Bay window treatment ideas?

Can you not get a curved rail to hang curtains?

Our front bay is 12' wide and we have them. There's a cord at each side to close the curtains separately.

We don't care about privacy but thick curtains are essential to keep in the heat during cold months. To keep the sun from blinding us we have a long curtain wire which hooks over hooks at the corner between the panes. I have two very wide muslin curtains which I can move around to cover one or more pane.

I agree about vertical blinds, and they'd foul on the many posts on the windowsill. I wish No 3 son, who made them, would finish his house so that he could take them away ... :-)

Mary

Vertical blinds strike me as institutional, probably because the place I saw them first and see them the most is in schools, hospitals, etc. Bay windows are a challenge, but are such a nice feature it's really worth figuring out a good way to dress them for utility and appearance. I would second the Sunset book suggestion. Check the library for copies of those and other interior decoration books and magazines.

I put draw drapes over the entire wall the bay window was in. When closed, they made a private room for the cats.

also roller shades over each individual window, but I seldompulled them down. I've a roller shade over *one* of the windows inthe glass wall of our current living room, for DH to pull down when hegets glare on his newspaper. Joy Beeson

I can't believe Miss Kitty will lie there calmly with that much nip at her disposal. My kitty girl would at least be doing the 'crazy cat' eyeballs. lol And it would really be tricky to catch a snapshot of her as she would be wallering, belly up, all over the nip. lol

Sharon

Yes, we have that in our bedroom. It hides Spouse's mess :-)

Mary

Catnip was a weed at that house. (I've just barely, after seven years, persuaded it to *survive* here.) Fred & Freed were excited by the 'nip when they first arrived, but it got to be old hat pretty soon. Once I went out to bring in a pot of wheat that had been set outside to recover, and picked a sprig of catnip and laid it on top. When I set down the pot, the cats batted the catnip out of their way so they could get at the wheat!

I did get an attentive audience whenever I brought in an armload of catnip and picked off the prime buds to dry for the winter. Had to pluck the first one and throw the reject on the floor *real* fast!

Joy Beeson

So do I - but it saves energy on cold nights and that's important.

Same here. In summer the heavy curtains in the dining room are never drawn together and the muslin is taken down too. I admit that the bedroom curtains are left closed, I can't see the sky when I'm asleep and I don't want to see his mess when I'm not :-)

Mary

My bay window is three panes, with the center one being about 1-1/2 times as wide as the two outers. Something like 23" - 40 - 23".

Did not find a curved or bent curtain rod, so I made one: picked up several shorts and one long (very) rod of the decorative, adjustable type. Used three poles all the same diameter, connected with short lengths of large airline tubing (clear plastic, sold at hardware stores).

(Memo to self: take pics.)

In the windows are horizontal mini blinds, which are nicely adjustable. On the rods are printed sheers. (Too long; need another variant of these.) I keep the blinds closed and tilted up (the bottom of the bay is about 3' above the ground) so I get nice sunlight, especially as the sun sets. And the sheers provide just enough coverage.

HTH

--Karen D.