Modern extension- stupid design flaw - help!

[blusherblue]

We renovated our house in 2018. Good architects and builders. A key part of it was putting large sliding glass doors across the back of the house - we overlook woodland and the view of the trees is stunning.

The ceilings are high and the frame of the glass goes pretty much up to the ceiling…

The builders put in a recess in the ceiling above the glass doors for an electric blind to go in. Trouble is, because the ceilings are so high, the recess is not big enough for the roll of the blind to be concealed completely. Therefore the underside of the roll would bulge out slightly and look (I think) crap!

There was no way around this at the time of the build - you’d have to lower the entire ceiling - and the whole project was so overwhelming we just failed to come up with any solution other than ‘just leave it and don’t put a blind in’.

This is fine and beautiful on summer evenings, but in winter it means we are looking out into vast blackness, and I dislike it, even though we make the inside very cosy. Struggling at the thought of another year of this, and wondering if anyone can suggest solutions?

Would it be mad to have a blind that only drops some of the way down? Or perhaps some outdoor lighting is the answer?

It would be great to hear if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts! Thank you x

What about external roller shutters instead? Very popular in many areas of Europe.

https://www.knall.uk/96,roller-shutter

Thanks @WonderingWanda - but unfortunately it wouldn’t work because of the external brick frame - you’d have to stick it on top of it, if that makes sense?

Is the recess big enough for curtains? My parents live in a flat with double height floor to ceiling glass windows and they have curtains. I think they had to get some from a specialist manufacturer.

Curtains? Plenty of room for a curtain track or rail, they can be pulled right back most of the time and I think they frame a big window like that nicely. Our big windows looked really stark until we put up curtains, I made them out of fairly light weight material so they are not too bulky when pulled back, we hardly ever close them, I don't mind looking out at the great black outside on a winter's evening.

@mynameiscalypso - definitely not big enough for curtains! I’ll try to post an image of a similar interior, hang on…

https://stock.adobe.com/uk/images/expansive-sliding-glass-door-with-sleek-black-frames-on-the-left-opening-to-a-sandy-beach-and-ocean-view-beneath-a-clear-blue-sky/1223604214

hoping this works…this sort of thing where the whole back wall is essentially sliding glass doors

I’d do curtains, mounting the track on the wall between the top of the window and the ceiling.

Are you saying the inset in the ceiling isn't big enough for a curtain track? I would have thought if a roller blind would go in there would be plenty of room. Those windows are huge though, ours are 9ft high, but about half that wide!

Voiles if they'd fit in the recess

Is this the type of recess you mean?

There’s no way curtains could work - there’s no room on either side as the glass doors extend right across. Plus it’s open plan and on one side there’s the kitchen - so the curtain would end up covering the work top 😂

Is the role of blind you have quite thick? For example the fancy metal slat blinds? Perhaps a thinner role of fabric blind would fit instead

How about blinds that fit into the frame of each door? Something like this
https://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/bifold-door-blinds

How about the small blinds that attach to the inside frame of the window?
Think they are similar to velux blinds, it'd have to be on each frame rather than the full way across though.

In window blinds would be the best bet

https://www.247blinds.co.uk/purity-brushed-silver-clip-fit-venetian-blind?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21157492208&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgJaX3KqRjwMV8ppQBh2nAg_oEAQYASABEgK8bvD_BwE

I dont know about the company posted, it was just the first hit on Google.

Was going to suggest perfect fit blinds. They will work if you have a rubber seal between the frame and the glass. They're simple enough to fit that you consider putting them up over winter and leaving the windows unobstructed in the summer and storing the blinds.

You could put tasteful window decals on the glass. We put snowflakes each winter on the bottom of the windows thinning out towards the top

So it should have worked a bit like this -
With the roll of the blind concealed in the ceiling recess when it’s rolled up. But because the ceilings are very high, the drop of the blinds is huge and therefore the roll can’t fit into the recess without slightly bulging out of it, which would mess up the lovely clean lines etc.

@Whosaywhatnow - interesting suggestion but it’s more the drop of the blinds that causes the issue with size rather than the width, if you see what I mean!

Can you drop a curtain track from the ceiling for most or some of it, combined with outdoor lighting would break up the dark expanse.

Or add some lighting in the garden near the house so you’re not looking out at blackness. It’s not ideal for wildlife so I’d use a bare minimum.

Thinking from a completely different perspective - what about garden lighting so that you're not looking out at blackness?

@Orders76 - I don’t think curtains in any form will work because there isn’t anywhere for us to draw them across to. But I do wonder if a blind that only drops half way down might be the answer…or if that would look insane? 🤔

Need a picture :)
Dropping from ceiling track and leaving hanging like an art panel?

@Reallybadidea - I have wondered about garden lighting but a bit clueless as to how to make it work! The doors open to a stone terrace with planting on both sides, and then steps that lead down into a long narrow garden with woods behind that. So I think some blackness is inevitable either way. But maybe lighting the terrace would help?

If you fit the blinds as intended, but make them shorter so when they are rolled up you don’t see the bulge, how short are the blinds? An inch or two off the ground, or only halfway down the window?