Custom Blinds & Shades in Mount Airy, NC

The granite is not just trivia here. The quarry has been in full production since 1889 and it is the largest open-faced granite quarry in the world. Local stone turns up all over town, including Trinity Episcopal Church, built of it in 1896. Stone and masonry houses have deep window reveals, which is good news for us. There is room for an inside mount, so the treatment sits cleanly within the opening instead of hanging off the face of the wall.

The main historic district covers 187 contributing buildings, most of them raised between about 1880 and 1930, and the town has three more listed districts at Country Club Estates, Lebanon Hill, and Taylor Park. Late Victorian and Craftsman houses dominate. The Victorian houses have tall paired sash that should stay visible. The bungalows have wide, low openings that suit a horizontal slat.

Elevation changes what a window has to do. Mount Airy sits higher than the rest of our service area and runs colder through the winter. Single-pane original sash in a house from 1905 loses real heat overnight. Cellular shades help more here than anywhere else we work, because the still air in the cells sits directly against the coldest surface in the room. We would still call that a comfort improvement rather than an energy fix.

Newer building sits mostly outside the old town on larger parcels with long views toward the Blue Ridge. Those houses have big windows aimed at the ridge line on purpose. Covering them with anything opaque defeats the reason they exist. Solar shades keep the view and take the glare off, and we usually leave the ridge-facing rooms lighter than the rest of the house.