Blinds for Bay Windows in Winnipeg

Why bay windows are harder than they look

On a flat window you take one width and one drop. On a bay you take a width and a drop for every panel, plus the angle at each join. Those angles are rarely a neat 45 or 135 degrees, especially in older Winnipeg homes where the frames have shifted over decades. If the angle is assumed rather than measured, the blinds either collide at the corners or leave a wedge of light down the join.

Separate blinds, not one bent blind

A blind cannot bend. Every bay window is a set of separate blinds that happen to sit next to each other. What makes it read as a single window covering is that the headrails line up, the fabric matches across all of them, and the gaps at the corners are even.

The centre panel of a bay is usually wider than the two flanking it. That makes the centre blind heavier, and on a chain system it will feel different to operate than its neighbours. It is one of the more common reasons people motorize a bay: one button moves all three together, and nobody is reaching across a sofa to the far panel.

• Every panel measured to its own width, drop and angle
• Headrails aligned so the bay reads as one covering rather than three
• Corner gaps kept small and even, which is what the eye actually notices
• Centre panel weight accounted for, since it is usually the widest

Older Winnipeg bays

Wolseley, Crescentwood, Armstrong's Point and parts of St. Boniface have a lot of original bay windows in homes eighty years old or more. Those frames are almost never square, and the drop often differs by a centimetre or two between the left and right side of the same panel.

This is the situation where made to measure genuinely matters. An off the shelf blind trimmed to fit will show that discrepancy as a slanted gap along the bottom. We measure both sides of every panel and build to the real numbers.

Inside mount or outside mount

An inside mount sits the blind within the window reveal. It looks cleaner and keeps the sill usable, but it needs enough depth for the roller tube, and on a bay the depth is tightest exactly where the panels meet.

An outside mount fits to the face of the frame. It covers more glass and blocks more light at the edges, but on a bay it can look bulky because the frames already project at angles. We look at both at the measure and tell you which suits your specific bay rather than applying a rule.

Which blind type suits a bay

Roller and zebra blinds are the usual choice, because they sit tight to the glass and take up very little depth at the corners. Drapery across a bay needs a curved or hinged track, which is possible but more involved. Shutters can be fitted to a bay and look excellent, though cost rises with every panel.