From Diamond Hill to Valley Falls
Cumberland has three quite different kinds of house, and window treatments in Cumberland, RI have to suit each. Around Diamond Hill and Arnold Mills, colonials line up their windows in neat, symmetrical rows. Off Mendon Road, newer subdivisions bring open rooms, more glass and, in many entries, a window two storeys up. Down in Valley Falls, the older housing has its own window sizes and frames that have settled over the years.
When we plan window treatments for Cumberland homes, the tall entry window in the newer subdivisions is the hardest reach in town, and it is the one most often left bare, because nobody can get up to it. There are good answers for it, and we cover them below along with everything else in the house.
- Each window measured where it hangs, including the high ones
- Motorised options for glass nobody can reach
- Installation by our own team
Every Service, With Its Own Cumberland Page
Each card leads to a page about that service in Cumberland.
Motorized Blinds and Shades
The natural answer to a two-storey entry window: a shade that moves by remote or wall switch from the floor below.
Cellular Shades
Honeycomb fabric for a foyer or stair window, softening the light and holding a pocket of air against the glass.
Plantation Shutters
In a colonial’s front rooms, matching shutters on every window keep the symmetry that defines the house.
Drapes and Curtains
What we are best known for. Long panels give a subdivision’s tall great room the scale it needs.
Custom Blinds
Wood and faux wood slats in one colour across a newer house’s many matching windows, so the outside reads as one.
Roman Shades
Fabric shades with a soft fold, made for a breakfast nook, a study or a bedroom in an older Valley Falls house.
Roller Shades
A neat roll that disappears at the top when raised, with a screen fabric option for glare off a big back window.
Woven Wood Shades
Natural texture and warm filtered light for a family room or a sunroom facing the yard.
Vertical Blinds
For the slider out to the deck that so many newer houses have, drawing clear of the doorway.
Norman Window Fashions
The Norman line of blinds, shades and shutters is stocked by the store and set out in Swansea for you to see.
Custom Fabric Decor
Pillows, duvet covers and some upholstery that pick up the drapery fabric in the same room.
The Two-Storey Entry Window
Many of the newer houses off Mendon Road open with a tall foyer, a staircase and a window high up above the front door, sometimes with a half-round top. From outside it shows off the entry. From inside it pours light down the stairs, and at certain times of day it pours in glare and heat too. On a summer afternoon it can turn the hall into the warmest room in the house, and at night it puts the stairway on show to the street.
The trouble is reach. The glass sits well above anything a step stool can manage, so an ordinary corded shade would be raised once and never touched again. There are three sensible approaches, and we look at the window itself before suggesting one.
Motorise it. A motorised shade on that window raises and lowers by remote or by a wall switch, which can sit at the foot of the stairs or by the front door. The shade gets used every day instead of being left in one position. Cellular, roller and woven wood shades can all be motorised, so you are not limited in the look.
Fix it where it needs to be. Some households want the high window covered all the time, softening the light without ever opening or closing it. A light-filtering shade set at one height, or a fitted shade on a half-round top, does this without any controls at all.
Pair it with the windows below. Where a high window sits directly above lower ones, the two can be treated as a set, in the same fabric and colour, so the whole wall reads as one from the street and from the stairs.
Installing on that window is part of our job. Our team measures it from a ladder on the measuring visit and comes back with the right equipment to fit it, so you never have to climb.
Colonials around Diamond Hill and Arnold Mills
The colonials around Diamond Hill and Arnold Mills follow a familiar plan: a centre door, matching windows on either side, and a row of bedroom windows above. That symmetry is the whole character of the house, and window treatments in Cumberland’s colonials work best when they respect it.
From the street, every front window should look the same. That does not mean every room has to use the same treatment, only that what shows through the glass is consistent. A white shutter in the living room can sit beside a white faux wood blind in the front bathroom, and from outside the two read as a pair.
Inside, the formal rooms of a colonial suit a layered look. In a dining room, shutters or a wood blind handle the daylight, and side drapes add colour and frame the windows. In a living room, a Roman shade in a good fabric with drapery outside it gives the room softness without hiding the trim. Upstairs, the bedrooms are best with something that closes tight at night, such as a double cell shade or a lined Roman shade.
Colonials of this kind often have deep window casings. We check the depth at each window, because an inside mount, fitted within the frame, keeps the trim on show where the depth allows.
Newer Subdivisions off Mendon Road
The newer houses off Mendon Road have standard window sizes, which is good news, and more of them, which is where planning matters. A house might have a great many windows in only a handful of sizes, a great room with tall glass, a kitchen with a window over the sink and a slider to the deck. Done room by room without a plan, the treatments can end up mismatched.
Our approach is to plan the whole house at once, even if you buy it in stages. We note the sizes, agree a colour and style for the street-facing windows, and then decide room by room behind them. Later rooms can be added to match whenever you are ready.
The great room is usually the biggest decision. Its tall windows bring a lot of light, and often a view over the yard. Floor-length drapery gives the room scale, and a shade or blind behind it controls glare and privacy. Where the windows run high, motorisation on the upper shades saves stretching.
The slider to the deck takes vertical blinds or a panel track, drawing to one side to clear the opening. Kitchens and bathrooms take moisture-friendly choices such as faux wood blinds or a wipe-clean roller fabric.
Ready to Get Started? Book Your Free Quote
Call the Swansea store for a free quote, or come and see the samples in person.
Older Houses in Valley Falls
Valley Falls has some of the oldest housing in town, and its windows rarely match the sizes in a modern catalogue. Frames that have settled over many years may be slightly out of square, and two windows that look the same may differ by enough to matter. This is where measuring every opening in your home really earns its place.
These houses often suit fabric. A Roman shade softens a plain window and can be made to sit inside a frame that is not quite true. Drapery hung outside the frame hides any irregularity altogether and adds warmth to rooms that can feel cool near old glass. Cellular shades are another good choice, because the air held in their cells helps a room keep its heat.
Older houses also tend to have rooms that were changed over time: a porch closed in as a sunroom, a back room added on, a window moved or enlarged. Those windows rarely match the originals, so each is measured and treated on its own terms, and the colours are kept consistent so the house still looks like one from the street.
Where a house has narrow original openings, a slim headrail and a treatment that stacks small, such as a roller or cellular shade, keeps the glass clear when raised.
How We Handle a Cumberland Job
The steps below hold for a single window or a whole subdivision house, and we keep in touch from start to finish.
- Call through the button or send the form, tell us which rooms and windows are on your mind, and we set up a free quote.
- A specialist arrives to measure each window, including any high entry glass, checks frame depth and notes sliders, half-round tops and anything unusual.
- You decide on colours, fabrics and controls, at home with samples or in person at the Swansea showroom.
- An itemised quote shows what is being made for each window.
- Everything is made to the measurements from your house.
- Our installers fit every piece, high windows included, test each one and show you how the controls work.
- If anything needs a second visit afterwards, ring the store and we come back to it.
Choosing fabric and finishes together
Drapery is the store’s genuine specialty, and in a house with tall rooms it does much of the decorating. Linen, cotton, velvet and sheer each hang differently and change the light in their own way. A lining decides how much light gets through and how the window looks from outside.
We also make pillows, duvet covers and some upholstery, so a great room or a main bedroom can carry one fabric from the window to the sofa or the bed. Choosing everything together, with the swatches side by side, gives the best result.
Light, heat and glare through the seasons
A newer house with a lot of glass can heat up quickly on summer afternoons, especially through a two-storey window or a west-facing great room. Solar screen roller shades cut glare while keeping the view. Cellular shades hold air at the glass, which helps the room stay cooler in summer and warmer in winter. In the older Valley Falls houses, lined drapes over a shade are the simplest way to take the chill off a room in January.
We look at which way each window faces on the measuring visit, because that, more than anything, decides what each room needs.
Controls that suit the household
Every window gets the controls that make sense for it. Cordless lifts keep the window tidy with nothing hanging down. Wands turn blind slats and vertical vanes easily. Top down, bottom up shades let in light at the top while covering the lower glass, which is useful in a front room close to the road. Motorisation, by remote or wall switch, suits the high windows and any window that is awkward to reach over furniture or a counter.
Bedrooms and home offices
Upstairs, the questions change. In a colonial, the bedrooms sit along the front and back of the house with matching windows, while in a newer subdivision house the main bedroom often has a larger window or a pair facing the yard. Either way, the bedroom needs to go dark and private at night and let in gentle light in the morning. A double cell shade, a blackout-lined Roman shade or lined drapes over a light-filtering shade all do this, and choosing between them is mostly about the look you want in the room.
Home offices, which many households now fit into a spare bedroom or a room off the great room, have a different need: steady light without glare on a screen. A blind with its slats tilted upward bounces daylight off the ceiling, and a solar screen roller shade softens sun while keeping the yard in view. We ask how each room is used before suggesting window treatments in Cumberland, RI houses, because the same window can want quite different things depending on whether it lights a desk or a bed.
Looking after what we fit
Most treatments need very little care. Blinds and shutters are dusted with a soft cloth, faux wood and many roller fabrics can be wiped down, and drapery benefits from an occasional shake and a vacuum with a soft brush. Motorised shades simply need their remote or switch used as normal. If a cord frays or a wand stops turning on a treatment you already own, call the store and our team can take a look.
What Sets Window Works Apart
Window Works opened in Swansea in 1988, and the family that started it still runs it, now in the second generation. Cumberland is among the 25 towns we look after, across the SouthCoast of Massachusetts and the Rhode Island East Bay.
- Help from experienced window treatment specialists
- Measurements taken at your windows, high ones included
- Our own installers on every job
- One point of contact, kept up until everything is done
- Warranties offered on the products we sell
After over 37 years, every order still runs that way.
Try Everything at the Showroom
The Swansea showroom is the place to see window treatments for a Cumberland, RI home side by side. Try a motorised shade on its remote, compare shutter louvres, handle drapery fabrics against your paint colours and look over the Norman range.
A photo of your entry or great room helps, and our specialists can talk through the high window before we come out to measure.
Questions from Cumberland
Can you put a shade on the window above my front door?
Yes. We measure it on the visit and our team installs it with the right equipment. A motorised shade on a remote or wall switch is the usual answer, so you can use it from the floor below.
What if I just want the high window softened and never adjusted?
A light-filtering shade fixed at one height, or a fitted shade for a half-round top, covers the glass without needing any controls.
We have a lot of windows in a newer house. Do we have to do them all at once?
No. We can plan the whole house so everything matches, then do the rooms that matter most first and add the rest later.
Will treatments fit the older, uneven frames in Valley Falls?
Yes. Every window is measured in your home, and each treatment is made to that opening. Drapery hung outside the frame also hides any irregularity.
How much does a quote cost?
Nothing at all. The quote is free. Use the call button or the form to arrange it.
Ready When You Are
Press the call button to reach the Swansea store about a free quote, a time for measuring in your home or installation, or send the form and a specialist will reply. Browse every service on our window treatments page, and find directions to the showroom on the contact page. On Google, Window Works holds a 5.0 rating.
Window Works serves 25 towns across the SouthCoast and the Rhode Island East Bay; you can see them all on our service areas page.