The world's most impossible bay window...

[SootikinAndSweep]

I need to get curtains for my 1930s bay window. The problems are as follows:

pvc window frames going right up to ceiling so can't screw into them or above them
window frames meeting each other, so can't screw pole brackets in between them
we use the space in the bay, so we can't just curtain off the whole bay across the flat bit of the wall, IYSWIM

Does anyone have experience of those flexible curtain poles that attach at each end and in the middle? They screw in to the ceiling and allegedly don't have a problem with snagging rings.

We have exactly what you describe (30s house, bay windows) and have the flexible curtain pole in three rooms. They work well. There was a great deal of swearing when DH put them up, but he managed and he's average at DIY.

Yes we have a track which is attached to the ceiling in the bay, works beautifully, after the initial swearing trying to get it in place!

We got the ceiling track from Ikea with the set of curves. AMAZEBALLS. and cheap. There was one of those flexible ones there originally and it was dreadful tbh. The track from Ikea is metal and there are right angle and curves available and you just screw it all together. I think it's a brilliant system.

I have those windows too and they are a pain. I will look out for the Ikea one. I have been searching for something for years. Can you hand heavy curtains from them?

So, is the ceiling track from Ikea a track, or a pole? Do you need to screw it to joists, or something?

Panda, is yours the same? A track rather than a pole?

Just been looking at the Kvartal system from Ikea, how do you make it do an angle that's not a right angle?

Yes ours is a track. We had a pole when we first moved in but the rings kept catching and there was a big gap at the top. The track is fab. It was from B and Q I think.

It's not showing on the website, but they do curve pieces as well as corner. The curves are gentler angles. You can also chop the track with a hacksaw, so I suppose you could cut the corner to the right angle.

www.amazon.co.uk/Integra-Brooklyn-Window-Curtain-Brushed/dp/B005PWTAHC

This is the pole we have in our bay attached to the ceiling, I wanted one for eyelets as did not want to have to replace our curtains when we moved.

Been pleased with it, very secure especially considering the weight of the curtains and no problems with snagging rings, was a bit more fiddly to fit than anticipated but got there in the end.

Groove, how much of the pole is bendable? We have to not only curve the pole around the corners of the bay but then back out onto the wall, if that makes sense.

Don't think that would work on that pole I'm afraid, there's about a 30cm section that is flexible, if you look at a photo of it it is the notched bit that is the bendable section.

We cut it down to size so it is just the finials that protrude out a bit instead of coming back round to the wall which would have been preferable, but not hugely distracting.