Oriel windows - are they worth it?

[DoingItUp]

I’ve had a quote to have an oriel window fitted. It’s come out just above what I was willing to pay so now I’m weighing up wether it’s worth the cost or not.

If you had one fitted, do you feel it was a worthwhile investment/addition to your home please?

Would it be as a windowseat? Ours has a windowseat looking out onto the garden and everyone loves sitting there (especially the cat 🙄). So yes worth it for us.

We did design it carefully to be comfortable as a windowseat, it has a big thick cushion, one wall is solid not glass to lean back against and it has a shelf for pot plants and cups of tea.

It also helps hide the catflap and cat feeding gubbins so serves a second purpose too.

If it was just for looks and no function I’m not sure it would be worth the cost.

Thanks for replying @minipie. I’m pleased to hear you get good use out of yours. Mine would be a window seat but with glass all round - would that mean it can’t be leant against? It would look out onto the garden which backs onto woodland and would give access to a beautiful view which can’t be seen from the room otherwise. The trees might mean it’s hard to keep clean though. It’s a lot of money but what’s selling it to me is the idea of sitting in it whilst there’s a storm or it’s snowing 😍

What orientation does it face? We had one in a small (box) bedroom and because it faced south it got the sun all day. When the sun rose it shone in the east side, then all day from the middle, then from the west side as it went down. The bedroom got stinky hot in summer as a result (we had to buy an air con unit as it was the baby's room) and it made it difficult to keep the room dark for him to sleep.

It made a lovely windowsill and I liked that I could put a miniature Christmas tree on it for Christmas, but it was awkward.

(Our current house has two bay windows in the boxroom, one at the side and one at the front. House faces north though so no issues with that and the bays going from the floor has made the floor footprint much bigger than a boxroom would normally be. If I didn't have that an oriel would be next best.)

Ours faces south, it probably does contribute to the room getting hot in the hottest summer weeks (but it’s a big room), however it also helps heat the room on a sunny winter day…

If it’s surrounded by trees then yes the roof part might get quite grubby.

You could also make a windowseat for much less cost by putting in a picture window and building deep shelving all around it (then the part under the window becomes the windowseat). This also avoids the grubby roof issue. But you don’t get the view upwards. Your view sounds gorgeous.

Thanks @TheNoodlesIncident, that’s a good point! It will face East but the tall trees shade that side of the house anyway. It will be going into a living room which is on the first floor so it’ll be suspended amongst the trees. I worry it might become a glorified windowsill and then it definitely wouldn’t be worth the outlay.

@minipie, I have weighed up against a normal window, which would be a quarter of the cost but I don’t think it will give the same effect really. I’ve just realised it’ll be directly below a tilt and turn window in the room above so I could clean it from there without too much difficulty (I hope!). Your post has sold it to me a little more - I think it will be the best spot in the house. But my sensible head says I could get the sofa with the money it will cost 😬

This sounds amazing and I'm trying to plan how to hide the cat-masters' things! I don't suppose you could share a pic please?

This is reassuring to read. We're having an oriel window put in soon as part of our extension and it will be against the dining table, so seating for that and also hopefully a cosy window seat too. I'm curious about having one of the sides potentially not glass. One side of ours is very close to a garden fence, so has no view really so we'd been thinking about having the base and that side as oak or something. I think I'll make a nice seat pad for it eventually too.

I’m away at the mo so can’t do a pic but ours isn’t a fully suspended oriel - it is a glass box windowseat like an oriel, but it has a brick base that goes down to the ground. A bit like a modern bay window.

The windowseat therefore has a space underneath it, where we put the cat gubbins, and the catflap is in one of the short walls under the windowseat - so not really visible.

Ahhh got you! That seems v sensible, thanks!

@minipie

Then it's not an oriel.

It's a bay window, (possibly).

Yes true Veni. And?

Technically, yes but I still appreciate @minipie posting as it will be the same effect (minus storage which I admit sounds really great!) - essentially a very expensive window seat 😆

The installer is coming tomorrow. I still feel like this is ridiculously frivolous but I’m hopeful it will be worth it. I checked and you can lean against the glass.

Hello @DoingItUp would you mind sharing how much yours is costing/approximate size please? Sounds really amazing!

Oh yes sorry forgot to answer about leaning on the glass - totally fine, just a bit chillier in the winter vs leaning on a wall! If you have a nice squashy cushion it’ll be fine.

@Reallybadidea my house is Victorian so it’s a tall narrow window opening (1800 h x 1100 w). The installer says this is tiny compared to the ones he usually does. It’s cost £4k plus travel 😬 I probably wouldn’t have considered it but there’s already an ugly triangular oriel there and I didn’t want to lose the effect it gave to the room but also didn’t want to keep it. Hopefully this will be nicer, and more functional.

Thanks @DoingItUp

That's is absolutely beautiful! You definitely made the right choice!

The pic is what was there before. The photo doesn’t really show it in all it’s hideous glory though 😆 I probably didn’t ask enough questions because it’s going to be another two weeks before the glass can be installed so I’ve got no window for all that time. Luckily, I have a builder working at mine so he’s going to make it secure with boards for the time being. Window currently looks like this:

Ohhhh. That looks exciting, if a little breezy.
Will you post pictures when it is done? I am dreaming of one....

We had an oriel window fitted and no regrets at all! it is a lovely additional feature and we use it as a cute reading area.
Rise Design Studio based in Queens Park, London designed ours and we are so pleased with the outcome!