Custom Fabric Decor in Tiverton, RI

Glass on the Water, Shingle Inland

On Nanaquaket and along the Sakonnet River, the rooms that face the water are glazed heavily and get the full force of the weather, so custom fabric decor in Tiverton, RI has to be chosen for sun and salt as much as for looks. A sofa that sits in front of a wall of glass on the river takes light from morning to evening, and moist, salty air reaches it every time a door opens.

Up around Four Corners the houses are older and quieter: farmhouses and shingled capes with smaller windows, wide floorboards and rooms that suit a print at the window and the same print on a cushion. One town, two very different jobs, and we plan each room’s pillows, covers and upholstery around the house it is in.

• Pillows, duvet covers and some upholstery tied to the window fabric
• Cloth picked to stand up to river light and sea air
• A showroom in Swansea with bolts to compare, a short drive away

Made for Tiverton Rooms

Sofa cushions in river light

Chosen for colour that lasts beside big glass, in the drapery cloth or a shade lifted from it.

Bed covers for farmhouse bedrooms

Quiet covers for rooms under the eaves, with the pattern carried on a pair of pillows.

A reading chair’s pillow

A single cushion or bolster in the curtain cloth turns a corner by the window into a place to sit.

Patterned drapery

A lively print at a farmhouse window can lead a whole room, with the decor following on.

Custom drapes in Tiverton

Shades for glass walls

Roller shades on a run of windows calm the glare, so the cushions in front of them last longer.

Some upholstery

We take on a measure of upholstery, in a cloth that links to the room’s windows. Ask us about your piece first.

Custom Fabric Decor in Tiverton, RI: Two Kinds of House

Most questions we hear about custom fabric decor in Tiverton, RI come from one of two settings: a waterfront house where the main rooms are mostly glass, or an older farmhouse or cape inland where the rooms are snug and the windows small. The approach to fabric is nearly the reverse in each, so we take them one at a time.

Waterfront rooms on Nanaquaket and the Sakonnet

Houses on Nanaquaket Pond and along the Sakonnet River tend to put their best rooms on the water side, and those rooms are glazed heavily: big picture windows, sliders and sometimes whole walls of glass. They are exposed to everything that comes across the water, and the light in them is strong for most of the day, both direct and bounced off the surface.

In rooms like that, the window treatment is usually practical. A roller or solar shade that cuts glare without hiding the view, or panels that stack fully clear, are common choices. You can see what suits big glass on our roller shades in Tiverton page. Once the glass is handled, the decoration moves to the furniture. Cushions on the sofa, a throw and perhaps a bench pad are what you see when you turn your back on the water.

The trick in these rooms is to choose colours that will not fight the river and will not fade into nothing. Soft blues, sea greens, sand and stone tones sit well with the view, and they tend to age gracefully in sun. A single stronger accent, such as a rust or a deep teal, adds life. Keep the strongest colours to the pieces furthest from the glass, and let the cushions nearest the windows be the lighter ones.

Fabric that faces sun and salt

Tiverton’s water-facing rooms are hard on cloth. Sun breaks down fibres and dyes over time, and the moist salt air settles a fine film on everything. Both effects show first on whatever sits closest to the glass.

A few choices make a real difference. Woven patterns usually hold up better than printed ones, because the colour runs through the thread rather than sitting on top. A cloth with some texture hides the light film that builds up near the shore. Mid-tones fade more gracefully than very dark or very bright shades. Removable covers that can be washed or cleaned are worth having on every cushion in a waterfront room. Show us your favourites and we will sort them plainly into river-room cloths and ones for the quieter, shadier rooms.

It also helps to think about the room when the house is closed. A summer house shut up through a damp spell can leave natural fibres feeling limp. Plumping and airing the cushions when you come back, and keeping spare covers, keeps the room fresh. Houses lived in all year face a quieter version of the same thing in the damp months between autumn and spring, when windows stay shut and the air off the river is heavy. Covers that come off easily, and a cloth that dries quickly after cleaning, earn their keep in that season as much as in high summer.

Farmhouses and shingled capes around Four Corners

Around Four Corners the houses are older and built to keep the weather out: modest windows, beams overhead and parlours sized for a stove rather than a view. Fabric is easy to enjoy in rooms like these, since a print hung at a small opening never dominates. A floral or a ticking stripe at the parlour window, framed by the old trim, and two or three cushions of the same design on the sofa or settle make the room feel complete.

Matching closely suits these houses in a way it rarely suits a modern one. When the curtain and the cushions share a gingham or a homespun plaid, the room gains the slightly old-fashioned ease that a Four Corners farmhouse wears naturally. Kitchens can join in too: a café curtain in the parlour’s colours above the counter carries the scheme through the ground floor.

Farmhouse dining rooms are often the most formal room in the house, with a pair of windows facing the road and a table that seats a crowd. Full drapes in a heavier cloth suit them, and in winter, with the drapes drawn and the lamps lit, the room feels properly enclosed. If the dining chairs have fabric seats, they could pick up the drapery colour, provided they fall within the upholstery work we take on, and a runner or a pair of cushions on a window bench can finish the room.

Upstairs, bedrooms under a pitched roof often have a dormer and a slope on one side. With so little wall and window, the bed is the main piece of fabric in the room. A warm cover in a deeper colour suits a farmhouse bedroom in winter, and a lighter one makes the same room feel airy in summer.

How an Order Comes Together for Tiverton

We keep in touch with you through every stage, until all of it is finished. Here is the usual order of things for custom fabric decor in Tiverton, RI.

1. You call the Swansea store or send the form, tell us which rooms you have in mind and book your free quote.
2. Our specialist measures the windows at your house and notes how much sun and weather each room takes.
3. In the showroom, you set the window fabric beside the pillow and cover fabrics and narrow the choice.
4. We itemise everything in the quote: what hangs at the glass, the cushions, the bed covers and any upholstery agreed between us.
5. The whole room is made from one set of choices.
6. Our installers fit the window treatments, and we stay in contact until you are satisfied.

Putting fabrics together

In a farmhouse room you can be generous with pattern: a floral at the window, a small check on the cushions and a plain weave on a chair, all in related colours, sit together comfortably. In a waterfront room, restraint usually works better, because the river already gives the eye plenty. One lead cloth, a solid that picks up one of its shades and a single texture is often all such a room needs.

Pattern size matters at every scale. A big repeat looks generous across a full drape or a bed. Cut down to a small cushion, the same print may show only a fragment. We set the pieces out together at the showroom so you can see each one at its finished size.

Rooms that open onto a deck

Many waterfront houses on the Sakonnet have a slider or French doors from the main room onto a deck, and those doors are opened all summer. Salt air, sand and wet feet come straight in past the nearest seat. A chair or sofa by those doors deserves the sturdiest cushions in the house: a close weave, a mid-tone that forgives the odd mark and covers that zip off. Panels at the doors in the same colours, on a rod long enough to clear the glass, link the opening to the furniture without hiding the river.

Shingled cape bedrooms

A shingled cape usually has two or three bedrooms upstairs, each with a dormer or a gable window and a sloping ceiling. These rooms are small and full of angles, so heavy fabric can close them in. A pale cover, a short shade or café panel at the dormer and one patterned pillow give each room character while keeping it light. If the bedrooms open off a short landing, giving each a different colour from the same family keeps the floor feeling connected when the doors are left open.

Light from both directions

Many Sakonnet houses take sun on the water side in the afternoon and on the road side in the morning, so a cushion can sit in direct light at two different times of the day. Turning cushions now and then shares the wear between both faces, and lining the drapes on the bright side protects them. In a room like that, it is worth choosing one fabric that looks good in both warm and cool light: a soft green, a warm grey or a sandy stripe tends to travel well, where a strong gold or a cold blue can look quite different from one end of the day to the other.

Starting small and adding later

There is no need to plan a whole house at once. Plenty of orders begin with a single room, often the waterfront living room because it takes the most wear, and the rest follows over a season or two. If you choose the first room’s lead cloth with the others in mind, later rooms can borrow a colour or a texture from it. Keep a small offcut and the fabric’s name, and a cushion ordered next spring can be matched to the first set.

Guest rooms and a full house in summer

Waterfront houses in Tiverton often fill up when the weather is warm. Guest bedrooms then see heavy use for a few months and sit quietly for the rest of the year. For those rooms, covers that wash easily and dry quickly make the changeover between visitors simple. A duvet cover in a cheerful print, with plain pillows in one of its colours, is easy to live with and easy to launder. A spare set of pillow covers means one can be in the wash while the other is on the bed. When the season ends and the guest rooms go quiet, a heavier cover in a warmer colour can go on for the winter, so the rooms feel ready for an off-season visitor rather than shut down.

Pillows, covers and some upholstery

You decide everything about each cushion: the fabric, the size, the shape and how the edges are finished, and how many belong on each sofa, chair or bed. A duvet cover might repeat the curtain cloth, use a print from the same colour family, or stay plain while the pillows carry the design. Knowing the bed size and how often the cover is laundered lets us recommend a cloth that will last.

Upholstery is something we do in part, always linked to the window fabric. Because every piece is different, describe yours on the phone or show us a photo in Swansea, and you will get a straight answer before anything is agreed.

A Family Store on the Bay Since 1988

Window Works was founded in Swansea in 1988, a short drive from Tiverton, and the second generation runs it now. For over 37 years it has worked on both sides of the state line, through the SouthCoast of Massachusetts and the Rhode Island East Bay.

• Specialists in window treatments, with long experience of houses by the water
• Windows measured in place in your home
• Installation carried out by our own team
• Constant contact from the first call to the finish
• Warranties offered on our products

Further reading for Tiverton homes

All of our services for the town are gathered on the Tiverton window treatments page. Our guide to coastal window treatments has more on sun, salt and glass. To see every pillow, cover and upholstery option we offer, visit the main custom fabric decor page.

Choose Your Cloth in Person

Cloth has weight, weave and a way of catching light that a picture cannot show. At the Swansea showroom you can unroll the bolts, set a cushion fabric on top of a drapery fabric and see how each looks by a real window.

Anything that is staying in the room is worth bringing along, even just a cushion cover or a snapshot from the window, so the new cloth can be judged against it. We will help you get from a table full of bolts to the few that work.

Visit the showroom

Book a Free Quote

Getting started with custom fabric decor in Tiverton, RI begins with a free quote. Ring the Swansea store using the call button to talk about your rooms, measuring in your home or installation, or send the form and we will come back to you. If the fabrics are where you want to begin, the showroom is just over the line in Massachusetts, and the contact page gives directions. Window Works holds a 5.0 rating on Google.