Light from Two Directions
Berkley’s lots are generous, and the houses on them tend to have windows on more than one wall of each room. Morning light comes in one side, afternoon light the other. That sounds like a gift, and it is, but it also means one set of curtains has to handle two quite different jobs in the same space. Planning custom drapes in Berkley, MA usually begins there: with the way the sun moves round each room through the day.
Drapery is Window Works’ specialty, and we start every order with the fabric. Once the cloth is chosen, the lining, the heading and the length are worked out for each window in the room. The capes and ranches off Padelford Street and Myricks Street, the newer colonials and the houses near the Assonet Bay waterfront at the edge of town all give that process something different to work with.
- Curtains and drapes sewn from the cloth you choose
- Every wall of windows measured at your house
- Hung and set by our own installers
Ways We Dress Berkley Windows
Easy-glide ring tops
Rings in the heading slide smoothly along the rod. Handy in a room where you draw one side in the morning and the other at dusk.
Prints with personality
A patterned fabric can carry a whole room. Seen from two walls at once, it needs choosing with care.
Soft, light colours
Creams, pale pinks and gentle neutrals keep a bright room airy and hide the slow fading that sun brings.
Valances and top treatments
A fabric piece across the head of the window, on its own or above a shade, that finishes it without covering the glass.
Bedding in the same cloth
Duvet covers and pillows that pick up the bedroom drapes, made through our fabric decor service.
Colour matched to the room
We help you match the fabric to the walls, floors and furniture you already have, so nothing jars.
Rooms That Face Two Ways
Corner rooms are the norm rather than the exception in Berkley. A living room may have a picture window on the front and a pair of windows on the side. A bedroom may have one window facing east and another facing south. Each of those windows sees different light at different times, and the fabric needs to cope with both.
One fabric, two linings
The face fabric should usually match on every window in a room, otherwise the space looks disjointed. The lining is where you can treat each side differently. The window that catches the hot afternoon sun may want a heavier lining to protect the fabric and keep the room cooler, while the one that only sees gentle morning light can take a lighter lining or none at all, so it glows when the sun is behind it.
Drawing the drapes at different times
In a two-sided room, you may find yourself closing one set of drapes while leaving the other open. A heading that slides freely makes that easy. So does placing the rod so that each set can be opened fully onto the wall, clearing the glass completely when you want the light.
Where the walls meet
When two windows sit close to a corner, the drapes on each can either stop short of the corner or meet in it. Meeting in the corner makes the two walls read as one continuous treatment, which can look generous in a living room. Stopping short leaves the corner clear for a lamp or a chair. We look at how the furniture sits before suggesting which.
Choosing Custom Drapes in Berkley, MA: Start with the Cloth
All custom drapes in Berkley, MA that we make begin with the fabric. In a room lit from two sides, the cloth is seen in every kind of light during the day, from cool morning to warm late afternoon, so a colour that looks one way after breakfast can look quite different by suppertime. Seeing it in your own light, or at least in daylight in the showroom, is worth the trouble.
Some things to consider:
- Weight. Light fabrics move easily and suit relaxed rooms. Heavier ones hang straight and hold a fold, suiting dining rooms and bedrooms.
- Pattern. A print on two walls becomes a big part of the room. Plain fabrics or small, quiet patterns are often easier in a bright corner room.
- Colour. Bright rooms fade fabric over time. Softer, paler shades handle it more gracefully than deep, saturated ones.
- Texture. A woven texture catches light from the side and adds depth to a plain colour, which is especially noticeable in a room lit from two directions.
The Swansea showroom has the fabric range to handle in daylight, and our specialists will help you narrow it down. Bring a photo of the room, or a cushion or paint chip you want the drapes to work with.
Capes off Padelford Street
The capes on and around Padelford Street have a compact, practical layout. Downstairs, a living room with a front window and often a side window. Upstairs, bedrooms under the roof with dormers and sloping ceilings.
In the living room, drapes on both windows in the same fabric tie the room together. Mounting the rods a little higher than the window tops makes the room feel taller, and extending each rod past the trim lets the curtains open fully, keeping the cape’s modest windows as bright as possible. Upstairs, the dormers are best handled with a short curtain within the recess or a single panel to one side, since there is seldom room for a full pair. A bedroom with a dormer on one wall and a gable window on another needs the two treated as a set.
Ranches off Myricks Street
The ranches around Myricks Street spread out on one floor, often with a long living room that has windows at both ends, or on the front and the back. That is a classic two-sided room. The front window may face the road and need privacy at night, while the back window looks over the yard and can stay open.
Ranch ceilings tend to be on the low side, so a rod set close to the ceiling and panels that fall to the floor help a lot. In a long room, keeping the same fabric and rod height on every window gives the space a calm, continuous line. If the living room opens into a dining area, carrying the drapes through both areas makes the whole run feel like one room.
Ranches often have a slider out to a deck or a patio. Drapes on a slider need a rod that runs well past the door frame, so the panel can be pulled completely clear and the door slides freely.
Ready to Get Started? Book Your Free Quote
Call the Swansea store for a free quote, or come and see the samples in person.
Newer Colonials on Generous Lots
Berkley’s newer colonials bring bigger rooms, taller ceilings and more windows per room. A family room might have windows on three sides. A main bedroom might have a pair of windows on one wall and a single window on another.
These rooms can carry fuller, longer drapery. Floor-length panels hung high give a colonial living room presence, and in a formal dining room, a tailored pleated heading in a heavier cloth looks right. In family rooms that see everyday use, a more relaxed fabric and a heading that moves easily are more practical.
With windows on several walls, consistency matters. The same fabric, the same rod height and the same hem length on every window in a room keep it calm. Where one wall faces west and takes the strongest sun, a heavier lining on that wall alone protects the fabric without changing what you see from inside.
Newer colonials often have a two-storey entry or a tall window over the stairs as well. Those windows are hard to reach, so drapes there are best treated as fixed side panels that frame the glass and soften the tall wall, rather than something you open and close. If privacy or sun is an issue on the stair window, a shade behind the panels can do the moving instead. In a big open family room with windows on three walls, a single fabric used throughout, perhaps with a heavier lining on the west side only, keeps a large space from looking busy.
Near the Assonet Bay Waterfront
The houses at the edge of town near the Assonet Bay waterfront add water to the picture. Rooms facing the bay take extra light reflected off the surface, and that brings more glare and more fading than inland.
A sheer drawn across a bay-facing window softens the glare while keeping the view. A lined drape on the same double rod closes the room in the evening. Because the bay side often gets the strongest light, we usually suggest paler colours and a lining there, even if a more inland-facing window in the same room takes something lighter.
Bedrooms with Morning and Evening Sun
Plenty of Berkley bedrooms have one window toward the sunrise and one toward the sunset. If you want to sleep past dawn in June, the eastern window is the one to get right.
Put the darker lining there. The western window can keep a lighter lining, so the room still feels open on a summer evening. To stop light leaking past the fabric, ask for panels wide enough to cross over in the centre, and for a rod whose ends curve back to touch the wall, so there is no gap at the sides. A duvet cover and pillows in a fabric related to the curtains finish the room off.
Keeping the Outside Looking Even
With windows on every side and houses set well back on wide lots, a Berkley house is seen from several angles at once. Drapes are part of how the house looks from the road and the yard, not just from inside.
A simple rule helps: whatever the fabric facing into the room, keep the side facing the glass consistent. A lining in one colour, usually white or a soft neutral, on every window makes the outside look tidy and planned, even when the rooms inside each have their own fabric. It is one of the details we think about when planning custom drapes in Berkley, MA for a whole house rather than a single room.
Looking After Drapes in a Bright House
Rooms with sun on two sides are lovely to live in, and they ask a little more of the fabric. A few habits keep drapes looking their best for longer.
Swap panels now and then. On a pair where one side catches more sun than the other, trading the left and right panels every so often evens out any gradual fading, so neither looks paler than its partner. It only works with plain or symmetrical fabrics, but where it works it is the easiest trick there is.
Draw the drapes during the strongest sun. Closing them partly across a west-facing window on a summer afternoon protects the fabric, the floor and the furniture all at once, and keeps the room cooler for the evening.
Dust gently. A soft brush on the vacuum, worked from the heading down, keeps dust from settling into the folds. Lighter curtains can be shaken out. For lined drapes, professional cleaning is usually safest, because the face fabric and the lining can react differently to washing and the panels may stop hanging level.
When you choose your fabric we will tell you how that particular cloth should be cared for.
From Quote to Hanging
Ordering takes six steps, and we check in with you along each of them.
- Phone us or fill in the form with a few words about the rooms; we will arrange the free quote.
- Our specialist comes out to measure, recording the direction each window faces and where the furniture stands.
- With the fabric samples in front of you at the showroom, you decide on the cloth, a lining for each side of the room, the heading and the hem.
- Your quote comes through in writing, one room at a time.
- Each pair of custom drapes in Berkley, MA is sewn to the numbers from your house.
- Installers from our own team put up the hardware and hang and dress every panel.
A Shade for Each Direction
When light arrives from two sides, a shade under the drapes makes life easier. You can lower the shade on whichever window has the sun at that hour and leave the other open, while the drapes stay put as a soft frame until evening. A cellular shade, with its cells of trapped air, also helps a corner room hold its warmth in winter.
We make shades, blinds and shutters too, so one visit covers both layers. The drapes are mounted far enough forward to clear the shade, and the two are chosen to sit well together. If you want matching cushions or a duvet cover, custom fabric decor in Berkley has those.
Swansea Born, Second Generation
The same family has run Window Works since 1988, and the second generation is in charge today. Over those 37 years and more, drapery has stayed at the centre of the work.
- Specialists in window treatments, with long experience of fabric
- We measure at your house, and our own installers do the fitting
- The fabric range is on show to handle in Swansea
- Warranties are available on our products
- We keep you updated until the work is complete
There is more on our drapery in general on the custom drapes page, and the Berkley window treatments page covers the other treatments we offer in town.
Questions from Berkley
My living room has windows on two walls. Should the drapes match?
The fabric usually should, so the room looks like one space. The linings can differ, with a heavier one on the sunnier side.
Should drapes on two walls meet in the corner?
They can. Meeting in the corner makes the two walls read as one, while stopping short leaves room for a lamp or chair. It depends on the furniture.
What helps a bedroom that gets the sunrise?
A darker lining on the east-facing window, panels that overlap in the middle and a rod that returns to the wall at each end.
What about rooms facing Assonet Bay?
They see more glare, because the water bounces light inside. A sheer for daytime, a lined drape for evening and a paler colour on that side usually serve best.
How much is a quote?
A quote costs nothing. Ring us or use the form to arrange one.
Book Your Free Quote
Getting started is easy: tap the call button and ask the Swansea store for a free quote, a measuring appointment or a word about installation. You can also send the form for a reply. Some people like to choose fabric before anyone visits, and the showroom is there for that; you will find the way on the contact page. Google reviewers give Window Works a 5.0 rating.