This subscriber has written in with a window solution dilemma and the dream window situation. Is it the huge, tall bay window of our dreams? Maybe not, but let me explain why this window might be the best case scenario for beautiful dressing.

We have a nice, deep recess.

When it comes to window recesses (how far the window is set back into the wall), the deeper, the better. The reason for this comes down to window dressing layering opportunities. If we have a nice recess, our options are endless for a blind tight to the window and a layered, more decorative solution on top.

We have a good header.

The space above the window where the lintel sits gives us some wiggle room for mounting our dressings. We can completely cover it to give the illusion of a taller window.

Ex-council homes often arrive with a strange inventory of past problem-solving, small, pragmatic decisions that have accumulated over time. Window dressing solutions are a common example. In this house, picture rails run around every room, and then a second timber batten has been added above them as a makeshift mounting board for blinds and curtain rails. It is not original or decorative. It’s functional (and a bit lazy).

As a designer, the first question is always: is this adding character, or is it simply an inherited workaround? The answer can inform whether we preserve it or remove it.

In this case, the picture rail adds architectural language to the house and offers a great opportunity for flexible artwork mounting. The timber batten is an unnecessary, unsightly solution, and we can do without it because the recess gives us the distance we need for any layering opportunities. For this reason, we can have the picture rail running continuously around all of the spaces, and just fit window dressing above them if we need to.

Window dressings are not just visual. They solve a performance brief:

The right solution depends on which of these are most important.

Full-height curtains across the living room would do three things extremely well:

They scale up the architecture.
By taking the curtain to the ceiling line and running full width, you visually lift the room and borrow architectural height that the original window does not express.

They improve acoustics.
Ex-council homes often have hard surfaces and minimal soft finishes. Layering fabric across an entire wall materially dampens echo.

They insulate.
A full drop of fabric in front of a cold elevation is a passive thermal improvement you can feel.

None of these benefits require a timber mounting batten. A proper track system mounted at ceiling height replaces both the batten and the old blind rail in a single gesture.

Roman blinds can easily ‘dress up’ a space without the fuss of curtains. They are by far my favourite window dressing because they sit beautifully without taking up too much space.

Again, the timber batten has no function here — we don’t need to push the Roman blinds forward if they are outside of the recess, since a second window dressing would sit nicely inside the recess.

Think of roller blinds as a second skin. I would never use a roller blind as the primary window dressing, but they do work perfectly behind something more decorative.

One of the common renovating mistakes is to preserve the look of inherited solutions rather than the logic of them. Consistency in design should come from:

not from re-introducing an outdated mounting solution simply because it’s present in other rooms.

If I were specifying this for a client, the prescription would be:

Living room

A simple renovation rule to finish on:

If an element only exists to support an obsolete solution, remove it. Inherited workarounds are only useful if you still have the same problem. You don’t.

Use your window dressings as an opportunity to add layered texture, warmth and privacy to your spaces, and never make a roller blind the star of the show.

Thanks for being a part of my little newsletter community and remember you can send in your space for some home truths! Safe space.