Arranging treatments creates windows of opportunity

Dear Gail: We have a bay window in our breakfast nook and want to dress it up with a window treatment. There are two windows in the center that are just 5 inches apart, so we feel we can’t put two valances over the windows but need to make them look as one. We’re open to any design suggestions that you have. — Abby

Dear Abby: With the windows only 5 inches apart I would dress the two windows as one with any outside mounted valance. Normally when mounting on the outside, we go about 3 inches beyond the window’s edge; even if you had 6 inches in between, the two treatments would butt together, so I’d treat it as a single window.

Before I give you a couple of suggestions on an outside mounted treatment, know that you can mount a decorative treatment on the inside of the window. You can consider these options to replace what you already have to function as your privacy, light control and decorative window treatment.

One option is a Roman shade. Roman shades can be made in a variety of styles with virtually unlimited fabric selections or natural woven materials to coordinate with your room. My favorite style is a flat Roman shade. When down the shade is flat, but when pulled up, the bottom pulls up in folds. This is a nice style when you have a larger scaled pattern.

If you like a look with more volume, a soft fold style is an option. When the shade is down this style has soft folds down the shade. This works nicely with small prints and solid fabrics.

There are many other different Roman style shades that you can customize for your windows, these are just two. Depending upon the light control that you want, you can add different lining to block out the sun or for privacy.

Another inside mount decorative option that is gaining popularity are roller shades. These are much different than the old-time white ones that your grandmother might have had.

I still remember ours when I was growing up in New York City. We thought we were fancy as ours had decorative tassel pulls.

You can find printed and solid fabrics, vinyl and woven patterns. They have light filtering, black out and solar and different valance options. They’re a simple yet elegant way to cover your windows. And, of course, there are wonderful pleated shades as well as wood blinds and shutters.

Now that you have a couple inside mount options, let’s look at what you can do with an outside mount valance treatment.

To keep the treatment from being too boxy, select a style that has a softer bottom edge. If you have more of a traditional style, swags and cascades would work nicely. I know people feel these are out, but I feel they are a timeless treatment for any traditional style home. I have done this treatment many times on a bay window and run the treatment from one edge of the bay to the other.

You can add the cascades just on each end of the bay or between each window to cover the wall space that you have. It just depends on how much fabric you would like on your window and being careful not to block too much of the window in the center of any light or view. They can be mounted on a box, which is the traditional way you see them, or you can use an iron rod made specifically for bay windows and casually drape fabric over it.

If you have a more contemporary style, consider a cornice box with a shaped bottom edge. The shaped bottom will keep the treatment from being too boxy. Or a mock Roman shade that softens the window with its folds.

You can also add panels to any of these either in between each window or just at the two ends, as well as just using the panels alone. You’ll want the panels to at least drop down just below your window sill or to the floor.

There are many other treatments that you can do, just consider ones that are not perfectly straight along the bottom or ones that have an overall softer feel with folds to give you a visual break and movement in your bay.

Gail Mayhugh, owner of GMJ Interiors, is a professional interior designer and author of a book on the subject. Questions may be sent by email to: GMJinteriors@gmail.com. Or, mail to: 7380 S. Eastern Ave., No. 124-272, Las Vegas, NV 89123. Her Web address is: www.GMJinteriors.com.