YAY! I could almost do cartwheels! Lord knows I have enough space in the hall! Steven put up the dining room bay window hardware and I just finished putting up the last curtain panel! I snatched up some red damask silk curtains on clearance at Tuesday Morning almost two years ago . The only problem was, they were only 108 inches long and I needed them to be 119 inches, so I recently added a charcoal colored panel to the bottom. The curtains have been sitting on the table, waiting patiently for the day they would get pressed into service. Today was the day! Here is the BEFORE picture of the bay window.
To start, I had a hard time finding a bay window curtain rod that I liked. There are only a handful of manufacturers who make bay window hardware. Most of them are made to work on a track system. Almost all of the bay window curtain rods that I could find were made so that the panels go on the rod and then you cover the mechanics with a valance. I HATE valances and I wanted to use clip rings. I also wanted the flexibility of opening and closing the curtains at will, as well as letting the sun filter in without all the elaborate curtain trappings. The windows in the bay are beautiful and I did not want to suffocate them with material. Last year, I ordered some other corner connectors through the mail, but when they arrived, they were very small. You could only use them with a half inch up to a one inch metal rod and the rod had to be hollow so you could insert the corner connector. I needed a large rod to hold up all of the curtains and I wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing. I think it would look ridiculous to put a little skinny rod up on such a large window. So, with a little creativity, I took this:
and made this:
The lucky find was the corner connectors by roth+allen I found at Lowes yesterday. I was at Lowes for a different reason and was glad I puttered down the window hardware aisle. Anyway… Here is the final product! Now we only have the living room bay window hardware to hang up.
The only thing left for the dining room is: 1) Refinishing the floor; 2) Our dining room table Our table is being made by a local craftsman out of 180 year old boards salvaged from an old building here in Central Louisiana. I AM SOOO EXCITED ABOUT THAT!
Perpetual Renovator 
very nice and well done
Awesome! I want to see it in person! I am SOOOO coming over to see that! Very impressed with all you’ve done… you guys are on a roll!
Wow! They look awesome! I wish I was able to do things like that!
Kayla
I had a look at your flickr photos to see the finished product and it does look really great. That’s saying a lot too, since it can be pretty hard to get curtain rods and curtains to conform to a bay window. I have to wonder whether you plan on taking the horizontal slat blinds down though? I think that whole setup would look amazing with some light cream colored opaque curtain backings to go behind the red panels.
Thanks for all the comments!
Vern M: I am taking those ugly slat blinds down as soon as I can afford something to replace them. I was thiking about some plain shades, possibly roman shades. Haven’t made up my mind since I like seeing the lead glass. The whole reason I wanted corner connectors and clip rings is because I wanted to open and close the curtains at will AND look nice on the rod without seeing all the mechanics. Believe it or not…those curtains are lined. And it distresses me that you can see through them. However, that is another project for another day………
Kayla: girl….your house looks NICE! Whatchu talking about?
I found your website by doing a google image search for corner connectors. We’re just wrapping up our remodel ourselves, and I’ve been having the same “issues” with bay curtain rods as you were. Those corner connectors are just what I needed! Thanks so much for the blog!! Now, my only issue is that I don’t care for blinds. I’d like to be able to hang a sheer curtain behind my other curtains, but that might be asking a little too much. 🙂 I’m ready to have my husband fabricate one for me. I’m really encouraged by those connectors though. Thanks, again!
Yup, I don’t care for blinds either. In fact, in the Living Room, I went back and put up sheers underneath the curtains. I need to post updated pictures. I used the existing blinds (made in 1948 out of real wood and are in the process of dryrotting) I had, because my windows are 130 inches tall! Not easy, or cheap, to cover. But, I found some 96-100 inch sheers at target, and they fall right at the sill. They look good…so go ahead on with your sheers!
This is a matter of life and death. Or at least marital discord and peace. I have been searching the internet for MONTHS in search of an iron rod for our bay window. They don’t exist! No, I don’t want to smother the window with gargantuan folding fabrics draping down! No, I don’t want to HIDE my beautiful window with curtains that are perpetually shut because to open them would screw up the hardware installation. No!
I just want what you did. Will you tell me how you did it? Email me? My cell is 805-448-3601. I would love your expert advice. Yes, you are now an official expert, so claim the new identity! Charity Thoman. Thanks. (And I’m not crazy. I’m a doctor and mother of 2, expecting #3 this summer.)
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, but I bought the corner connectors in the window and curtain aisle at Lowes. They have black, brown and another color. They also sell the curtain rods that connect to the corner connectors. Since our bay windows were odd sizes, it was easier to go to the unfinished wood section in Lowes and buy an unfinished wood pole (used for closet rods and such) by the foot. We had Lowes cut them to our dimensions and we drilled a hole in each end and screwed in the corner connectors and drilled holes on each end and screwed in the finials. I then found matching (close enough) spray paint and painted the wood rods to match the corner connectors.
I did not have to buy finials (the end pieces) because I found several matching sets here in the house that were left by previous owners. So, you would have to purchase finials, or purchase curtain rods that would fit your window and use the corner connectors to make a bay window rod. It really is as simple as that. I bought clip rings so I could easily open and close my curtains.
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