Norman Blinds and Shades in Somerset, MA

Somerset Houses and the Norman Range

Somerset sits right across the river from our Swansea showroom, which makes it one of the easiest towns to shop for Norman blinds in Somerset, MA the way we prefer: see the range first, then have the windows measured where they are. Norman is the one brand Window Works names. It is a range of blinds, shades and shutters that we carry and keep on show, so you can handle a slat or a louvre before anything is ordered.

The town gives that range plenty to do. The capes and ranches put up off County Street, around Brayton Point and in Riverside through the middle of the last century share one set of habits. The Somerset Village colonials keep their original narrow double-hung sash. Then there are the Taunton River lots, where later renovations opened the main rooms with wide window walls. Three kinds of house, three kinds of window, and one range broad enough to cover them.

• Norman blinds, shades and shutters on show in Swansea
• Every window measured in your home
• Fitted by our own installers

Norman for Every Kind of Somerset Window

Blinds with a real slat

Norman horizontal blinds tilt to steer daylight and close for the evening. A good match for the painted trim in a village colonial.

Shades in soft fabric

Cloth instead of slats, for a calmer look in a ranch bedroom or a river room that faces the afternoon.

Shutters built to the frame

Interior shutters hinged on a frame made for one opening. They suit the dining rooms and front rooms of the older houses.

Other blinds for the town

Wood, faux wood, aluminium and vertical blinds for Somerset, made to measure.

Custom blinds in Somerset

Shutters in Somerset

Louvre sizes and frame styles for the town’s dining rooms and bedrooms.

Plantation shutters in Somerset

Sliders and window walls

Verticals and panel tracks for the river houses and the ranch patio doors.

Vertical blinds in Somerset

Picking Norman Blinds in Somerset, MA by House Type

Choosing Norman blinds in Somerset, MA is mostly a question of which house you live in, because the three main kinds of house in town each lean toward different parts of the range. Below, we take them one at a time, starting with the oldest.

The village colonials

The colonials in Somerset Village kept the windows they were built with: tall, slim double-hung sash set in deep, handsome casings. That trim is half the character of the room, and the first rule with these windows is not to hide it.

A Norman shutter or blind fitted inside the frame usually does that best. Inside mounting leaves the whole casing on show and lets the treatment read as part of the window rather than something hung over it. It does need enough depth in the frame, and in an old house the depth changes from one window to the next, so a specialist measures each one rather than taking the first window as the pattern for the rest.

Where a frame turns out too shallow for an inside fit, the treatment can still go outside the trim with a headrail cut to the casing’s own width, so it lines up with the woodwork instead of overshooting it. On the very narrowest sash, such as a stair window or a little pantry window, a blind with a slim slat keeps the proportions right.

Capes and ranches around Brayton Point and Riverside

The capes and ranches off County Street, around Brayton Point and through Riverside went up in the years after the war, and they are more regular than the village houses. Their windows still vary inside one house, though. There is usually a broad window at the front of the living room, a run of standard bedroom windows, something small above the kitchen sink, and often a slider at the back.

For a house like this we often suggest one Norman product family for the whole front, so the windows facing the street match, then pick something different for the rooms that need it. A light-filtering shade might go in the living room, where daylight matters most. A blind in a moisture-friendly slat might go over the sink. The bedrooms might take a darker fabric. From the road it still reads as one house.

Upstairs in the capes, dormer windows sit in close against the slope of the roof. There is little room around them, so a product with a compact headrail and a small stack is the one to try, because it keeps the glass clear when raised.

Taunton River lots and their window walls

The houses on the Taunton River lots are where Somerset’s windows get big. Later renovations added wide window walls to many of them, facing the water, and those walls bring in a lot of light along with the view. They are often the last windows in the house to be covered, because nothing standard fits them.

Here the choice is about keeping the river in sight by day while still being able to close the room at night. Norman shades in a light-filtering fabric soften the glare off the water without blocking the outlook, and they can be made in a row of matching widths across a wall built from separate windows. Where a wall includes a slider to the deck, verticals or a panel track are usually the practical answer for that door, in a colour that sits with the shades beside it.

Think too about where the treatment goes when it is open. On a wall of glass facing the water, every bit of stack at the top of the window cuts into the view. The specialist checks the space above each opening at the measuring visit, so the shade or blind can lift clear of the glass and leave the river in full sight for most of the day.

What You Can Compare at the Showroom

The Swansea showroom is the reason Somerset customers often start in the store rather than with a phone call. The Norman range is on display there, and seeing it in person answers questions a brochure cannot.

• The weight of the lift. Raise and lower a blind and a shade and feel which suits a window you reach every day.
• How far the slats close. Tilt a blind shut and see how much light still creeps through.
• Louvres at different sizes. Open a shutter and judge how much of the view each louvre size leaves you.
• Fabric against daylight. Hold a shade fabric to the showroom window. Colour shifts with light behind it.
• Finishes beside your own colours. Bring a paint chip, a cushion or a photo of the room.

You do not need to settle anything on the visit. Many customers narrow the choice to two or three products, then book measuring and decide window by window once the specialist has seen the house.

From the First Call to the Last Bracket

An order for Norman blinds in Somerset, MA runs on a simple sequence, and we stay in contact with you the whole way through until the job is finished.

1. Book a free quote by phone or through the form, and tell us which rooms are on the list.
2. Visit the showroom to try the Norman range, if you would like to see it first.
3. One of our specialists comes to the house and measures every window, noting frame depth, latches, cranks and anything out of square.
4. You choose the product, colour, fabric or slat and the operation for each window.
5. A written quote follows, listing each window, so nothing is a surprise.
6. The order is made to the measurements taken in your home.
7. Our installers fit everything, check each piece works smoothly and show you how to use it.

Why the measuring visit matters in Somerset

Somerset’s houses span a long stretch of building, and that shows in the frames. A village colonial’s sash might lean a fraction out of square after many winters. A ranch window might be standard on paper but sit in a frame that was trimmed differently from room to room. A river window wall might be several openings that look like one. A made-to-measure product only fits as well as the numbers it is built from, which is why every window is measured where it is by our own team.

Light on the river side and the street side

Many Somerset houses face two ways at once: the street on one side and the river, or a back garden, on the other. The two sides rarely want the same treatment. The street side asks for privacy in the evening, when lamps are on inside. The river side asks for glare control in the afternoon, without losing the view.

Norman blinds handle the street side well, because tilting the slats upward lets daylight in while blocking the view from the pavement. On the water side, a shade that softens rather than blocks often makes more sense. Planning both sides at the same time keeps colours and finishes consistent, so the house does not look like two different jobs.

Kitchens, baths and the damp rooms

Kitchens and bathrooms in the capes and ranches are often small, and the window sits right over the sink or the tub. A slat that copes with steam is the sensible choice there. We point out which parts of the Norman range handle a damp room and which are better kept in the living spaces, so a blind over the kitchen sink still looks right years on.

Bedrooms that wake too early

East-facing bedrooms in the ranches catch the first light of the day, and in summer that can be very early indeed. A blind closes well, but a little light always finds its way between the slats and around the edges. If a dark room matters, a Norman shade in a room-darkening fabric, mounted close to the glass, does a better job, and the showroom lets you compare the two by holding them up to the light.

In the capes, the upstairs bedrooms are tucked under the roof, and the dormer windows often face straight into the morning or the evening sun. Because those rooms are small and the window is the only source of daylight, the treatment needs to open fully as well as close tight. That is a balance worth trying in person before you choose.

Children’s rooms and nurseries add another question: how the treatment is worked. Cordless lifts and wand controls keep cords out of reach, and we go through the operation for each window at the measuring visit, so the choice suits the room and whoever uses it.

Front rooms that face the road

The capes and ranches along the busier streets off County Street sit fairly close to the road, so their front rooms ask for privacy more than most. A shutter is a strong choice here. Close the lower panels for privacy and open the upper ones for light, and the room stays bright without feeling watched. A Norman shutter in a front room also gives the house a finished look from the street, which is part of why shutters are so often chosen for the windows people see first.

In the village, where colonials sit close to the pavement on narrow lots, the same thinking applies to the ground-floor sash. Fitted inside the frame, a shutter keeps the casing visible from both inside and out.

Pairing Norman with drapes

A blind or shade handles light and privacy, but some rooms want softness and colour too. Window Works makes custom drapes as well, so a Norman shade behind a pair of side panels can be planned on the same visit, with the fabric chosen to sit with the shade. That pairing suits a colonial dining room or a main bedroom in one of the larger river houses. The whole store’s range is set out on our window treatments for Somerset homes page, and the full Norman story sits on the main Norman blinds page.

Why Somerset Comes Over the River to Us

Window Works opened in Swansea in 1988 and is now run by the second generation of the family. For over 37 years the store has worked in homes on both banks of the Taunton River, and across the SouthCoast and the Rhode Island East Bay.

• A team of experienced window treatment specialists
• Measuring done in your home, never guessed from a phone call
• Our own installers on every job
• In constant contact with you until the work is done
• Warranties offered on what we sell
• The Norman range on show in the showroom

Visit the showroom

Planning the whole house, or one room at a time

Some Somerset orders cover every window in the house. Others start with the one room that needs it most, often the living room with the big front window or the river room with the wall of glass. Either way works. If you begin with one room, we note the product, colour and finish, so later rooms can match when you are ready.

For a whole house, it helps to think about it as a set. The windows that face the street read together from outside, so keeping one colour across them looks considered even if the rooms behind use different products. Open plan spaces, common where ranches have been opened up inside, want the same thinking: one family of finishes across the living area, dining area and kitchen keeps the space calm. Our specialists can help you lay that out before you commit, and many customers find it simplest to choose Norman blinds in Somerset, MA for the main rooms first, then fill in the rest.

Caring for Norman blinds, shades and shutters

Very little upkeep keeps the range looking right. Dust blinds and shutters with a soft cloth. Faux wood slats can take a damp cloth in a kitchen or bathroom, while real wood should be kept dry. Most shades want nothing more than a light dusting or a soft brush on the vacuum. If a cord, wand or headrail on a treatment you already own starts to give trouble, mention it when you call, as it can often be repaired.

Your Next Step

Start with a free quote. The call button puts you through to the Swansea store, where you can arrange measuring in the home or ask about installation, and the form works just as well if you would rather write. If you want to see the Norman range before anyone measures, the showroom is a short trip over the river, and the contact page has directions. Window Works holds a 5.0 rating on Google.