Window shapes
Bow windows: following a curve with straight panels
A bow window is a gentle curve made of four, five or six narrow lights. It is one of the nicest features a house can have and one of the trickiest to dress, because every product on the market is made flat.
The trick is segmentation: enough narrow panels, angled to each other, that the eye reads a curve rather than a series of facets.
Shutters on a bow
Each light gets its own frame, and the frames are joined with angled posts calculated from the measured internal angle at every mullion. A five-light bow becomes five panel sets, and the run follows the curve.
Because the panels are narrow, we usually drop to a smaller louvre size so the proportions look right rather than stubby.
The blind alternatives
Where a shutter is not the right budget or look, two systems handle a curve.
- Vertical blinds on a bendable curved track — a continuous sweep, still the most practical for a large bow
- Individual roller blinds per light — clean and modest, but the mullion gaps are visible
- Perfect-fit blinds — excellent on a UPVC bow, one per pane, no visible brackets
Coastal bows
Bow windows on seafront properties in Hythe, Sandgate and Folkestone take direct salt air and strong low sun off the water. We steer toward moisture-stable shutter ranges and UV-stable fabrics for those frontages rather than standard timber.
Window shapes - your questions
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