Bay windows with curves bends and bows

Bay windows come in many shapes/sizes. They can be a compact 6 feet wide up to 20 feet or more wide with two angles or many angles.
A Creative Touch Draperies & Interiors has had the opportunity to make window treatments for several types/shapes of bay windows. Some clients wanted to have a once piece valance installed while others wanted a full coverage drapery. The designs are only limited by one's imagination.
There are many types of hardware that are useful on bay windows to create a one piece system that follows the contour of the angles and bends.
One of my favorite vendors for bay window hardware is Brimar Inc.
Below is a photo of a window with blackout drapery installed on a tray ceiling with Brimar Inc hardware ceiling mounted. Installing it ceiling mounted allows a very low profile and no light can leak through the top of the rod.


Brimar hardware has a very low profile allowing for blackout in the master bedroom
This is a hand drawn system with ball bearing glides for ease of opening/closing

The bay window shown in the next two photos was 27 feet wide with 9 angles.  The client wanted a one piece balloon valance with fringe.  The total finished width on this valance was over 50 feet! It was a challenge to install also.  We ended up using a Kirsch 5" wide continental rod with corner connectors. Access slots were created on the back side of the rod pocket and the valance was slid onto each rod section one-at-a-time and that section was then attached to the support bracket on the wall.  Once the valance was on the rod, it was dressed and each gathered section had to be tied to the proper height.  It was worth it! The client was thrilled with the outcome.

Bay window 27 feet wide Right side

Bay window 27 feet wide Left side



On the next two photos below, the curve of the wall posed a challenge. The curve is approximately 38 degrees. Instead of custom bending a 14.5 foot rod on-site we used two 8 foot pieces of flex board joined together with flat metal joiner brackets. The flex board comes in several widths and in this case we used 6" width and installed in to the wall with Kirsch brackets.  This allowed the window treatment to follow the exact curve of the wall.  The valance was velcro'ed to the front of the flex board for easy removal and cleaning.

This window is a curved bay and is 175" wide

This window is curved and is 168" wide

Sometimes simplicity is best to showcase the beauty of a fabrication as seen below in the photo of blocked drapery panels on this dining room nook area.  As always, blackout lining was used to prevent unsightly holes showing up on the front side of these panels. The headers were kept simple by making the panels flat without pleats.  This also uses less fabric.  Because these panels were going to be decorative only (they stay open all the time) the client chose to make them flat without pleating.

Dining nook area with flat blocked decorative drapery panels

Below is a photo of drapery panels installed on finial knobs using Kirsch's finial installation kit. This kit allows you to use the machined screws (flat ends not pointed) on the finials to attach to the wall and are used as a decorative feature. There are actually six panels with one not shown in the photo. The master bedroom reading nook shown here was made up of 5 windows and 3 different sizes and is well over 12 feet total width. Each panel shown is one width wide with blackout lining and interlining for additional body. The photos here do not do this install justice--the panels were stunning and this client was very happy with the result.

This window has six drapery panels installed one is out of view

Though the next photo is not technically a bay window, it was part of the installation above. The panel shown in the corner was made with almost 2 widths. I had to experiment with the right width to make this and it came out about 12 inches less than a full 2 widths wide.

This window is a corner window

 

The photo below demonstrates a 14 foot wide bay window with decorative blackout drapery panels installed and rod pocket sheers beneath the panels.  A Creative Touch Draperies & Interiors uses blackout lining on the decorative panels to prevent unsightly bar mark holes from showing through on the right side of the drapery fabric. Also, the fabric's color shows up so much better with blackout as a lining.  The sheers were installed with a Kirsch heavy duty standard rod and was custom bent on-site for the best possible fit.