Custom Blinds & Shades in Thomasville, NC

Thomasville Furniture Industries and the mills around it built housing for workers and rented it out for decades. One of the larger mills did not sell its houses to individual owners until 1972. Those streets are still easy to pick out. Small, well-built cottages, with tall narrow windows and rooms sized for economy rather than for show.

The problem in those houses is simple to state and easy to get wrong. One window often lights an entire room, so whatever hangs there decides whether the room is bright or dark. A room-darkening shade in a nine-by-eleven bedroom makes it feel like a closet. A light-filtering cellular or a soft roller gives you privacy from the street. It also leaves the room livable during the day.

Mounting matters as much as the product. Hang the headrail above the casing and run the shade wider than the opening. That makes a short window look taller, and it lets the full glass clear when the shade is raised. On a tall narrow sash, that one decision changes how the whole room reads.

Downtown has three listed districts. One covers the central business district, with buildings from 1871 to 1938. Another is Salem Street, which is mostly residential. The houses there are larger than the mill cottages and keep more of their original detail. Interior shutters and wood blinds suit them. Both hold up better than fabric in a house where the windows actually get opened.