If you are trying to “dress” historic windows, which are often enormous or in non-standard sizes, you might have already learned that ready-made curtains, shades, and blinds that you can buy at the store are often not an option. You might also have learned that the options you do have are quite expensive. I’ve painstakingly researched how to cover my historic windows in a way that’s both affordable and attractive, and in this series I’ll share my experience and extensive research with you.
In this post, the second installment of the series, I document my efforts to find roller shades for our dining room that keep with the time period from when our house was built. We are fortunate to have a formal dining room that we use every day since our kitchen is way too small to be eat-in. Even still, I wanted a slightly more classic, formal feel for the room and the window treatments.
My first question was: Should I do curtains or shades? Although I love the romantic feel of curtains in a formal space, I decided against curtains and in favor of shades for three main reasons: 1) With shades, I could close them halfway so that I can block out the sun, have a little bit of privacy, and avoid some draft without closing the curtains entirely; 2) The windows are close together, which would make hanging rods tricky; and 3) There’s a large intake vent on the floor in front of the windows that could be blocked by curtains. That said, the standard shades available in stores tend to be more modern looking, which is not the look I’m after for the house in general, but especially for this room. So, I decided I’d like to do roller shades, and that I really wanted Victorian-esque scalloped shades that would compliment the style of the house.
After narrowing my search down to a few companies that do custom made roller shades for historic homes and comparing prices, I decided on The Handwerk Shade Shop. I found the customer service to be very helpful when I called to order samples and when I finally placed my order.
When I received the finished shades I found them to be stunning and of excellent quality. When I went to hang them, however, I found it to be a pain. They were too narrow! After panicking, I took a deep breath and decided to just add some washers under the hardware on both sides to narrow the distance, and that did the trick. Truth be told, I never went back to measure my window frames carefully enough to find out if the mistake was mine or theirs, but I suspect it was my mistake, seeing as, let’s face it, they’ve been making shades for 25 years to excellent reviews, whereas I’ve measured windows for custom window treatments three times. Frankly, I’m two for three in ordering custom shades that are too narrow – more on that other project in another post. The point is, measure carefully. Emily Henderson recently posted a video to IG on how to accurately measure window frames, which I’m definitely planning to use the next time I have to measure frames. Essentially you measure a few inches in from one side, mark the frame, then measure from the other side of the frame to that mark, and then add the two numbers together. The point is to avoid bending your tape measure, which is exactly what I usually do when measuring my frames.
The total price of the shades for the three windows was just under $450, which I found to be pretty reasonable given the quality, that they’re custom made, and that they’re exactly what I was looking for but really couldn’t find in stores – namely, a simple, modern take on scalloped roller shades.
The before and after is below.
Update June 2022:
I recently heard from a reader that, sadly, The Handwerk Shade Shop is no longer in business. If looking for other sources of custom, historically-appropriate window treatments, you might consider checking out Cooper Lace, Alameda, Zwick, or Melton, all profiled in this post from This Old House. I don’t have personal experience with those companies, so I cannot officially vouch for them, but that is where I would start if I were looking for new window treatments. Happy decorating!
