Working with bay windows doesn’t have to be problematic but they definitely require very accurate measuring and I really recommend you get an expert to do this as it can be a costly mistake if you get the measurements wrong.
The first thing to establish is what type of bay window do you have? Is it a square bay, or an angled bay or even a one-sided bay.
Square bay
If you have a square bay window, its important to note that with any blinds that are to be fitted, there will be a trade off in the right angled corners where the blinds don’t meet completely. If you think about a wood venetian blind for example, the depth of the blind/slats at the top is around 6-8cm – also called the ‘projection’. So if you fit a blind at the front pane to go across the full width, the side windows will need to have blinds that are 6-8cm taken off the width. Sometimes this results in there being a slight gap where the side glass panes are not fully covered. We sometimes take a bit off the width of all 3 blinds so that the gap isn’t so large but this depends on the window frame setup.
Curtains on a specially angled track to fit the bay shape work really well here, especially if there is enough wall space either side to pull the curtains back sufficiently off the windows for maximum light to come through.
Angled bay
Possibly the easiest of all bay shapes to dress with a range of blinds – roman, venetian, roller or vertical working well here.
Again, curtains can be fitted on a custom made track that is fitted to hug the shape of the bay. It is possible to get bay poles and these work by having ‘c’ rings, or passing rings that go over the special brackets. Unlike a track where the curtain is hung below the track, here the rings must travel along the pole and therefore need a small gap in them to go over the brackets. I’m not a big fan of these as in my experience, they can make it difficult to pull the curtains as they often need a bit of assistance to pass over the brackets.
Single sided bay window
If you have one of these, you’ll probably notice that your neighbours with the same shape window, mostly have curtains! By their very nature, these are not symmetrical and mean that if you have a pair of curtains made to the same width as each other, the curtains will not meet in the middle when closed. You can of course have one curtain (not on the bay side) made narrower but visually I always think that as the majority of the time, your curtains will be open and having one wider than the other can look a bit odd. A custom made track is best here, we bend the tracks at the fitting to exactly match the curve of the bay for the best fit.
Lath and fascia or pelmet
If having a track is not the most decorative hardware for you, then disguising it with a pelmet or a lath and fascia is a great solution. A lath and fascia has the track fitted to the underside of a board, shaped to the bay and covered in the same fabric as the curtains.
Quite often a bay window will have a plasterboard ceiling above it and finding the fixing points of the timber struts is important for good fixing points for a curtain track or brackets for blinds. If you think there is a fairly hollow void above, then use butterfly rawlplugs for plasterboard as these will give the best support.
If you need advice or a quote for your bay window, send me a photo to 07952 697850 and I’ll be happy to advise.
