Window dressing- please help!

[Goostacean]

I want to put up a blackout blind (Roman?) and a pair of curtains around this window. We’re going for a Modern Victorian vibe, the curtains will be floor length, but should the blind start at the curtain rail or just above the window where the two holes are? Struggling to picture it either way, and I worry the curtain rail directly above the blind will look weird?? What do you think?

I'd put a roller bling in the recess.

Bling? Blind 😀

Do you need to have both? It's quite a small window so you might be better with either curtains with a blackout lining or just a roman blind. If you search Pinterest for 'curtains and roller blinds together' there are a few examples put they're all on much bigger windows.

I’d like to have both because it’s a bedroom so I feel just a blind feels a bit “cold”. But I’m desperate to have proper blackout functionality, which curtains don’t seem to do- the light creeps around the sides, especially at this time of year. The window is 1.8 x 1.2m. Maybe you’re right and it’ll look too fussy...?

I would usually say in the recess but your curtain rail is quite high so unless you lowered it I think the proportions could be a bit out.

Id put the blind in the window recess but your curtain rail needs to be lowered about a foot otherwise it will look weird with the blind

We can move the curtain rail btw, that’s no problem. I was aiming for this sort of thing but now I’m not so sure... (Have also included a better picture of the window.)

I wonder whether we should move the curtain rail to be midway between the window and the ceiling (that inspiration photo has a lot of wall above the curtain rail, it seems?) and have very wispy, practically decorative curtains?

the photo you've posted (blue curtains and the blind) has the blind in the recess. If you don't have the blind in the recess, it will have to hang over the windowsill (which looks like extends quite a bit from your wall) so it will look really odd. You need the roman blind sitting inside the recess so it drops to sit just on / mm above the windowsill. Your curtain rail looks oddly high too - would definitely lower that.

So you reckon blind (what type?) in recess, and long curtains either side on a lowered rail? I just worry the light will come round the edges too much...?

A properly measured and recess fitted roman blind, lined in blackout fabric, shouldn't let the light in. We have them in all bedrooms (without curtains) and the rooms are very dark when they're down. There is a tiny amount of light in the early morning, but its still very much semi-darkness.

If you double up with curtains too then thats pretty much as good as it gets.

Perfect, that’s really great to know- thank you. I think I’ll go for that option, then, unless anyone else comes along with a better idea??

I agree that if you put it in the recess you will need to lower the rail but I actually think that if you hang the Roman blind as high as the rail it will look great, as long as it’s sitting low enough not to show any wall at all.

Wider curtains than you need help cut down on light creeping round too. I’ve added a command hook on the wall and then hooked the top corner of the curtains to it so that the edge sits against the wall. It looks neater when they’re open too