Struggling to decide on window arrangement

[DecorDilemma]

I had a previous thread seeking opinions on how to do up my living room (https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/5161849-how-would-you-do-up-this-living-room), and am now at the point where I need to decide on what windows to have in the bay.

There are two main designs I'm considering:

1. Have just one large pane in each of the four sections to the sides of the doors, and make the two panes above the doors into top-openers.
2. Keep the horizontal "divider" between top and bottom sections going all the way around, but remove all vertical dividers, and just have one pane of glass in each of the remaining sections. Make the two top panes on the angled walls into top-openers.

I've attached a night-time photo of the bay as it currently is, plus professional mock-ups of both the designs I've described, and dodgy photo-edited versions of my original photo to try to somewhat replicate the designs in the actual setting, albeit without showing the extra thickness of the openers (which was beyond my capabilities).

I'd really appreciate opinions on this, as I'm stuck! I'm looking for a clean aesthetic that fits the style of the room, while having the required ventilation (hence the openers). I can't tell which will look better, and I don't want to make an expensive mistake.

Anyone? 🙏

One more bump...

The last one looks the best.

The large panes x 4 look unbalanced.

I'd go for the last one too.

I like the last one

Definitely option 2. But if you can afford the extra I'd ask for equal sight lines so that it looks more like your mock-up.

Thanks all! Seems option 2 is the clear winner. Before I plough ahead, are there any other (nice-looking and functional) design options that I might be missing?

@Pfpppl Part of the reason I have agonised about these windows so much is that I'm trying to find a design with equal (as possible) sight lines, but without compromising much on window area. The issue with having equal sight lines in option 2 is that there would be a lot of extra plastic in place of glass, and I'm not sure it would be worth the tradeoff. I did actually suggest this option to all the window people who gave me quotes, and they all advised against it. I'm hoping that with option 2, because the openers are on the diagonal walls only, the difference in sight lines won't be so obvious. Does this change your thoughts on it at all?

What kind of window dressings are you planning? Something like Roman blinds or a modern curtain pelmet or not having curtains drawn all the way back would help make unequal sight lines less obvious.

Is 2 openers going to be enough?

I haven't decided on window dressings, or whether to have any at all. This is at the back of the house, and we are not at all overlooked, so it's not necessary from a privacy perspective. Might be good for cosiness/not-looking-too-dark-at-night though.

I'm not sure if blinds would look at bit messy, because there would be five separate sections to cover? I think the most likely option would be floor-length curtains (bearing in mind that the radiators will be gone from the bay) but I'd need to think about how that would work, because the windows go pretty much to the ceiling, so the curtain rail would need to attach to the ceiling. There is currently an old rail attached to a wooden structure attached to the ceiling, which had some very heavy velvet curtains on it, but I assume I could get something nicer to replace that wooden structure now?

Anyway, I realise your point was about sight lines, but window coverings are a whole other can of worms, so I'm open to opinions about those too. But do you think the sight lines are going to look bad if it's just those two top panes on the diagonals?

Do you think two openers isn't enough? I don't tend to open windows much (and this room is north-facing/doesn't overheat in summer), so I assumed it would be. But I'm prepared to hear why I should have more!

I'd go for option 2. Having the opening windows (almost) opposite each other will help with ventilation.
I think this design looks better too.

Does anyone else think the lack of equal sight lines on the two opening windows will be suboptimal, or is it okay because they're on the diagonal, so not in the same line of sight as the other top windows?

Equal sight lines would be a must have for me. Do they really take that much more plastic? We have them on all of our windows, but they're aluminium which may make a difference.

I'd also want some of the bigger panes to be openers, not just the top ones. I'd have 2 of them hinged at the top for bottom opening. Flinging open the windows on a nice spring/summer day is essential for me. I guess you could pin the doors back instead, but I'd prefer the option to open the windows.

@BuzzieLittleBee There's quite a lot more plastic - take a look at these two mock-ups (the second has equal sight lines all along the top). If you think about the area that's taking from the window pane all along the edges, it adds up! I do think it would be different with aluminium frames, as they tend to be a lot thinner.

I did think about having the bigger panes as openers, but given their size I would need to have aluminium frames for the required strength. That was an option I considered, but I'm just not sure I would use them enough for it to be worth it.

I wouldnt be able to tolerate the frames all at different heights and not marrying up, is that what you mean by sight lines?

They also need to be flush with each other in my view and I think that causes a problem with openers vs non openers. We had the money to make everything flush at the front of the house so its all even but not at the back of the house and it looks all higgledy piggledy to me.

Yes - equal sight lines is when they put in "dummy" openers in the frames that don't open, so from the outside it looks like they're all openers, and the panes are all the same size.

In the current frontrunner, all the top panes along the wall with the doors will have the same height (though I think the visual has incorrectly made the middle one a little higher, so try to ignore that), so the sight lines would only be different on the diagonal top panes. Do you think the second visual in my last post looks better than the first, even though there would be significantly more plastic, and less light coming through? I'm not sure it would make sense to have equal sight lines with respect to the doors, as those frames have to be thicker to take the extra weight, so it would mean having much thicker window frames.

What do you mean about being flush in this context?

If one wall is mostly glass I can't see the light reduction being a noticeable issue?

Honestly? I'd stick with the original pattern with both horizontal and vertical bars.

It's already a dark room, because it's north-facing. If it has an extra frame of plastic in each of the non-opening panes, there would be a similar amount of plastic as there is currently. The idea of removing the horizontal bars was to let in more light (and look less busy).

You think it looks better with all the plastic? Can I ask why (if that's possible to articulate)?

I'd go for the one with the fanlight windows but also make the two angled larger windows into side hinged casements.

Personally I would also have ALL the fanlights as openers so they look the same. Consider flush windows they look neater.

What specifically do you mean by "flush windows"? Are you talking about dummy openers for equal sight lines, or something else?

EDIT: sorry, I just looked this up and I think I know what you mean. Are there any downsides to these? They don't seem to be the standard thing.

I go against the majority and think the original set up is by far the best, the others look unbalanced. I think the reason is the doors are tall and narrow, and removing the vertical bars in the windows makes the windows look somehow too wide and out of proportion to the doors.
I'd also stick with having the lower panes as openers, just having 2 small top openers makes me feel stifled even thinking about it. What era is the house, 30s?

What is the age and character of the house? Difficult to advise without some context.