Shutters with bay posts
Norman® makes angled posts for the corners, so the individual shutters read as one continuous unit around the bay.
Bay Window Blinds
Bay window blinds: three windows that have to look like one.
A bay is three or five windows meeting at angles, and the covering has to follow the angles without gaps or collisions where the frames meet. Woodlore® shutters with bay window posts, Ultimate™ faux wood blinds, and roller or honeycomb shades mounted per window, measured in the bay by PAPABLINDS across the Greater Seattle Area.
What happens at the corners.
Seen from above, a bay is a set of angles. Every product has to solve the corner where two coverings meet.
Inside-mount shades
One shade per window inside its own frame. Rollers and honeycomb sit within the frame depth, so nothing touches at the corner.
Blinds with a pivoting bottom rail
Ultimate™ faux wood blinds per window, sized so the slats of neighboring blinds clear each other when they tilt.
Which product for which bay?
| The bay | We usually show | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Craftsman or Tudor bay with a window seat | Woodlore® or Normandy® shutters with bay posts | Matches the woodwork; the posts make the corners clean |
| Kitchen bay over the sink | Ultimate™ faux wood blinds or Soluna™ rollers | Wipeable, and inside-mount so nothing hangs into the sink |
| Bedroom bay | Portrait™ honeycomb, room darkening, or shutters | Insulation on three exposures and dark for sleep |
| Bay with a view | Soluna™ solar or light-filtering rollers | Roll up out of sight; the bay is the view |
| Corner window (two panes meeting) | Shutters or inside-mount shades | The corner post or the frame depth keeps the two from colliding |
Measured in the bay, not from the room.
The mistake with bay windows is treating each window as if it stood alone. The angle between windows decides how much room a blind has to tilt, how deep a shade can mount, and whether a shutter panel can swing open without hitting its neighbor. We measure the angles and the depth of every frame in the bay and choose mounts that clear the corners.
The second thing we check is the sill. A window seat or a deep sill in a Seattle Craftsman is where people sit and put things; inside-mount shades keep it usable, and shutters with a sill-height frame keep the woodwork visible.
- Angles and frame depth measured at every window.
- Inside mounts that clear the corners.
- Matched slat, louver, and fabric across all windows of the bay.
- Motorized options for a bay high above a stair or a seat.
© 2021 Norman®. All Rights Reserved.Bays we see around Seattle.
Three-window living room bay
Wallingford, Ballard, Green Lake. Shutters with bay posts, or honeycomb shades that leave the trim alone.
Leaded-glass bay with a seat
Queen Anne and Mount Baker. Inside-mount honeycomb or a Normandy® shutter frame that stops at the seat.
Kitchen bay over the sink
Eastside 1970s houses. Faux wood blinds or rollers, inside mount, wipeable.
Box bay in a primary bedroom
Room-darkening honeycomb on three exposures, or shutters with the louvers closed.
Bay window questions.
Can one blind cover the whole bay?
No. The windows sit at angles, so each gets its own covering. The job is making three or five coverings look like one, with matching product and mounts that meet cleanly at the corners.
Will shutter panels hit each other when they open?
Not if the panels are sized to the angle. Bay window posts at the corners give each panel its own hinge line, and we check the swing at the visit.
What if the frames are shallow?
Rollers and honeycomb need the least depth for an inside mount. If the frame is too shallow even for those, an outside mount on the wall above each window keeps the corners clear.
Is a bay hard to keep warm?
It is glass on three sides, so yes. Honeycomb shades on all of it make the biggest difference; shutters with the louvers closed are next.
Bay window blinds, shades, and shutters in the Seattle area
PAPABLINDS measures and installs coverings for bay and corner windows in Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, and the surrounding communities. Norman® lists three products for bays: Woodlore® shutters with bay window posts that make the individual shutters read as one unit, Ultimate™ faux wood blinds with a pivoting bottom rail, and Soluna™ roller shades. We add Portrait™ honeycomb shades for bays in bedrooms and cold rooms, and Normandy® hardwood where the trim is stained.
Angles, depth, and the seat
The angle between the windows and the depth of each frame decide the mount. Inside mounts keep the window seat usable and the corners clear; shutters get angled posts at the corners so panels swing without hitting each other. All of it is measured in the bay, window by window, at the free in-home visit.
What to have ready for the visit
- How many windows are in the bay and whether it has a seat or a deep sill.
- Whether the bay is in a bedroom, a kitchen, or a living room, since that decides fabric and finish.
- A photo of the trim if the woodwork is stained, so we bring matching samples.
Request a free in-home visit and we will measure every angle in the bay and show samples against the trim.