Tall Entries and Wooded Lots
Ask anyone who has lived in one of the newer subdivisions off Mendon Road which window gives them the most trouble, and the answer is nearly always the same: the tall one over the front door. Two-storey entry windows are the hardest reach in town, and they shape a good deal of what we plan when fitting woven wood shades in Cumberland, RI. The window floods the hall and the stair with light, and it is often well out of reach from the floor.
The rest of the town brings its own windows. The colonials around Diamond Hill and Arnold Mills, many on wooded lots, have regular double-hung sash in matched pairs. The older housing in Valley Falls has narrower openings and less room between houses. A woven shade suits all of them, adding natural texture and a warm, filtered light, but the way it is set up differs from one part of town to the next.
- Woven wood and bamboo, lined or unlined
- Every window measured where it is, installed by our team
- A showroom in Swansea where you can handle the weaves
Three Starting Points for a Cumberland Shade
A light, open weave
For rooms that look into the trees, a looser weave keeps the green outside in view and lets in the light a wooded lot can spare.
A neat, close bamboo
Small, even strands for a formal colonial front room, where you want daytime privacy and a calm, regular texture.
Lined, full-length texture
A liner on the back keeps a bedroom or a street-facing room screened at night while the woven face stays on show.
The Hardest Reach: Two-Storey Entry Windows
The newer houses off Mendon Road often have a two-storey foyer, with a tall window or a stack of windows above the front door and sometimes an arched or half-round window at the very top. These are beautiful from the street and inside, and they are tricky to dress, because the upper glass can be far above anyone’s head.
Deciding what to cover
The first question is whether the high glass needs covering at all. A tall entry window often faces the street, but the upper part is above the eye line of anyone outside, so it rarely causes a privacy problem. What it does cause is light: strong sun coming down the stair, glare on the landing and heat in the hall on summer afternoons.
Often the best answer is to treat the lower windows, the ones you can reach and the ones people can see into, and leave the high glass open. Where the entry has an arched top, the arch is usually left bare in any case, so the shape of the window stays visible. If the upper glass does need shading, for sun or for heat, we talk through how the shade will be worked before anything is made.
Working a shade you cannot reach
A woven shade on a window high above the floor needs a way to be raised and lowered without a ladder. On some entry windows, a long control can bring the operation down to a reachable height. On others the window is simply too high for that to be practical. For those, a motorised shade worked by a remote or a wall switch is one answer, and our motorized blinds and shades in Cumberland page explains how we approach them.
Some owners decide to leave a high shade fixed at one height, lowered just enough to soften the sun, and never move it. That is a perfectly good choice for a window you rarely want fully open or fully closed.
Light down the stair
A woven shade on the lower part of an entry window changes the light in the whole hall. With an open weave, the sun still comes through but breaks into a soft, dappled pattern across the stair and the floor. With a tighter weave, the hall gets a gentle, even glow. Either way the glare on the landing eases, and the hall feels warmer without losing its brightness.
Colour matters here too. Because the entry is seen from the front door, the stair and the landing, the shade is one of the first things people notice. A pale or mid weave that sits well with the stair rail and the floor usually looks best.
Woven Wood Shades in Cumberland, RI, Part by Part
Beyond the entry, choosing woven wood shades in Cumberland, RI depends on which part of town the house is in and what its windows are like.
Colonials around Diamond Hill and Arnold Mills
The colonials around Diamond Hill and Arnold Mills are laid out with even rows of double-hung windows across the front and a pair in most bedrooms. Many sit on wooded lots, so the rooms get filtered light through the trees for much of the day, especially in summer.
That changes the choice of weave. A heavy, tight weave in a room already shaded by trees can make it dim. A paler, more open weave keeps the room bright and lets the green outside show through as a soft blur. Where privacy from the road matters, a privacy liner behind an open weave gives screening at night without dulling the daytime light much.
From the road, those front windows are seen as one composition, so we size their shades alike and set every hem to drop to a common line. Painted trim in good order is worth keeping visible, which points to fitting the shade within the frame wherever the depth allows.
Inside, the formal rooms of these colonials sit on either side of the front hall, a living room on one side and a dining room on the other, often seen together through wide doorways. Shades in one weave and colour in both rooms make the ground floor feel of a piece. The dining room is a natural place to add drapery panels over the shade, since it is used mostly in the evening, when the panels are drawn and the room glows behind them. Upstairs, the main bedroom usually faces the front, and a room-darkening liner keeps it restful without changing how the window looks from the road.
Newer houses off Mendon Road
Beyond the entry, the newer subdivisions off Mendon Road tend to have standard window sizes, plenty of them, and open-plan rooms. A great room may have a run of windows or a tall window wall facing the back yard, and the kitchen often opens straight into the family room.
For these houses, the main decision is consistency. Using the same weave and colour across the windows of an open-plan space makes it look calm and planned. The liners can vary: a privacy liner in the family room, none in the kitchen eating area, room-darkening in the bedrooms. In a great room with tall windows, the same height questions arise as in the entry, and we look at whether each shade can be reached.
Many of these houses also have a bonus room over the garage, with a window or two set into a sloping ceiling or a gable end. Those rooms heat up fast in summer. Woven wood shades in Cumberland bonus rooms are usually lined, and a pale weave keeps the room from feeling enclosed. Where the window sits in a dormer with little space above it, a rolling style inside the frame keeps the raised shade clear of the glass.
Sliders and the back deck
The family room in a newer house nearly always has a sliding door to a deck or patio. A woven shade on a slider has to be raised every time the door is used, and on a wide door that is a lot of material to lift over and over. For a door in daily use, vertical blinds or a panel track are usually more practical, and the woven shades can go on the windows beside it in a colour that sits well with the vanes.
Valley Falls
The older housing in Valley Falls is closer set, with narrower windows and less space between houses. Privacy from the neighbours is more of a concern here than in the wooded parts of town. Side windows usually do best with a lined shade left down for much of the day; choose a light weave over a light liner and the room stays bright. On narrow windows, a finer weave usually looks better in proportion than a bold, chunky one.
Older frames in Valley Falls are also more likely to be out of square, so we measure each window at more than one point and make the shade to the narrowest reading, so it runs freely.
Rooms that face the trees
A house on a wooded lot gets very different light through the year. In summer the leaves filter the sun before it reaches the glass, and a room can feel shaded for much of the day. In winter, with the branches bare, the same room can be bright and full of low sun. Woven wood shades in Cumberland houses like these need to work in both seasons.
An open, pale weave usually copes with both. In summer it adds texture without taking away much of the light the trees have left. In winter it softens the low sun and the glare off snow, while still letting you see the woods through the weave. We look at which way each room faces and how close the trees are when we measure, because that tells us more about the right weave than any sample book.
Ready to Get Started? Book Your Free Quote
Call the Swansea store for a free quote, or come and see the samples in person.
What Sets Window Works Apart
Window Works began in Swansea in 1988, and the founding family’s second generation is in charge today. Over 37 years we have worked in old mill houses and brand-new subdivisions alike, across the Rhode Island East Bay and the Massachusetts SouthCoast.
- Experienced window treatment specialists
- Measuring in your home, high windows included
- Installation by our own team
- In close contact with you until the job is finished
- Warranties available on what we supply
Your Order, Step by Step
We stay in contact with you throughout. Here is the usual sequence.
- Call the Swansea store from the call button or send the form, mention any tall entry or great-room windows, and book a free quote.
- One of our specialists measures every window in the house, including the high glass, and talks through which windows need covering and how they will be worked.
- You pick weaves, colours and liners at the showroom, room by room.
- Your quote lists every window, with the mount, liner and operation for each.
- Production begins, using only the sizes recorded at your house.
- Our installers fit them, set the heights and show you how each one raises and lowers.
The liner decides the night
Without a liner, a woven shade is see-through to a degree, both ways. By day you see out and the weave hides much of the room from outside. At night, with the lamps on, that reverses. A privacy liner on the back stops the see-through effect while still letting a soft light pass by day. Choose room-darkening for a bedroom and most of the morning light stays out.
Most houses use more than one. Living and family rooms facing the road take privacy liners, bedrooms take room-darkening and the kitchen or a sunny back room can be unlined. The front of every shade is the same weave, so the house still looks consistent from inside.
Colour and light in a wooded setting
Woven shades change colour with the light behind them. A shade that looks light brown on a table may glow honey or amber against the sun. In a house surrounded by trees, the light is often softer and greener, and a pale bamboo or grass keeps rooms bright. A mid or dark wood suits a study or a den with wood trim. We always suggest holding a sample at your own window before deciding.
Woven shades with drapes
Flank a woven shade with fabric panels and a colonial living room, dining room or main bedroom takes on a softer, layered look. Day to day the shade manages the sun; at night the panels close for extra privacy and bring colour to the wall. Since drapery is one of our specialties, the fabric and the weave can be picked side by side and measured on one visit.
Fold or roll
Woven shades fold up in soft pleats or roll around a tube, depending on the style. A folding shade makes a fuller, deeper stack when raised. A rolling shade keeps the stack slim. On a window close to the ceiling, or a tall window where you want the most light, a rolling style or a mount above the frame keeps the glass clear.
When something else suits better
Woven shades are not the right choice for steamy bathrooms or a window right over the kitchen sink. For a bedroom that needs real blackout, a cellular shade can be the stronger choice. A slider to the deck is often easier with vertical blinds. We are happy to steer you away from a woven shade when another product would serve the window better. Read about one alternative on cellular shades in Cumberland, or browse all our services for the town on Cumberland window treatments.
Care
Dust a woven shade now and then with a soft brush or the brush tool of a vacuum, keep it dry and blot any spills. Older shades with worn cords or a lift that catches can usually be repaired by our team. Our woven wood shades page has the full story on weaves and liners.
See Every Weave in Swansea
The showroom in Swansea is the place to compare open and close weaves, hold liners up to the light and judge colours against each other in daylight. If you are planning a tall entry or a great room, bring a photo and we can talk through the options. The Norman range is on show as well.
Questions from Cumberland
Do I need to cover the tall window above my front door?
Not always. The upper glass is usually above anyone’s eye line, so many owners cover only the lower windows and leave the high glass open. If sun or heat is a problem, we talk through how a shade there would be worked.
How would I raise a shade I cannot reach?
On some windows a long control brings it within reach. On higher windows, a motorised shade with a remote or wall switch is one answer, or a shade can be set at one height and left.
Will a woven shade make a room on a wooded lot too dark?
Not with a pale, open weave. It keeps the light and lets the trees show through. A privacy liner adds evening privacy without dimming the room much.
Do you cover arched windows?
The arched top is usually left open to keep the shape of the window, and the shade covers the square part below.
Is the quote free?
Yes, there is no charge. Get in touch by phone with the call button, or by the form, and describe the windows.
Book Your Free Quote
Begin with a free quote. Reach our Swansea store on the call button to set a date for measuring at your house or to ask how installation works, or write to us through the form. If you want to see the weaves before anyone comes out, the contact page has directions to the showroom. Window Works holds a 5.0 rating on Google.