If you have a bay window in your home, you have a dramatic focal point that you can dress and accent to complement the room and make a stunning impact. Bay windows project from a building’s facade and create a square or polygonal bay in the interior (bow windows project from the building in an arc.) These windows allow far more light into a room than windows that are flush with the building’s facade.
Whether it’s in your kitchen, living or family room, a breakfast nook or your master bedroom, bay and bow windows offer great opportunities to get creative with window treatments that diffuse or direct light and make your room pop. So read on, and let’s look at some of your options.
Dressed Up
When considering curtains, draperies or blinds for your windows, keep the shape of the bay in mind and choose fabrics, patterns and textiles that complement it. In larger spaces, use larger patterns; in smaller spaces, use smaller more open patterns. Since bay windows offer a view and so much light, you’ll want to make sure that bay window treatments are fully retractable so that you can have wide open views and maximum light as well as shade and privacy when you want. You could opt for plush draperies that can be pulled completely across the windows or you might select an elegant, airy scarf to frame the window and mini-blinds to control light and air. As always, blinds, whether wood or cloth, can be motorized and integrated into home automation systems.
Naked
If privacy isn’t a main concern, or if you have a minimalist aesthetic in your home, you may want to let the windows speak for themselves. You can change how the bay impacts the rest of the room by changing the color of the ceiling or of the window sashes, rails and stiles. You could choose to accent the window with a valance that leaves the view largely uninterrupted, or opt for precisely built indoor shutters. One of the more creative bay window treatments I have seen involved a stained glass window across the top of the window with a center section that doubled as a sundial!
Whether the bay in your home is large or small, and whether you prefer an airier or more intimate environment, the bay window treatments you choose will help make the most of this special space in your home.