Window Treatments for Historic Homes in Kansas City
Custom shades, shutters, and drapery for old houses, installed without cracking your original trim or tearing up plaster.
Window treatments for historic homes have to work around everything that makes the house worth keeping. Original trim splits when a screw goes in dry. Plaster does not hold an anchor the way drywall does. Sash depth runs shallow, openings have gone out of square after a century of settling, and a sleek modern headrail looks wrong above hundred-year-old woodwork. Our owner has spent years living in a house built in 1867, so these are problems we work through at home before we ever bring them to yours.
Historic Window Treatments Come With Problems New Construction Never Has
Hanging shades in a 2019 build is simple. Studs are where you expect them, drywall takes an anchor, and every opening is square. None of that is true in a 1905 shirtwaist. Here is what we actually run into.
Original trim that cracks. Old growth wood is dense, dry, and brittle after a century of Kansas City summers. Drive a screw straight into it, and it splits along the grain. We pre-drill every hole, every time. It takes longer, and it is the entire difference between a clean install and permanent damage to trim you cannot replace.
Lath and plaster walls. Plaster is why so many DIY outside mounts end up back on the floor. It cannot be treated like drywall, and the studs behind the lath rarely sit where a stud finder says they do. We pre-drill, use anchors made specifically for plaster, and locate real wood framing anytime the treatment carries weight, like a lined drapery panel on a wide window.
Openings that are not square. Houses settle. A window that measured true in 1912 does not measure true now. Every treatment we sell is custom made to the actual opening, not a rounded number, which is why we measure each window individually instead of assuming a wall of five windows are five identical windows.
Shallow window depth. A lot of older sashes leave almost no room for an inside mount. Sometimes there is a workaround; sometimes the honest answer is to mount outside on the casing or use an adhesive system instead. We will tell you which one you are dealing with at the consultation.
The Best Window Treatments for Older Homes
The mistake we see most often is a sleek, modern, low-profile shade dropped into a room full of period detail. It reads as an add-on. Nothing looks more out of place in an old house than a shade that looks like it belongs in a condo.
Here is what actually works.
Roller Shades With an Open Roll
Most designer roller shades come with a sleek enclosed cassette at the top, which is exactly the look you do not want in a period room. We specify an open roll instead, where the fabric wraps a visible roller with no boxy headrail. It is a softer, older-looking detail that suits the period, gives you a nice fabric shade, and does not shout for attention above your window.
Roman Shades
Custom Roman shades are one of the most requested treatments we install in older homes, and for good reason. Hobbled styles give you soft, continuous folds with real depth. Flat styles are cleaner and let a fabric pattern carry the room. Best part for old house owners: they usually mount inside the window, so your casing and trim stay untouched. If your opening is too shallow, we can mount them outside onto plaster with the right anchors.
Wood Shutters
Stained hardwood shutters are the one treatment that looks like it came with the house. Paired with existing stained woodwork, they read as original architecture rather than something added later. They also give you the most control of anything on this list. Louvers tilt for privacy while still pulling light in, panels swing open for a clear view, and closed up they cut glare and heat. If you want one treatment that handles light and privacy at every hour of the day, this is it. See the full plantation shutter lineup.
Woven Wood Shades
Provenance woven woods bring in reeds, grasses, and bamboo with visible texture and irregularity. They work beautifully in Craftsman and bungalow interiors around Brookside and Waldo where the whole design language is natural materials.
Honeycomb Shades for Drafty Windows
Original single-pane sash windows leak heat in January and let it pour in during July. Duette honeycomb shades trap air in their cell structure and put an insulating layer between you and that glass. If your radiators are working overtime, start here. More on keeping heat in during winter and energy-efficient window treatments.
Drapery
Custom drapery softens tall windows and adds the fabric weight period rooms were designed around. It also brings us straight back to the plaster conversation, because a wide rod carrying lined panels needs to land in real structure.
No-Drill Window Treatments for a 100-Year-Old House
Some homeowners draw a hard line: no screws in the trim, no holes in the sash, nothing altered. That is a fair position when the woodwork is original and irreplaceable, and there is a real solution for it.
Hunter Douglas makes a system called TrackGlide, available on Duette honeycomb shades, that mounts with high-bond 3M adhesive tape instead of fasteners. Narrow side tracks adhere to the glass or a flat surface, the shade rides in those tracks, and nothing gets drilled. It runs cordless on LiteRise, so there are no pull cords either.
A few things worth knowing:
- The adhesive is engineered to hold the shade’s weight long term. This is not double-sided tape from a hardware store, and we have installed plenty of these over the last several years without one letting go.
- The mounting surface has to be flat and smooth. It will not adhere to textured surfaces or span gaps.
- It is also the right call for tilt and turn windows, French doors, and any sash with a frame too narrow for brackets. See our French door options.
You still get privacy, light control, and insulation. Your trim stays exactly as you found it.
Why Kansas City Homeowners Trust Us With Window Treatments for Historic Homes
- We live in one. Our owner’s house dates to 1867. When we talk about plaster anchors and pre-drilled pilot holes, it comes from doing this in our own home first.
- Our installers are ours. Professional installation is done by our team, not a rotating subcontractor who has never touched lath and plaster. The same people who measured your windows are the ones mounting into them.
- We steer you away from the wrong product. Plenty of shades would technically fit your window and look wrong in your house. We will say so before you order, not after.
- We know these neighborhoods. Hyde Park Victorians, Janssen Place, Pendleton Heights, Country Club District bungalows, Northeast four squares. We have measured in all of them.
- Full Hunter Douglas line. Including the specialty solutions like TrackGlide, top-down/bottom-up privacy, and arched and angled window treatments that older homes throw at us constantly.
- 4.9 stars across more than 1,500 reviews, with showrooms in Overland Park, Shawnee, and Lee’s Summit, plus service in Kansas City North.
How the Project Goes
1
Free in-home consultation
We come to you with samples, because fabric in your own light next to your own woodwork is the only accurate test. We assess wall construction, trim condition, and sash depth, then talk through open roll versus cassette, stain matching, and inside versus outside mount. Book a consultation.
2
Measure and quote
Every window gets measured individually, because openings in an old house are rarely identical and rarely square. You get a detailed quote before anything is ordered. No surprises.
3
Professional installation
Pilot holes pre-drilled into original trim. Plaster anchors where plaster demands them. Studs located before anything heavy goes up. Our own installers do the work, shoe covers on, site left clean.
4
Final walkthrough
Before we leave, we confirm everything operates correctly and show you how to use each treatment. Questions later go to our service team.
Browse our design portfolio to see finished projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need historic district approval to install blinds or shades in Kansas City?
Interior window coverings are almost never regulated, since preservation commissions focus on what is visible from the street. If your home is on the Kansas City Register or in a designated district, check with the Historic Preservation Commission before anything exterior. We are happy to provide product details if you need them for a submission.
Can you install window treatments on plaster walls?
Yes, and it takes a different approach than drywall. We pre-drill, use anchors made for plaster and lath, and locate wood framing whenever the treatment carries real weight like drapery or a wide shade.
What if I do not want any holes drilled in my original trim?
Hunter Douglas TrackGlide mounts Duette honeycomb shades with high-bond adhesive tape instead of screws. Nothing gets drilled into your sash or casing, and the surface has to be flat and smooth for it to work.
What window treatments look right in a Kansas City shirtwaist or bungalow?
Stained wood shutters and woven wood shades tend to look original to the house rather than added later. Roman shades in the right fabric also work well, especially inside-mounted so your casing stays visible.
Will window coverings help with drafty original windows?
They help meaningfully. Honeycomb shades trap air in their cells and put an insulating buffer against single-pane glass, which cuts winter heat loss and summer heat gain noticeably.
My window openings are not square. Is that a problem?
It is normal in any house that has settled for a century, and we plan around it. Every treatment is custom built to the actual measurements of that specific opening.
Can old windows handle the weight of shutters?
Usually yes, because shutters mount to the casing or frame rather than the sash. We confirm the wood is sound during the consultation and reinforce the mounting if it is not.
How long does the whole process take?
Custom orders typically run a few weeks from measurement to installation, depending on the product. We give you a realistic timeline at the consultation instead of an optimistic one.
Let's Talk About Your Old House
Bring us your split trim worries, your plaster walls, your windows that have not been square since the Coolidge administration. We will walk your house, tell you honestly what will and will not work, and quote it before you commit to anything.
Call One Stop Decorating today for a free quote on window treatments for historic homes anywhere in the Kansas City metro.
Overland Park at 913.378.0888, Shawnee at 913.631.0088, Lee’s Summit at 816.347.0885, or Kansas City North at 816.468.4433.