Bow Window

[sewmad]

Hi!,

I have just spoken to a new client who has a design problem! She has a 1930's house with a bow window and would like roman blinds and dress curtains. Sounds simple enough, however; she has 6 windows in her bay and would like, if possible, to have 1 blind per 2 windows so ending up with 3 blinds in total. The other problem is that her window sill is very deep, approx 12" deep so the pole for the curtains would need to be ceiling mounted and a long way from the window frame which she is not happy about.

My questions are:
a) is it possible to do the 1 blind over 2 windows that would be slightly curved, and if it is, how would I do that?
b) if I did individual blinds, is it possible to link them in pairs so that they move up and down together, if it is, then how would I do that?

With regard to the curtains, my first thought was that if they are dress curtains only then why would you want to close them and therefore does the pole really need to come so far out? However, I have not yet been to the property so I do not know all the in's and out's but I would like to know if anyone else has come across this window sill problem and what their solution was.

I am going to see the customer tomorrow afternoon and I will take some photos of the window then but If anyone has any ideas in the mean-time then I would be very grateful.

Helen.

[thecurtainmaker]

Re: Bow Window

Hi Helen,
Just a couple of thoughts. Have I seen a video on a curved roman blind, Silent Gliss maybe? Otherwise Rufflette do a system where two or more romans in a bay can be operated together with one control.

Re the curtains, I personally think a pole sticking out that far, that is not going to be used, will look ugly. You could have two short poles with finials, one each side, for each curtain, which I think would be far more elegant. If she does want a pole all the way round, and the situation allows for it, then as the curtains are not going to be drawn the pole does not have to come out over the sill all the way round. Maybe the dress curtains can be on the wall?

You will have to look and see what can be done.

[Tam]

Re: Bow Window

Could you suggest that a pole be placed outside of the bay with dress curtains and working romans inside the bay as shown in one of my photos?

[attachment=0:2ij2fnqn]P1010068.JPG[/attachment:2ij2fnqn]

[Louise]

Re: Bow Window

I have dressed a window as Pen suggests, with a short pole either side of the window. This was the customer's suggestion - I can't take the credit

[attachment=0:r4i0ro26]Slot top on short pole.jpg[/attachment:r4i0ro26]

[sewmad]

Re: Bow Window

Thank you Pen, [email protected] and Louise for your responses and ideas. They enabled me to go to the customers house well prepared.

The customer did not like the idea of the short poles but does like the idea of the linked roman blinds so each window will have an individual blind. I am looking into getting a pole made using extra long brackets so that it is wall mounted but it will still protrude some way from the wall.

I have attached a couple of pictures below so if anyone has any other suggestions then I would be grateful to receive them.

[attachment=1:3sxhprhv]DSC_0123 (Small).JPG[/attachment:3sxhprhv]

[attachment=0:3sxhprhv]DSC_0124 (Small).JPG[/attachment:3sxhprhv]

[Schuhby]

Re: Bow Window

Have you considered a silent gliss m2m pole for this window with ceiling fixings - I've just done 3 windows the same as this, each were fitted to the ceiling with reverse bends at each end bringing the curtains off the window and onto the wall.

Philip

[alic]

Re: Bow Window

Hi Helen just looked at your window photo ,what you could do is to put up a short piece of track approx 70cms on each end of bay and curving into bay as only dress curtains so not functional and then put the heading of the curtain to sit up snug to ceilling so track is not visible .

[sewmad]

Re: Bow Window

Thanks again for all your replies.

My customer has decided to go for 6 individual roman blinds, but they will be linked in three's, with a valance across the top.

I looked into Pen's idea of the Rufflett Orion system but it would have cost over £500 for the hardwear to link the six blinds, so that was out of the question. Each blind will be around 50cm wide and my idea is to use wooden battens and thread three blinds as if they were one long one. Has anyone else tried this or have any other ideas on how best to link them?

Helen.

[hendy]

Re: Bow Window

I am doing a window identically to this one at the moment customer has opted for six roman blinds on rotary system with dress triple pleat curtains on a curved track which will be hidden
Karen

[Julie Evans]

Re: Bow Window

there is a post on here somewhere that shows how to thread up a number of blinds to be pulled up as one - using battens and screw eyes. It looked very simple, but I cannot remember how long ago it was. The wooden batten was a little wider than normasl in order to get the cording in place, but the photo showed the system really well.

Julie

[jasmine]

Re: Bow Window

I have to dress a Bow window like the ones pictured, but the ceiling above the window is at a lower level than the ceiling of the room. (At the moment there are sill length curtains on a bent track around the window). Romans with dress curtains considered but ruled out.

I thought a M2M pole (metropole to bend around the window and reverse bends either end to take it around each corner to the wall. The pole would be fitted to just clear the sill so I can hang full length curtains. However I am wondering if the curtains would look a bit odd where the pole reverse bends back to the wall because of the different ceiling heights the pole would be fitted a foot from the ceiling of the room..

Any thoughts or alternative suggestions on this please?

[Mairi]

Re: Bow Window

Doed th curtain pole need to have reverse bend, can the pole not stop level to the wall & the curtain returns fixed to stop seeing behind the track?

[thecurtainmaker]

Re: Bow Window

I think I would have the pole stop at the end of the bay, rather than outside. How about a pole across the outside of the bay, higher up, with dress curtains, as well as the ones inside?

[jasmine]

Re: Bow Window

Thanks for the suggestions Mairi and Pen. I'm not sure having the pole stop at the end of the Bay would work.The sill is shaped so that it continues around the corner for 4cm, and juts out 3cm if you see what I mean. This is why I considered reverse bends on the pole would work, so they continued the curtains around the corners to cover the sill ends.
Also the shaping of the sill means that in order for the curtains to hang straight down, the pole needs to be ceiling fixed away from the window. If the pole was stopped at the end of the bay the return would be approx 16cm.

Don't really want to settle on sill length curtains unless a last resort. As I mentioned in my previous post, reverse bends at the end of the pole may look a bit odd because of the difference in ceiling heights.

Any other thoughts or suggestions on this would be great.

Thanks.

[nic]

Re: Bow Window

Could you put a valance across the front of the bay, to disguise the difference in ceiling heights? With the heading the same as the curtains?