms in the Hope Street houses are often the most formal rooms in the building, with a pair of tall windows, a fireplace and original mouldings. They are used mostly in the evening, so the fabrics should be judged by lamplight as much as by day. A rich colour that looks dull at noon can come alive after dark. Pillows on a window seat or a pair of host chairs, in the cloth of the panels, carry that colour around the table.
Colour that suits a period house
Federal and Greek Revival interiors have their own natural palettes. Soft creams, muted greens, faded golds and the deep red of old brick tend to look settled in these rooms, while very bright modern colours can fight the woodwork. That is not a rule, and some of the most striking old rooms use one bold accent, but it is a useful place to start. Choosing the pillows and bedding from a palette that already suits the house means the trim and the fabric support each other.
Your Order, Start to Finish
You will hear from us throughout, and nothing moves on without your say-so. In Bristol, an order generally follows these stages.
- Tell us about the rooms, through the call button or the form, and we set up your free quote.
- In the first conversation we cover the old-house details: how deep each reveal is, how much trim you want left showing, which rooms face the bay.
- You spend time at the showroom with the cloths, testing pillow and bedding fabrics against the window fabric.
- Our measuring visit records every window, reveal depth included.
- You see the full list and quote for the room before anything is ordered.
- Once you approve it, the pieces are made from the agreed cloths, and our installers fit the treatments that hang at the windows.
Edges, motifs and stripes
A pillow looks made for its room when the small details are right. That fabric finishing covers the edge treatment, where a large motif sits on the face, and whether a stripe runs the same way as the stripe on the panels. In a Federal parlour, where proportion is everything, those choices matter, so we go through them before any cloth is cut.
Bedding that takes washing
Bedding is laundered far more often than curtains, and some beautiful window cloths simply are not made for the wash. When that is the case, a hardier fabric in a matching colour goes on the bed and the window cloth is saved for the shams or a single accent pillow.
Upholstery
Our upholstery work is limited, and always tied to the fabric at the windows. Because the possibilities vary so much from one item to the next, this page does not promise particular furniture. Ask us about yours on the phone, or bring a picture to the showroom, and we will be straight with you about whether we can help.
Keeping fabric fresh in an old house
Pillows on a deep sill take sun on one face only, so turn them every few weeks. Old houses can be dusty, and a soft brush now and then keeps the weave clean between washes. Launder covers as the cloth allows, which we explain at the time you choose it. And if a spill or a pull has you worried, ask us first rather than trying a remedy that might set it.
Window treatments for the same rooms
Fabric decor is strongest when it is planned with the windows. For the drapery side, see custom drapes in Bristol; for deep reveals where a shade fits neatly inside the frame, see Roman shades for Bristol homes. Our Bristol window treatments page lists every service in town, and the main custom fabric decor page shows our fabric work as a whole.
Why Bristol Works With Us
Window Works opened in Swansea in 1988 and remains a family store, now run by the second generation. Over 37 years, a great many old houses with thick walls and deep reveals have come our way, from the SouthCoast to the East Bay.
- Experienced specialists who look at fabric for the whole room
- Measurements taken at your house, and our own team on installation day
- You are kept up to date until every piece is finished
- Warranties come with the products we sell
The Swansea showroom is an easy drive up the East Bay and across the state line whenever you want to compare cloths in person.
Questions from Bristol
My windows sit in deep reveals. Can you make pillows for the sill?
Yes. Where a reveal is deep enough to sit in, we can make pillows sized for it, in a cloth that ties to the shade or panels at that window.
The trim leaves little room for drapes. How do I bring in colour?
Let the soft furnishings carry it. Pillows, a duvet cover and some upholstery can hold the room’s pattern while the window keeps a slim treatment that respects the trim.
What suits a Greek Revival parlour?
Stronger plains, wide stripes and simple, bold patterns usually sit well with the broad trim and solid lines of a Greek Revival room.
Can you plan fabrics for a whole house on Poppasquash Point?
Yes. We can set out a colour family that runs through the house, with each room given its own print or texture, so you can order room by room.
Does a quote cost anything?
Not a thing. Quotes are free, and the call button or the form is all it takes to ask for one.
Getting Started
For custom fabric decor in Bristol, RI, the first step is a free quote, and the call button is the fastest route to one. On the same call you can book the measuring visit to your house or ask how installation works for the matching shades and panels. Prefer to write? Fill in the form and we will reply. If you would like to handle the fabrics first, directions to the showroom are on the contact page. Window Works is rated 5.0 on Google.