Vertical Blinds for Homes in Somerset, MA

Where Somerset Houses Need a Blind That Draws Sideways

Most of the openings that call for vertical blinds in Somerset, MA are the ones a horizontal blind handles badly: the slider at the back of a ranch, and the long runs of glass on the Taunton River lots. Those openings are wide, they are used all day, and whatever covers them has to get out of the way in one easy movement. A blind that hangs in vanes and travels along a track does exactly that.

The mid-century capes and ranches off County Street, around Brayton Point and through Riverside, often gained a slider when a kitchen or family room was opened up to the back yard. Down on the river lots, later renovations added glass walls that face the water. Both are jobs for a treatment that moves left and right rather than up and down.

• Vertical blinds with turning vanes
• Panel tracks with wide sliding fabric panels
• Each one measured across the full opening and fitted by our team

What We Cover in Somerset

Vertical blinds

Narrow vanes hang side by side and turn together. Angle them to soften the light, close them at night, or draw the whole set to one side when you want the door.

Panel tracks

A few broad fabric panels ride in their own channels and slide past each other. They stack flat and give a wide door a calm, modern face.

River-facing window walls

One long track can span a run of glass from end to end, split in the middle so the view opens from both sides.

Drapes beside the door

Side drapes over a vertical blind add softness to a family room. We make both, so they can be planned together.

Drapes in Somerset

Blinds for the other windows

The windows next to the slider usually take horizontal blinds in a matching colour, so the room reads as one choice.

Blinds in Somerset

Sized at the house

The width, the drop and the wall above the frame are all measured in your home, so the track fits and the stack clears the glass.

Planning Vertical Blinds in Somerset, MA

Choosing vertical blinds in Somerset, MA is mostly a matter of looking hard at how the opening is used. A back slider that the dog uses all day long is a different job from a window wall that is rarely opened but takes the full afternoon sun off the river. The sections below follow the houses in town, because the house decides more than the catalogue does.

The back slider in a County Street ranch

In the ranches and capes off County Street, the slider is usually at the back of the kitchen or the family room, opening onto a deck or a patio. It is the busiest door in the house after the front one, so the blind on it needs to be simple. One pull of the wand should draw the vanes clear, and a twist should turn them, with the control on the side of the door you reach first.

Stack side matters more than people expect. On most sliders the vanes are best gathered on the side of the fixed glass panel, so that the moving panel is completely clear the moment the blind is drawn. If the stack sits on the wrong side, you end up pushing vanes out of the way every time you step outside.

We also look at the floor. The vanes should hang just clear of it, so a mat, a pet or a child’s foot does not catch the bottom of them, and so the blind looks neat when it is closed.

Brayton Point and Riverside capes with a family room added

Many capes around Brayton Point and Riverside were extended over the years, and the addition is often where the slider ended up. That leaves a room where the original windows are small and regular while the new door is wide. It can look disjointed if the two are treated separately.

The usual answer is to pick one colour and carry it across. Vertical blinds on the slider and horizontal blinds or shades on the windows, in the same white or the same soft neutral, make the old and new parts of the room sit together. If the addition has a higher ceiling, the track can be mounted on the ceiling itself, which makes the door look taller.

Taunton River window walls: one track or two

The river lots bring the biggest openings in town. A window wall facing the water can be a single sheet of glass, a row of fixed panes with a slider in the middle, or a pair of sliders side by side. Each layout suggests a different plan.

Over a single wide sheet of glass, one vertical blind on one track is usually cleanest. Splitting it in the centre means the vanes gather at both ends, so neither end of the view is blocked by the stack. Over a row of panes with a slider among them, separate blinds on their own tracks can let you open the door section without drawing the whole wall.

The light off the river is the other thing to plan for. In the afternoon the sun comes low across the water, and the glare can make a room uncomfortable. Vertical vanes turn to angle that light away from the sofa while the view stays in sight between them. In the evening, when the lamps are on, they close for privacy from the water side.

Wall mount or ceiling mount

Where the track goes changes how the door looks. On most ranch sliders it is fixed to the wall above the frame, set out far enough that the vanes hang clear of the door handle and any lock. In a family room addition with a cathedral or raised ceiling, a ceiling mount carries the vanes from higher up, which makes a modest door look taller and hides the top of the frame. We check what is behind the wall or ceiling when we measure, so the track has something solid to hold it.

Some sliders have a heating vent in the floor in front of them, or a step down to the deck. The vanes are cut so they hang just above whatever is below, and on a vent we leave enough room for the air to move. These are small details, but they decide whether a blind is a pleasure to use or a nuisance.

Sun on a west-facing slider

A slider facing west, toward the river from the Somerset side, takes the low sun at the end of the day straight into the room. That light fades rugs and heats a kitchen at the very time someone is cooking in it. Vertical vanes can be turned almost shut against the sun while still letting a little light through, so the room does not go dark. A panel track in a heavier fabric can be drawn across the worst of it and pulled back once the sun has gone down.

For a room that is used for watching television in the evening, glare on the screen is often the real complaint. Turning the vanes a little toward the wall the sun comes from usually solves it without losing the rest of the daylight.

Why the village sash is left to other treatments

The colonials in Somerset Village keep their original narrow double-hung sash. Those windows are tall and slim, and a vertical blind on one would stack across a large share of the glass. We do not suggest verticals there. A wood or faux wood blind, a cellular shade or a Roman shade suits that sash far better, and the same visit can cover them. Where a village house has had a slider added at the back, the vertical blind goes on that door alone, coloured to suit the trim in the older rooms.

Hinged patio doors are a different case

Not every back door in town slides. Some of the later renovations on the river lots used hinged French doors instead, and a vertical blind hung above a door that swings inward gets in the way of it. On those, we look at treatments fixed to the door itself, or at drapes on a rod wide enough to draw clear of both leaves. If a room has a slider on one wall and French doors on another, we can still keep the colours matched so the two read as a pair. The point of measuring in the home is to catch this kind of difference before anything is ordered, rather than finding out on the day of installation.

From First Call to a Finished Slider

We keep the order simple and stay in contact with you all the way through. For most Somerset jobs it runs like this.

1. Use the call button or the form, tell us which door or window you want covered, and book your free quote.
2. One of our specialists comes to measure the opening in your home, including the space above it and at each side.
3. Together we settle the draw: one side, the centre split, or separate tracks for separate sections.
4. You choose between vanes and panels, then the fabric and colour, with samples to compare at the Swansea showroom.
5. Your quote lists each opening, so you can see exactly what is being made.
6. The blinds are made to the measurements taken at the house.
7. Our team installs them, opens and closes the door with the blind in place, and shows you the controls.

Vanes or panels for a Somerset family room

Both treatments hang from a track and move sideways, so the choice comes down to how you want to control the light. Vertical vanes turn. You can leave the blind closed and still let daylight in by angling the vanes, which suits a room that faces the street or a neighbour’s yard. Panels do not turn. They slide past one another, so the amount of light depends on how far you draw them and on the fabric you pick.

Panels suit a more modern room or a recent renovation, because closed they look like a smooth wall of fabric and open they stack flat. Vanes suit a family room where the light changes through the day and you want to adjust it often without opening the door.

If you cannot decide, the showroom has both hanging, and it helps to bring a photo of the door and the wall beside it. Seeing how far each one stacks, and how each looks closed, usually settles it within a few minutes of handling them.

Fabric, colour and the size of the stack

A slider covering is a big piece of colour in a room. Pale vanes keep a family room bright and fade into painted walls. A warmer neutral can frame the view of the yard or the river. Fabric vanes have a softer, more textile look, while smooth, solid vanes give a crisp line and wipe clean with a damp cloth, which helps on a door that sees muddy paws.

The stack is the bundle of vanes or panels left when the blind is drawn open. Vertical vanes turn edge on and gather into a narrow stack. Panels stack in layers, one behind the next. On a tight wall with a cabinet or a corner beside the door, we measure that space carefully so the stack has somewhere to sit.

Matching the door to the rest of the house

From the back yard, a slider is seen next to the kitchen and bedroom windows around it. Choosing a colour for the verticals that matches the blinds or shades on those windows keeps the back of the house looking tidy. Inside, the same thinking applies to an open-plan room: one colour across the door and the windows makes the room calmer.

If you are covering several rooms at once, everything can be measured on one visit. You can see all the treatments we make for the town on our window treatments for Somerset homes page, and the full range of verticals and panels on the main vertical blinds page.

Privacy after dark

A bare slider at night turns into a large dark mirror from inside and a lit window from outside. On the ranches and capes where the back yard meets a neighbour’s, that is usually the reason a slider gets covered at all. Vertical blinds in Somerset, MA homes close fully with the vanes overlapping, so nothing shows through once the lamps are on. A panel track does the same with the panels drawn across, and a room-darkening fabric shuts out a street light or a neighbour’s porch light as well.

Caring for vertical blinds

Turn the vanes so they lie flat and dust them now and then with a soft cloth or the brush on a vacuum. Solid vanes take a damp cloth. Always draw the blind fully open before sliding the door, so no vane gets caught in the frame. If a vane drops, a wand stops turning or the track sticks on a blind you already own, ask us about it when you call. It can often be put right without replacing the whole blind.

What Sets Window Works Apart

Window Works has been a family store in Swansea since 1988, and the second generation runs it now. For over 37 years we have covered doors and windows on both banks of the Taunton River, Somerset among them, and right across the SouthCoast and the Rhode Island East Bay.

• Window treatment specialists with years at the trade
• Measuring in your home, so the track suits the opening
• Installation by our own people
• Constant contact with you until the job is done
• Warranties offered on what we sell

The showroom is a short drive over the bridge. It is the easiest place to see vertical blinds for Somerset, MA homes side by side with panel tracks, to handle the fabrics and to try the controls before you decide.

Visit the showroom

Your Next Step

When you are ready, a free quote is the place to start. The call button reaches the Swansea store, where you can arrange measuring in your home and ask about installation in the same conversation, or the form will bring us back to you. If you want to see the vanes and panels first, stop at the Swansea showroom; the contact page has directions. Window Works holds a 5.0 rating on Google, and the team there will talk you through the options.