Bespoke Bay Window Storage

Bay windows are architecturally generous but functionally awkward, since the angled walls that make them attractive from outside also make them difficult to furnish from within. Off-the-shelf furniture pushed against a splayed wall either leaves an unusable gap behind it or has to sit further into the room than it should. Storage designed specifically for the bay closes that gap and puts the full width of the window to use.

Drawers set beneath a window seat are one of the most useful configurations, giving deep, easily accessed storage without requiring you to lift a hinged seat lid each time you need something. Where the outer casing angles change from one splay to the next, each drawer front is cut individually so the run reads as one continuous piece rather than a series of mismatched boxes.

Cupboards work well where the depth available is greater, particularly at the sides of the bay closer to the main wall of the room, and can be fitted with adjustable shelving inside to suit whatever needs storing. Where the bay includes a radiator, as many do, we design cabinetry to allow airflow around it rather than boxing it in, keeping the radiator's heat output unaffected.

Curtains and blinds need to be considered from the earliest design stage, not fitted around finished joinery afterwards. Pole or track positions, the depth needed for stacked curtains at the sides of the bay, and blind mechanisms all affect how deep the cabinetry beneath the window can be, and we check these details before finalising drawings.

Cushions and soft furnishings on top of any seating area are worth discussing early too, since their thickness affects the finished seat height and how it feels to sit on. A seat built too low or too high relative to the surrounding room can look right on paper and feel wrong in use, so we talk through proportions relative to nearby furniture rather than relying on a single standard measurement.

The architectural angles of a bay — often three or five distinct wall faces rather than a single flat wall — mean that access to the storage beneath needs particular thought. A single drawer front that crosses a change in angle can bind or look wrong when opened, so runs are usually broken at each change of plane, with drawers and cupboard doors sized to sit correctly within their own facet of the bay.

Natural light pouring into a bay is one of its chief attractions, and we keep this in mind when choosing finishes, since strong light can show up variations in a painted surface more readily than in the rest of the room. Sample panels viewed in the actual bay, at the time of day the room is most used, help avoid surprises once the piece is fitted.

Part of our bespoke cabinetry collection