Wide, Shallow Picture Windows and Newer Builds
Seekonk’s streets are mostly ranches and split-levels, and the window that defines them is the picture window. Off Newman Avenue and Arcade Avenue, the split-levels built in the sixties carry living room windows that are wide but not very tall, a shallow, stretched shape that falls between the sizes stock blinds and shades come in. That one opening is often where window treatments in Seekonk, MA start, because a ready-made product either leaves gaps at the sides or has to be cut down until it looks wrong.
Toward the Providence line the housing is newer, with larger rooms, taller windows and more glass doors. Closer to the commercial stretch along Route 6, houses back onto busier roads, where privacy and headlights at night shape the choice as much as daylight does.
- Made to the exact width of each picture window
- We measure on site and our own installers fit it
- Samples a short drive away in Swansea
Twelve Ways to Dress a Seekonk Window
Cellular shades
One long honeycomb shade can span an entire picture window, keeping the split-level living room warmer in winter.
Custom blinds
Slats in real or faux wood or aluminium, or verticals, cut to the odd widths a sixties split throws up.
Vertical blinds
The classic cover for a slider onto the deck, with vanes that turn and draw aside.
Roller shades
A neat roll of fabric, from light-filtering to blackout, or a solar screen for a sunny room.
Plantation shutters
Louvred panels for the inside of the frame, suited to the big rooms in newer houses near the Providence line.
Custom drapes
Lined panels and sheers, our specialty, to soften a long ranch living room.
Roman shades
Tailored fabric folds for a kitchen nook or a bedroom on the upper level of a split.
Woven wood shades
Reed, grass and bamboo weaves that bring texture to a family room.
Motorised shades
Shades and blinds that move by remote or wall switch, useful on tall glass in the newer builds.
Norman window fashions
A range we carry and show in Swansea: Norman blinds, shades and shutters.
Fabric decor
Cushions, bed covers and some upholstery that carry your window fabric onto the sofa or the bed.
Fixing what you have
New strings, pull cords, tilt wands or headrails for the blinds and shades hanging in your house today.
The Picture Window Problem, and How We Solve It
Ask anyone who has tried to buy a blind for a sixties split-level picture window and you will hear the same story. The window is wider than most stock widths, but not tall enough for a vertical. The nearest standard size is either a hand’s width short, leaving a bright stripe down each side, or too wide to fit inside the frame. Cut-down blinds rarely sit square, and two stock blinds side by side meet awkwardly in the middle of the glass.
Made-to-measure treatments get round this because the width is whatever the window needs. When planning window treatments in Seekonk, MA for one of these living rooms, we usually look at four approaches.
One wide shade. A single cellular or roller shade made to the full width covers the glass in one clean piece, raises evenly from one control and leaves no seam. Cellular shades hold air in their cells, which helps a large single-glazed or older double-glazed window keep the room warmer.
Two or three matched shades. Where the picture window is divided by mullions into separate panes, a shade per pane follows the lines of the window and lets you raise one section while leaving another down, so you can keep the sun off the television without darkening the room.
Blinds made to width. A wood or faux wood blind sized exactly to the opening gives the tilt control that a shade cannot. On a very wide window, splitting it into two or three blinds on one headrail keeps each section light enough to lift easily.
Drapes across the whole wall. Because the window is shallow, floor-length drapes hung wider and higher than the frame can make it look larger and turn the whole wall into a soft backdrop. Behind them, a blind or shade handles privacy and light.
Whichever you choose, the window is measured where it is. Split-level frames have often moved a little over the years, so we check width at the top, middle and bottom.
Split-Levels Room by Room
A split-level is really several half-floors, and each level asks something different of its windows.
The upper level
The bedrooms sit up a half flight, usually with standard double-hung windows. Darkness and privacy lead here. Blackout rollers, blackout honeycomb shades and lined Roman shades all block early light, and mounting them inside the frame, close to the glass, stops it creeping round the edges. A matching treatment in every bedroom keeps the upper row of windows even from the street.
The main level
The picture window lives here, along with the kitchen and often a dining area. The kitchen window, often above the sink, needs something that copes with steam: faux wood slats, a moisture-ready roller or a café-style shutter. In the dining area, shades or blinds that match the living room keep the open space calm.
The lower level
Half below ground, the lower level of a split is usually a family room, with shorter windows set high in the wall and often a slider out to the yard. These rooms are short on daylight, so the aim is to keep every bit of it. Light-filtering fabrics, woven wood shades with no liner and blinds that raise right up clear of the glass all help. The slider is covered below.
Ranches off Newman Avenue and Arcade Avenue
The ranches share the splits’ fondness for a wide front window, but put the whole house on one floor. That makes the front of the house very visible from the road, with living room and bedroom windows side by side along the facade. Choosing one colour for every front-facing window, even if the rooms behind use different products, keeps the house looking tidy from the street.
Inside, a ranch living room often runs into the dining area and kitchen. Woven wood shades bring warmth and texture to a long room that can feel plain, while drapes at the picture window give it a focal point. The bedrooms, along the back or the end, usually take the same treatment as one another.
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 Homes toward the Providence Line
The newer construction toward the Providence line brings a different set of windows: taller openings, two-storey entries, transoms over doors, and wide glass doors onto patios. These houses usually have more regular sizes than the splits, but some windows are well above head height, and planning window treatments in Seekonk, MA for a two-storey entry is mostly a question of reach.
Plantation shutters suit the larger rooms well. A shutter with a wide louvre opens up the view when the louvres are turned, and the panels can fold back fully from a patio door. Tall windows in a family room or entry can be motorised, raising and lowering by remote or a switch on the wall, which saves a ladder or a long pole. In a two-storey room, several shades can move together from one switch.
Glass doors take vertical blinds, a panel track, or drapes on a rod that clears the door’s swing. The right answer depends on how often the door is used and how much wall there is either side for the treatment to stack.
Picking Fabrics and Finishes for Seekonk Rooms
Colour and texture decide how a treatment feels once it is up, and they matter more than usual in a split-level, where several half-floors are seen at once from the entry. Window treatments in Seekonk, MA work best when the colours on each level talk to each other: the same white or soft neutral on every visible window, with the warmth and pattern brought in by drapes, woven wood or cushions rather than by a different blind in every room.
Fabric opacity is the other big choice. A light-filtering fabric lets a room glow while hiding the detail of what is inside. A room-darkening fabric shuts out nearly all light for bedrooms. Solar screen sits between them, cutting glare while keeping the view outside. Most houses use all three somewhere, and the showroom lets you hold each one up to the daylight before you decide.
Living near Route 6
Houses close to the commercial stretch along Route 6, or on any busy road through town, have two extra concerns: privacy from passing traffic and headlights sweeping across a room at night. Both point the same way. A treatment that closes fully and sits tight to the frame, such as a blackout roller, a blackout honeycomb or lined drapes, keeps the room private and dark. Slats angled toward the ceiling admit daylight but block the view from the road. A layered approach, with sheers or a light-filtering shade for the day and heavier drapes drawn at night, gives the most control.
How a Seekonk Order Comes Together
You hear from us at every step until the work is finished. This is how most jobs run.
- Let us know which rooms are on your list, by phone or through the website form, and we set up a free quote.
- A specialist visits to measure each window, checks for squareness on the older splits and notes sliders, transoms and anything high or unusual.
- You choose the product, fabric, colour and controls for each window, with samples at home or on a visit to the Swansea showroom.
- Your quote lists every window and what is being made for it.
- Each piece is built to those on-site figures.
- Our installers put everything up, check it opens, closes and tilts properly, and show you how it works.
- If anything needs attention later, one phone call to Swansea gets it seen to.
The Slider onto the Deck
Almost every ranch and split in Seekonk has a sliding door somewhere, usually onto a deck or patio from the kitchen, dining area or lower family room. It is the most-used window in the house and often the hardest to dress.
Vertical blinds are the long-standing answer. The vanes hang from a track across the full width, draw to one side so you can walk through, and rotate to steer the daylight. Panel tracks are a cleaner modern alternative: wide fabric panels that slide one behind another like a set of screens. Drapes on a traversing rod can also work if there is wall space beside the door for them to stack. We look at how much room there is, which way the door slides and how often it is used before suggesting one.
Drapes, Fabric and Finishing the Room
Curtains and drapery are where this store made its name. In Seekonk’s ranches and splits, a pair of well-made drapes is often the quickest way to give a plain living room some character, and a wide shallow picture window is a natural place to start. Hanging the rod higher than the frame and letting the fabric fall to the floor makes the window look taller.
We start with the fabric: its weight, its weave, how it drapes and how it will cope with sun. Then the heading, the lining and the length. A lined drape insulates and darkens, a sheer softens daylight, and the two together give you both. Our custom drapes page has more detail.
Custom fabric decor takes the same cloth further. Cushions, bed covers and some upholstery can be sewn to match the window fabric, so the room feels pulled together.
Norman, Motorised Options and Repairs
Norman is one of the ranges we stock, with its blinds, shades and shutters displayed in Swansea so you can weigh them against our other options in person.
Motorised products work by remote or wall switch. They suit tall windows in the newer houses and long runs of shades across a picture window, and they take cords off the window.
If a blind or shade already in your house has a frayed cord, a wand that has stopped turning or a sticking headrail, we can restring it or swap the part. Seekonk is close enough to Swansea for repair work to be offered here. The full range is on our window treatments page.
A Family Store Next Door in Swansea
Window Works was founded in Swansea in 1988, and the family is now into its second generation running it. For more than 37 years the store has worked in houses from the SouthCoast to the East Bay of Rhode Island, with Seekonk just a few minutes up the road.
- Window treatment specialists with long experience
- Advice fitted to each house, from a split-level picture window to a two-storey entry
- Measuring on site, fitting by our own installers
- Regular updates from first call to final fitting
- Warranties available on what we sell
The same care goes into a single kitchen blind as into a whole house.
Try Before You Buy
The Swansea showroom is the best place to compare window treatments for a Seekonk home side by side. Lay fabric swatches side by side, raise a cellular shade, tilt a wood blind, slide a panel track and see how each looks in daylight.
Arrive with the width of your picture window, a snapshot of the room and perhaps a paint card, and the team will help shorten the list. Norman products are displayed there too.
Questions from Seekonk
Why will a stock blind not fit my split-level picture window?
Those windows are wide but shallow, a shape that falls between standard sizes. A stock blind ends up too narrow, leaving light at the sides, or too wide to fit the frame. We make the treatment to the window’s own width.
Is one wide shade better than several smaller ones?
It depends on the window. A single shade gives a clean, seamless look. Where mullions divide the glass, one shade per pane follows the window’s lines and lets you raise sections separately.
What do you suggest for a slider onto the deck?
Vertical blinds, a panel track or drapes on a traversing rod. We look at the space beside the door and how often it is used before suggesting one.
My house is near a busy road. What helps with headlights at night?
Anything that shuts completely and sits snug in the frame: a blackout roller or honeycomb, or lined drapes. Layering a light shade for the day with drapes for the night gives the most control.
Do you repair existing blinds in Seekonk?
Yes. Broken strings, frayed pull cords, loose tilt wands and stuck headrails can usually be put right on the blinds and shades already in your house.
Book a Free Quote
It all starts with a free quote. Press the call button to talk to Swansea about a measuring visit or fitting, or leave your details on the form and someone will ring you back. Keen to handle samples beforehand? Seekonk is a short hop from the store, and directions sit on our contact page. On Google, Window Works is rated 5.0.
Window Works serves 25 towns across the SouthCoast and the Rhode Island East Bay; you can see them all on our service areas page.