Markham Window Treatment Guide: From Unionville Heritage to Highway 7 Condos

Markham is not one place

Drive from Unionville Main Street to the Highway 7 condo corridor and you pass through 175 years of architecture in 15 minutes. Markham's housing range is unusual for the GTA: heritage 1850s commercial-residential buildings, mid-century detached homes, 1990s suburban subdivisions, brand-new condo towers, and modern infill townhouse developments. What works for blinds in one of these contexts is wrong for the next.

Our first Markham job was in the early nineties, back when Cornell was still farmland. Since then we have measured in nearly every housing type the town has, and this guide is what that adds up to, sorted by where you live.

Markham by neighbourhood

Unionville

The historic Main Street and surrounding residential streets have some of the GTA's best-preserved 19th-century housing stock. The homes typically have original wood-cased windows, sometimes with stained glass transoms, and shallow window frames that don't accommodate inside-mount blinds well.

For Unionville heritage homes, we usually recommend:

Outside mount is usually the right call because the original window casings are too shallow for modern inside-mount hardware. We often have to use custom valances to make the outside mount look intentional rather than awkward.

Markham Village (the original village)

Older detached homes from the 1950s through the 1980s, plus newer infill builds. The window stock is mixed: some original wood casement windows, some 80s aluminum sliders, and some recently replaced vinyl. The diversity means we measure carefully and recommend specific products per window type rather than a whole-house single solution.

Zebra blinds work well in the renovated rooms with newer windows. For the original windows that haven't been replaced, cellular shades give better insulation. Roller blinds suit the smaller bedrooms.

Cornell

A planned-community development with a New Urbanism design philosophy. The houses look heritage-style but are actually brand-new construction with modern windows. The architecture suggests traditional treatments but the windows handle modern blinds without the heritage compromises.

For Cornell homes, we typically install:

The window sizes are standardized across the development, which makes ordering predictable.

Cathedraltown

Newer detached homes built in the early 2000s with larger window packages than older Markham subdivisions. The houses are big enough that whole-house blind orders are common.

More zebra blinds go into Cathedraltown than anything else we sell, because the architecture is contemporary and the product reads that way. Zebra blinds also cope with the wide openings these builders favour. Motorized blinds show up mostly over the entry, where the glass runs two floors and a chain would be a joke.

The condo corridor along Highway 7

Tower construction along Highway 7 has added several large developments over the past decade. The buildings typically have floor-to-ceiling windows, balcony sliding doors, and a board with a position on what the facade should look like.

For Highway 7 condos, the standard configuration is:

Buildings on the corridor generally want a white or off-white outward face so the tower reads consistently from the road. Several of our fabric ranges are built that way, so the rule seldom changes what we would have suggested anyway. Check your own declaration before ordering.

Wismer and the newer subdivision developments

Family-oriented detached and townhome construction in the northern parts of Markham. The window packages are larger than older Markham subdivisions but smaller than Cathedraltown's higher-end builds.

Standard whole-house roller blinds with blackout in bedrooms is the typical Wismer configuration. Cordless operation is the default request because of the family-heavy demographic.

Markham-specific considerations

Sun exposure

Markham gets strong afternoon sun on west-facing windows because there's relatively flat terrain west of most subdivisions, with no significant building shading. Solar screen rollers work well for west-facing rooms where you want to reduce heat and glare without losing the view.

Unionville and the conservation district

The conservation district takes an interest in anything visible from the street. In practice the effect is narrow: fabric colour matters, the product behind it rarely does. Neutral exteriors pass without discussion. If you are not sure whether your address falls inside the boundary, City of Markham heritage staff will confirm it quickly, and we can put the fabric choice in writing for them.

Free in-home consultation

Every Markham address gets the same visit: free, roughly forty minutes, samples spread out on your own floor in your own light, and a written price before we pack up. Driving to Cornell instead of Cathedraltown does not change what you pay.

Heritage houses in Unionville need longer, so mention it when you book and we will hold the extra time. For a condo on Highway 7, a word to the concierge makes the first visit painless.

Our phone line takes calls and texts every day of the week.