Roman Shades for Homes in Westport, MA

Planning Roman Shades in Westport, MA

Planning roman shades in Westport, MA means starting with the room’s relationship to the water. A bedroom tucked at the back of a Main Road farmhouse and a great room facing the Westport River can sit in the same house and want quite different things from the same fold. So before talking about colours we stand in each room, look at where the light comes from at different times of day, and work out what the shade has to do.

Harbour-facing rooms built around the view

In the newer houses toward Horseneck and the river, the best rooms face the water, and the windows are there to frame it. Nobody wants a heavy treatment that hides the reason the house was built. The trick with a roman shade in a room like that is the stack: when the shade is up, how much of the top of the glass does the gathered fabric cover?

We measure for the stack as carefully as for the width. Mounted on the wall above the frame, a shade can rise almost clear of the glass, so the full view comes back when you want it. Lowered a third of the way, it takes the glare off the top of the window while the water stays in sight below. A flat fold gives the slimmest stack of the three; a hobbled fold carries more fabric and sits deeper.

A wall of windows is usually best handled as a row of separate shades, one to each window or pair, rather than one very wide shade. Each one is lighter to raise, and you can drop the shades on the sunny end of the room while the others stay up.

Thinking about sun and salt

Rooms that face the water take strong, reflected light for much of the day, and fabric in that kind of window works harder than fabric in a shaded side room. When you choose the cloth, it is worth thinking about how it will look after seasons of that light. Paler, plainer fabrics tend to show the sun less than deep, saturated colours, and a lining between the cloth and the glass gives the face fabric some protection.

Salt air is part of life near Horseneck, and a house there gets aired out more than most. We will talk through which fabrics in the range suit a breezy, sunny room and which are better kept for the bedrooms and dens away from the water. If a particular cloth is not a good match for a window, we will say so before you order.

Main Road capes and farmhouses

Away from the shore, the shingled capes and old farmhouses along Main Road have a different set of windows. The sash is smaller and more regular, the walls are thick, and the trim is often original. Here a roman shade does a quieter job: it softens the light and adds a little colour and pattern to rooms that are often plain and white.

An inside mount fits a farmhouse window well when the frame is deep enough, because the shade sits within the opening and the old trim stays in view. We check the depth window by window, since the old frames in one house rarely match each other. Upstairs in a cape, under the slope of the roof, the dormer windows are usually short, so the stack height matters again. A relaxed fold or a flat fold mounted just above the frame keeps the little window as bright as possible when the shade is raised.

Choosing the Fabric First

At Window Works the fabric comes before the fold. Drapery is the store’s long-standing specialty, so the showroom carries a broad range of cloths for roman shades, and that range is where every shade begins.

A few things are worth weighing as you look:

• Weight. A crisp, light cloth holds a sharp flat fold. A heavier, softer cloth falls into fuller hobbled tiers.
• Texture. A slubbed linen or a woven texture shows best on a plain fold, where the surface is not interrupted.
• Pattern. A stripe, a check or a botanical print reads most clearly on a flat fold, which lets the pattern run unbroken.
• Light. A light, unlined cloth glows when the sun is behind it. A lined shade blocks more and protects the face fabric.

In a coastal house, many rooms already carry blues, sand tones, greys and whites. A roman shade can echo that palette or bring in a single stronger colour where a room needs one. If you are having drapes, pillows or a duvet cover made at the same time, the shade can be cut from a cloth that ties to them.

Inside the Frame or Above It

Where a shade is mounted changes how it looks and how it works, so we decide it window by window rather than for the whole house.

An inside mount sets the shade within the window opening. It looks tailored, keeps the trim on show and suits the deep old frames of a Main Road farmhouse well. It needs enough depth for the headrail and for the folds to gather without catching on a lock or a crank, and it leaves a thin line of light at each side.

An outside mount fixes the shade to the wall or the trim above the window. It covers the whole frame, blocks more light at the edges and lets the raised shade sit above the glass rather than in front of it. In a harbour-facing room where the view matters most, and in a bedroom that needs to stay dark, it is often the better choice.

Some of the newer houses toward the river have windows set close to the ceiling or tight into a corner, with little wall above or beside them. Those are the windows where measuring in person matters most, because the space for the headrail and the stack decides which fold will work. We would rather find that out in your living room than after the shade is made.

Road-side rooms and privacy

Not every room in Westport faces the water. Many of the older houses along Main Road sit fairly close to the road, and their front rooms want privacy in the evening more than anything else. A lined roman shade lowered fully gives that, and in daylight it can be raised to the height that suits the room, with the folds resting neatly at the top of the window. Where a front room also catches the afternoon sun, a lighter cloth with a lining strikes a balance between glow and screening.

For the same house, the back rooms facing the fields or the garden may want almost nothing: an unlined flat fold that is mostly left up, lowered only on the brightest afternoons. One fabric used throughout, in lined and unlined versions, keeps the house looking consistent from outside while each room gets the shade it needs.

Matching shades across a house

When you are dressing several rooms, it helps to choose roman shades in Westport, MA as a set rather than one window at a time. From the road, the front of a cape reads as one face, so the shades on those windows usually look right in the same cloth or the same colour family, even if the folds differ inside. In the open living spaces of the newer houses, where kitchen, dining and sitting areas run together, one fabric in one fold across the whole run keeps the room calm. You do not have to do every room at once; later shades can be matched to the first.

From Measuring to Hanging

A Westport order runs the same way every time, and you hear from us at each step.

1. You use the call button or the form, tell us which rooms you have in mind, and ask for a free quote.
2. We set a time to come out and measure. Every window is measured where it is, with the frame depth, the space above the window for the stack and anything in the way, such as a crank handle, noted down.
3. You pick the fabric, the fold and whether the shade is lined, with samples in the room or by coming to the showroom.
4. A written quote follows, window by window.
5. Each shade is made to the measurements taken in your house.
6. Our installers hang the shades, raise and lower each one to check the folds settle evenly, and show you how they work.
7. If something needs another look once the shades are up, you ring the same store, and we keep in contact until the job is finished.

Room by Room in a Coastal House

Great rooms and living rooms facing the water. A row of flat fold shades in a light, plain fabric keeps the room calm and the view clear. Mount them high so they lift off the glass.

Kitchens. An unlined flat fold in a cotton or linen lets morning light through the cloth and stays out of the way above the counter.

Dining rooms. A hobbled fold in a richer fabric gives a farmhouse dining room a little ceremony, and sits well inside side drapes.

Bedrooms. Any of the three folds, lined, so the room stays dim in the early morning. Water-facing bedrooms get light very early in summer, and a lined shade on an outside mount covers the edges of the frame.

Porches and sunrooms. Rooms with glass on three sides may suit a different treatment altogether, and we will say so when a roller or a woven shade would serve the room better.

Pairing shades with drapes

A roman shade is a complete treatment on its own, yet in a larger room it often works best inside a pair of drapes. The shade does the daily work of light and privacy; the drapes add height, softness and a frame around the view. One of the two is usually plain and the other carries the pattern, and because both come from the same fabric range we can lay them side by side before anything is made.

In a cape bedroom or a small farmhouse sitting room there may be no space for drapes at all, and a shade with a shaped valance above it can give the window a finished top instead. We will sketch the options with you while we are in the room, so you can picture each one against your own walls and trim.

You can see the rest of what we make for the town on our window treatments for Westport homes page, and every fold, fabric and option is set out on the main roman shades page.

Living with your shades

A roman shade asks for little. Run a soft brush or a vacuum on a low setting over the fabric now and then to keep dust and fine sand off it. A small mark can often be blotted with a damp cloth, after testing on a hidden spot. Most shades are best cleaned by a professional rather than washed, since water can shrink a cloth and spoil the folds. In a room that is aired out often in summer, a regular light dusting keeps the fabric looking fresh.

If the cord or the headrail on a shade you already own starts to give trouble, our team can take a look at it.

Book Your Free Quote

Ready to start on roman shades in Westport, MA? Use the call button to ask the Swansea store for a free quote, arrange a time for us to measure the windows, or ask about installation. You can also send the form and we will come back to you. To handle the fabrics in daylight, come into the showroom; directions are on the contact page. Window Works holds a 5.0 rating on Google.