Bay Window & Shaped Shutters

A bay is where made-to-measure stops being a phrase on a website. Nobody’s bay is a true 45. Craig measured one at 38 degrees down one side and 52 down the other, same window. Older houses round Culcheth have settled as well, so reveals run 8 or 10mm wider at the top than the bottom. Very little of it is square.

Three blinds across a three-sided bay leaves you three chains and a light gap at each post where the fabric stops short. Shutters follow the angle instead. Each section takes its own frame, meeting on a T-post cut to the angle Craig measured, so the line carries round and nothing sits on the sill. Louvres come at 63, 76, 89 and 114mm. In a narrow bay Craig fits 76. Wide louvres on a slim panel look top heavy and catch the reveal when you tilt them.

Nobody thinks about the handle until the panel is against it. Most levers stand 60 to 70mm proud, so the frame either comes forward on a spacer or the panel takes a cut-out round it. The door’s throw has to clear the panel as well. Either fix works. What does not work is a full height shutter on a narrow uPVC leaf with little glass. The cut-out swallows half the louvre, and Craig would tell you to leave that door alone.

Floor to ceiling dividers are joinery, not window dressing. Hardwood panels 2.4 metres tall come to 40 kilos across a three metre opening, so the head track goes into joists. Plasterboard and plugs will hold it a fortnight. Craig fits every job himself and comes back when a hinge wants adjusting.