Custom Blinds in East Providence, RI

Bungalow Windows That Come in Groups

The bungalows of Riverside and Rumford, most of them built between the 1920s and the 1950s, have a habit that shapes every window treatment in them: their windows come in groups. Two, three or four sashes sit side by side under one header, divided only by narrow mullions, and from inside the room they read as a single opening. Getting custom blinds in East Providence, RI right in these houses usually means treating each group as one window, so the blinds line up, raise to the same height and read as a single piece.

The colonials from the same decades are more regular, with single windows spaced along each wall. Watchemoket’s older houses bring tall sash and frames that have settled. At Kettle Point, newer construction swaps old sash for wide modern glass and sliders. Each needs a different approach, and every one starts with measuring the actual window.

• Blinds in wood, faux wood, aluminium or vertical vanes
• Grouped windows planned as one opening, with headrails on a single line
• Measured at your home and fitted by our own installers

The Blinds We Make for East Providence Houses

Blinds for a window group

One blind per sash, made as a matched set so every headrail and every bottom rail sits level across the group.

Wood slats

Warm grain that suits bungalow woodwork and the living and dining rooms of a period colonial.

Faux wood slats

Holds up to steam in kitchens and baths and matches painted wood from across the room.

Aluminium slats

Slim, light and compact when raised. Right for small bathroom windows, dormers and narrow sash.

Treating a Group of Windows as One Opening

A run of three bungalow windows can be dressed in three ways, and the right one depends on the mullions between the sashes, the depth of the frame and how you use the room. We go through all three at the house.

1. Separate blinds, one per sash. Each blind fits inside its own section of the frame and can be raised alone. They are made as a set, to the same drop and stack, so the group still looks like one window. This is the most common answer, and it lets you raise just the middle sash for air while the sides stay down.
2. One wide blind across the group. Where the mullions are slim and the whole group sits within one deep frame, a single blind across the full width can look very clean. It raises everything at once, so it suits a group you always open and close together. Very wide blinds get heavy to lift, which limits how far this can go.
3. Separate blinds on one headrail line, outside the frame. If the frame lacks the depth to hold a blind within it, blinds are mounted above the trim, each cut for its own section but set to a single line across the top. The trim below stays visible and the group keeps its single look.

Whichever way we go, the point is that the group should not look like three unrelated windows. Blinds that stop at different heights or tilt at different angles make a bungalow front look untidy from the street, and the group is usually the first thing you see from the road.

Custom Blinds in East Providence, RI by Neighbourhood

Riverside bungalows and colonials

Riverside’s bungalows tend to have a deep front porch, a grouped window in the living room facing it, and smaller grouped windows in the bedrooms. Because the porch roof shades the front window, these rooms can be darker than you would expect, so the blinds are often chosen to let light in rather than block it: lighter colours, and slats that tip open wide. Bedrooms facing the side yard, close to the next house, want slats that shut tight at night.

The Riverside colonials from the same era usually have single sash windows spaced evenly front and back. They are more straightforward to fit, and a matching set of wood or faux wood blinds across the front gives the house a tidy, even look from the road.

Rumford’s period houses

Rumford’s bungalows and colonials follow the same pattern, often with a little more woodwork inside: window trim with a cap, built-in cabinets beside a fireplace, sometimes a window seat in a grouped window. Wood blinds sit well against that woodwork, particularly in a finish picked to suit the trim. Where a window seat sits under a group, the controls are placed so you can reach them without climbing onto the cushion.

Many of these houses have a sunporch or enclosed porch with windows on three sides. That room can take a lot of sun, and it is where blinds made one per window, all to the same height, make the biggest difference.

Watchemoket’s older stock

Watchemoket holds some of the oldest housing in the city, and its windows show it. Sash is tall, frames have shifted, and two windows that look the same can be a little different in width or height. An off-the-shelf blind in the closest stock width would leave a gap or bind on one side, so we measure each opening at several points and make every blind to its own figures.

Tall sash in these houses benefits from a wood slat, which is light for its length, with the controls set at a comfortable height. Smaller windows on stairs and in back rooms are good places for aluminium.

Older houses here often have windows that were replaced at different times, so a front room might have its original sash while the kitchen has a newer window with a different frame depth. We note each one separately and suggest an inside or outside mount window by window, while keeping the colour the same so the house still looks of a piece.

Kettle Point’s newer construction

At Kettle Point, the houses are newer and the windows are larger, with sliders to decks and patios and wide panes set to take in the water. The frames are square and consistent, so fit is simpler, and the questions become glare, privacy at night and how to handle the widest glass.

Vertical blinds suit sliders and wide openings: the vanes run on a single track, slide clear of the door and pivot to steer the sun. There is more on the vertical blinds in East Providence page. Horizontal blinds work on the standard windows in the rest of the house, and matching colours tie the two together. Because newer windows often come with crank handles or tilt-in sash, we check how each one opens so the blind never gets in the way of cleaning or airing the room.

Enclosed porches and sunporches

Many bungalows and colonials across the city have a front or side porch that was closed in years ago, with windows on three walls and sometimes a fourth looking back into the house. These rooms are full of glass, take sun from several directions in a single day and often have windows of slightly different sizes, because they were added piece by piece.

They are good rooms for custom blinds in East Providence, RI, because each window can be controlled on its own. The windows facing the morning sun can be tilted shut while the shaded side stays open, and the whole room can be closed in the evening when the lamps are on and a glassed-in porch shows into the street. Faux wood is often the sensible choice here, since a closed porch can run warmer and damper than the house. Every window is made to its own size, with the tops lined up so the room looks even all round.

Where a porch window is a pair of casements or a crank-out window, we check the handle and how far it sticks out, so the blind can hang clear of it.

What We Check When We Measure

A specialist visits to measure, and at every window, grouped or single, we look at the same things.

• Width at three heights. Top, middle and bottom, because older frames often narrow or widen.
• Drop at both sides. So a blind made for a frame that has settled still hangs straight.
• Frame depth. Whether the blind can sit inside the opening with room for the slats to tilt.
• Mullions in a group. How wide they are, and whether a blind can pass across them or should stop at each one.
• Obstacles. Window locks, crank handles on newer windows, a radiator below or a seat in the way.
• How the room is used. Light, privacy, glare and which side you will reach the controls from.

After that, the choices are yours: material, colour, slat width and controls, settled over samples at your kitchen table or on a trip to Swansea. The quote itemises every window. Production works from our figures, our installers hang each blind and run it up and down in front of you, and someone from the store keeps you posted from start to finish.

Wood, faux wood, aluminium or vertical

Most East Providence houses use a mix:

• Wood for the front room, the dining room, bedrooms and a study, where a real grain warms the room and sits well against period trim.
• Faux wood for the kitchen, the bath and the laundry, where steam and splashes would trouble wood. In the same colour as the wood blinds, it keeps the house consistent.
• Aluminium for dormers, little bath windows and slim sash, where a light blind that pulls up out of the way is best.
• Vertical on sliders and wide newer windows, especially at Kettle Point.

Slat width is the other choice. Broad slats open up more of the view when tipped and look in scale on big glass; slimmer slats look right on a small window, or on a bungalow group whose individual sections are narrow.

Side yards, porches and privacy

Lots in much of Riverside and Rumford are narrow, so a side window often looks across a driveway at the neighbouring house. Lower the blind and tip the slats up and the ceiling catches the daylight while the driveway sees nothing. After dark, roll the slats shut. Front rooms tucked behind a porch roof are the reverse: they are short of light already, so their blinds are usually pulled up through the day or set wide open.

Upstairs bedrooms under a bungalow roof are often small, with a dormer or a pair of low windows. A blind that seals well when closed and sits snug to the frame stops the sunrise creeping round the edges. A spare room used as an office is easier to work in with the slats angled up, sending the light toward the ceiling and away from a screen.

Pairing a window group with drapes

A grouped bungalow window is one of the best places in any house for drapes and blinds together. Each sash gets its own blind for light and privacy, and a pair of panels hung outside the whole group frames it as one wide window and brings in colour and softness. Window Works sews drapery and makes custom fabric decor as well as blinds, so the fabric and the blinds are picked side by side and measured in the same visit.

Some rooms are better with something other than a blind. A draughty sunporch may be warmer with cellular shades, a bright room at Kettle Point may suit roller shades, and a kitchen may look best with shutters. If that is the right answer, we will say so. Our East Providence window treatments page lists every service in the city, and the custom blinds hub explains the whole blind range.

Doing the house in stages

Plenty of East Providence orders begin with one or two rooms. A bungalow front room with its big grouped window is the usual starting point, because it is the room seen most from the street and the one that most often has nothing on it that fits. Once that room is done, the bedrooms and kitchen can follow, matched in colour and slat so the house reads as one from outside. We keep a record of what was made for each window, so a later order can pick up where the first left off.

In a colonial, the natural first step is the front of the house: the living room and the rooms above it. Matching custom blinds in East Providence, RI across every street-facing window gives the front an even look, and the back rooms can use whatever material suits them best.

Looking after them

Upkeep is light. A soft duster along the slats every so often keeps wood and faux wood clean. Faux wood and aluminium can take a damp cloth when a kitchen calls for it; wood should stay dry. Verticals are dusted where they hang, swinging the vanes round to get at the back. On a grouped window, clean the whole set together so the blinds stay matched.

Why East Providence Calls Window Works

Window Works started in Swansea in 1988 and is still family run, now by the second generation. Over 37 years it has worked on houses across the SouthCoast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island’s East Bay, and East Providence is close by.

• Window treatment specialists who have measured many bungalow groups
• A measuring visit to your house, every window checked
• Our own installers hang what we sell
• We keep in contact with you through to the finished job
• Warranties come with the products we sell

Want to see the blinds before choosing? The Swansea showroom has samples in every material to compare in daylight, and the Norman range on display.

Visit the showroom

Get Your Free Quote

Ready to talk about custom blinds in East Providence, RI? The call button reaches the Swansea store, where you can book a free quote, arrange for us to measure at the house or ask how installation works. Or send the form and we will reply. If you would like to handle samples beforehand, directions to the showroom are on the contact page. Window Works is rated 5.0 on Google.