Multi-Pane Sash and Made-to-Measure Rooms
On the Point and up on Historic Hill, the colonials and shingle-style houses keep their large multi-pane sash, and historic-district review keeps a close eye on what changes. Between the two, very little at a Newport window is bought off the shelf; most of it is made to measure. Custom fabric decor in Newport, RI fits naturally into that way of working. If the curtains are made for the window, it makes sense for the pillows, the duvet cover and any upholstered piece to be made for the room in the same breath.
Beyond the historic core, the Fifth Ward’s close-built streets bring privacy into the picture, and the larger properties along Ocean Drive bring big rooms, wide views and the full force of the Atlantic.
- Throw pillows, duvet covers and some upholstery
- Made to go with curtains measured for each window
- Fabrics to compare at our Swansea showroom
What We Make for Newport Houses
Pillows that respect the window grid
Multi-pane sash already gives a wall a strong pattern. We help you choose pillow cloths that sit happily beside it rather than fighting it.
Duvet covers for old bedrooms and new
Bedding planned with the bedroom curtains, for a low-ceilinged colonial chamber or a big Ocean Drive guest room.
Some upholstery
We take on a limited amount of upholstery, always chosen around the window fabric. Tell us about your piece and we will give you a clear answer.
Window Works, of Swansea
This page comes from Window Works Blinds Shutters and Shades, a family store that opened in 1988. The showroom is in Swansea, Massachusetts, and the founding family’s second generation is in charge today. We measure every window in the customer’s home, our own team installs what we sell, and we stay in contact with each customer until the work is finished.
Our area covers the SouthCoast of Massachusetts and the Rhode Island East Bay, with Newport at its southern end. To reach us, use the call button or the contact page; both go straight to the Swansea store.
- An experienced team of window treatment specialists
- Measuring in your home and installation by our own people
- Warranties offered on what we sell
- Rated 5.0 by Google reviewers
Custom Fabric Decor in Newport, RI and the Historic Houses
Newport’s oldest houses ask for restraint at the window and reward thought everywhere else. Here is how we approach custom fabric decor in Newport, RI in the colonials of the Point and Historic Hill, and in the shingle-style houses that followed them.
Colonials on the Point
The colonials on the Point are among the oldest houses in the city. Their rooms are often modest in size, with lower ceilings than a Victorian, wide floorboards, and windows of many small panes set into thick walls. A heavy, elaborate drapery can overwhelm a room like that. Simple panels, or a shade within the frame, usually suit it better.
With the window kept simple, the soft furnishings carry the colour. Colonial rooms look at home in the palette of the period: soft blue-greens, brick red, mustard, cream and the natural tones of linen and wool. A pair of pillows in a small check or a woven stripe, on a settle or a wing chair by the hearth, gives a colonial room warmth without crowding it.
Large multi-pane sash
The multi-pane sash of these houses, with its grid of glazing bars, is a pattern in itself. Put a busy print right beside it and the wall can start to look restless. Plainer cloths or soft, open patterns at the window let the grid be the feature. The pillows can then carry a little more pattern, because they sit away from the window, against the plain upholstery of a sofa or chair.
A useful trick is to echo the grid rather than compete with it: a pillow in a small check or a windowpane plaid picks up the geometry of the sash and makes the room feel deliberate.
Historic Hill
Up on Historic Hill, the houses are a mix of colonials and later homes, many with their original sash and trim. The same principles hold: respect the windows and the woodwork, keep the window fabric calm, and let the inside of the room carry the personality. Historic-district review is concerned with what shows from outside, so the back of each curtain and the colour of its lining matter. A neutral lining keeps the street side orderly, while the room side can be whatever colour suits.
Hearths and keeping rooms
Many of the colonials still centre on a large fireplace, sometimes in a keeping room at the back where cooking was once done. These rooms invite heavier, warmer cloths than the rest of the house: wool plaids, a nubbly homespun-look weave, a deep red or a forest green. A wing chair by the hearth with a single pillow in one of those cloths, and a simple curtain in a companion colour, makes the room feel as it should on a winter evening. It is one of the quieter pleasures of custom fabric decor in Newport, RI: the fabric settles into a very old room as if it had always been there.
Low-ceilinged bedrooms
Bedrooms in the colonials tend to have lower ceilings and smaller windows than later houses. The curtains are short and simple, and the bed is the main fabric surface in the room. A duvet cover in a soft, period-friendly print, with plain curtains in one of its colours, makes a small colonial bedroom feel calm and complete. Too much pattern in a low room can make it feel cramped.
Shingle-style houses
The shingle-style houses are a different spirit altogether: rambling, informal, full of porches, bays, built-in seats and rooms that open into one another. Their interiors suit natural materials and relaxed fabrics. Linen, cotton ticking, faded florals, and textured weaves in sea and sand colours all look at home.
Built-in window seats are common in these houses, often in a bay or at a stair landing. A run of pillows along a seat, in a cloth that picks up the curtains or the shade, turns it into a favourite spot. Because the seat sits at the glass, those pillows take strong light, and we will steer you toward cloths that cope.
Stair landings and window seats
Shingle-style houses often have a broad stair with a landing window, sometimes with a seat built beneath it. That landing is seen from the front hall and from upstairs, so it is a good place for a deliberate touch of fabric: a seat cushion’s worth of pillows in the curtain cloth or a stripe that includes it. It gives the stair a pause and ties the two floors together.
Rooms that open into one another
In a shingle-style house, the living room might open into a library, the library into a sun porch, the porch onto the lawn. With so many rooms in view at once, a shared thread of colour keeps the house feeling whole. The curtains in each room can differ, but if each room’s pillows carry one common colour, a faded blue, say, the eye travels through the house easily.
The Fifth Ward
The Fifth Ward’s streets are close-built, with houses near the pavement and near each other. Privacy at the front and the sides is the first thing a window treatment has to provide.
Privacy first, then colour
A sheer or a light-filtering shade at the glass for daytime, with panels that close in the evening, solves privacy on close-built streets. The sheer is seen from both sides, so a white or a soft neutral is usual. The panels are where colour comes in, and the pillows take their lead from the panels rather than from the sheer.
Seen from the pavement
On a close-built Fifth Ward street, anyone walking by sees the street side of your curtains and whatever sits right in the window. A neutral lining and a white or ivory sheer keep the front of the house tidy and consistent, which matters on a street of houses seen together. That frees the room side for colour. A sofa set back from the window, with pillows in the panel colour and one bolder accent, gives the room its personality without broadcasting it to the street.
Making the most of limited light
Houses close together often get light mainly from the front and back. Rooms in between can be dim. Pale cloths with a gentle sheen bounce light around; dark matte ones soak it up. A light duvet cover in a middle bedroom and pale pillows in a dim sitting room make a real difference.
Small rooms, simple schemes
Fifth Ward rooms are often compact. One pattern per room, with everything else plain or softly textured, keeps them from feeling crowded. A strong colour on a pair of pillows gives life without taking up space.
Ready to Get Started? Book Your Free Quote
Call the Swansea store for a free quote, or come and see the samples in person.
Ocean Drive and the Larger Properties
The properties along Ocean Drive are the opposite of the Fifth Ward: large houses on large lots, big rooms, wide windows and the Atlantic right there. Privacy is not the issue. Light, salt, wind and scale are.
Big rooms, generous fabric
Large rooms with high ceilings and wide windows can take generous pillows, bold patterns and plenty of fabric. A big sofa facing the ocean might carry five or six pillows in a mix of the curtain cloth, a companion print and a texture. Smaller pillows simply disappear in rooms of that size.
Let the view lead
When a living room faces the open Atlantic, nothing indoors will outshine what is through the glass, so it is wiser not to try. Pillows in the colours of the shoreline, wet sand, beach-stone grey, a misty blue-green, keep the room calm and send attention outward. A single stronger note, perhaps coral or a deep navy, stops the scheme from feeling washed out on a dull day.
Salt, damp and strong light
Along Ocean Drive the wind carries salt onto every window, and the glare off the sea is fierce on bright days. A cloth with some body and a bit of surface texture copes far better with that than a thin, glossy one, which shows every speck and goes limp in damp weather. Colour matters as much: soft, natural shades lose their strength slowly and evenly, while vivid hues and near-blacks can bleach unevenly within a few summers. Before you settle on a pillow cloth for an ocean-facing room, ask us how it is likely to behave.
Many bedrooms, one plan
Larger houses often have several bedrooms, including guest rooms used mainly in summer. A whole-house plan helps: one colour family that runs through the house, with each bedroom given its own print or texture within it. You can then order a room at a time and know each will belong.
Guest rooms
Guest bedrooms are a good place for something cheerful: a printed cover, plain curtains drawn from one of its colours, and a pair of pillows in the other. Washable cottons suit rooms that see a lot of summer visitors.
Porches and sun rooms by the sea
Many of the larger houses, and plenty of the shingle-style ones, have a porch or a glassed-in sun room facing the water. These are the rooms that take the most punishment: full sun, salt spray on windy days, wet swimsuits and sandy feet. Pillows there should have covers that come off for washing and cloths sturdy enough to be handled constantly. Ticking stripes, sturdy cottons and woven cloths in weathered colours suit the setting and forgive a lot.
The Order, From Start to Finish
Nothing is made until you are happy with it, and we keep you informed as it goes.
- Start with the call button or the form: tell us which part of Newport the house is in and which rooms you are planning, and we set up a free quote.
- We cover the particulars of the house, from multi-pane sash and old trim on the Point to the scale and exposure of a room on Ocean Drive.
- In the showroom, you set pillow and bedding cloths against the window fabrics until each room’s set feels right.
- Every window is measured at the house, glazing bars, deep frames and all.
- You go through a quote that names each item; when you approve it, the pieces are made and our team returns to install the window treatments.
Finishing to suit the house
The finishing on a pillow should match the character of the house. In a colonial on the Point, a neat, understated edge looks right. In a shingle-style house, a relaxed, slightly rumpled finish feels at home. On Ocean Drive, crisp tailoring suits the larger rooms. We decide edges, motif placement and the direction of any stripe with you before cutting.
Covers that wash well
Bedding in a coastal house is washed often and needs to dry quickly in damp air. Cotton is the usual choice. If the curtain cloth you have chosen for a bedroom is too fine for that, a hardier cloth in its colour goes on the bed and the curtain fabric is used for shams.
About upholstery
A limited amount of upholstery is part of our work, always matched to the fabric at the windows. Because furniture varies so much, we leave particular pieces off this page. Tell us what you have, and we will be candid about whether we can help.
Caring for fabric by the sea
A brisk beating on the porch rail every week or two keeps grit out of pillow covers. Swap the sunniest pillows with ones from a shadier corner now and then. For a summer house that is shut through the winter, launder the covers before closing up, fold them away somewhere dry, and draw the curtains or lower the shades so the furniture is not bleached in your absence. We give care instructions for each cloth when you order, and we would always rather you rang us than experimented on a stain.
Read more
For curtains and drapes, see custom drapes in Newport. For shades that sit within a deep colonial frame, see Roman shades for Newport homes. The Newport window treatments page lists every service we offer in the city, and custom fabric decor describes our fabric work in full.
Questions from Newport
My windows have many small panes. What pattern suits them?
Keep the window fabric plain or softly patterned so the grid of panes stays the feature. A small check or windowpane plaid on the pillows can echo it.
Does historic-district review affect my pillows or bedding?
Review is concerned with what shows from outside, such as the back of the curtains. Pillows, bedding and upholstery are inside the house.
What suits a shingle-style house?
Relaxed, natural fabrics: linen, cotton ticking, faded florals and textured weaves in sea and sand colours.
Which store is this?
This is Window Works Blinds Shutters and Shades. The family started the business in 1988, the second generation runs it now, and the showroom is in Swansea, Massachusetts. The call button on this page rings that store.
Do I pay for a quote?
There is no charge for it. The call button or the form will get one under way.
Start Here
Whenever you are ready, the call button puts you through to the Swansea store for a free quote on custom fabric decor in Newport, RI. While you are talking, we can fix a date to measure the windows at the house or explain how installation is handled. Writing suits some people better, and the form is there for that. For the trip to see and handle the fabrics, the contact page gives directions.