A bay window is usually the best thing about the room it sits in, which makes it odd how often one ends up hidden behind a straight curtain. Bay window shutters are plantation shutters built as a set of separate framed sections, one for each face of the bay, joined at the angles so the run of panels follows the window round. Each section carries its own hinged panels and its own louvres, so you can fold open the centre for the view, keep the angled sides closed, or tilt one face against low sun while the rest stay put. Done properly, the result looks as though the bay was designed around the shutters rather than the other way about.
Why bays suit shutters
The trouble with dressing a bay is that most window treatments are straight and a bay, by definition, is not. Hang a curtain across the opening and you close off the recess entirely — the window seat, the depth, the extra light, the very features that made the bay worth having. A bent bay pole helps, but it still leaves fabric bunched into the corners. Shutters work the other way round. Because each face gets its own section, the shutters follow the recess rather than cutting across it. The bay keeps its shape, light comes in through tilted louvres instead of around the edge of a curtain, and nothing needs drawing, tying back or steaming.
As for style, full-height shutters are the most popular choice in bays — panels covering the full window on every face, which suits the proportions of most bays. If yours sits at street level and passers-by take a polite interest, cafe-style shutters cover just the lower portion of the glass, keeping privacy at eye level while the light above carries on regardless.
Three sides or five — and square, splayed or curved
Bays come in more shapes than people expect. A three-sided bay has a wide central window with one angled window on each side; a five-sided bay adds a further face on each side. Beyond the count, the angles matter too:
- Square bays — the faces meet at right angles, giving a boxed shape.
- Splayed bays — the side faces angle back gently towards the wall rather than meeting it square.
- Curved bays — sometimes called bow windows, where a series of faces follows a curve.
None of this changes how the shutters open and close, but it does change how the sections join at the angles — so when you order, tell us whether your bay is square, splayed or curved.
How to measure a bay window for shutters
The rule that governs everything else: you do not measure a bay as one window. You measure each section on its own, as if it were a small window in its own right — which, structurally, it is. The method, set out in full in our measuring guide, runs like this:
- Sketch the bay from above, as a bird's-eye view, and number the sections.
- For each section, take the width at three points and keep the smallest of the three figures.
- Take the height at three points and, again, keep the smallest.
- Match the heights across the bay, so the panels line up as one continuous run rather than a set of near misses.
- Note whether the bay is square, splayed or curved, and tell us when you order.
One point is worth stating plainly: your measurements are used exactly as entered — nothing is deducted. There is no allowance quietly taken off at our end. What you write down is what gets made, which is precisely why the smallest-of-three rule exists.
What bay window shutters cost
A bay deserves one honest sentence here: it is effectively three or more windows plus the joinery that connects them, and it costs accordingly. Our shutters are priced per square metre, so a bay is priced as the sum of its sections — measure each one, and the total is the area of all of them added together. Across our five collections that runs from £163.20 per square metre for the composite Classic range to £255.00 per square metre for the brushed-timber Heritage range; if the timber appeals, our real wood shutters page covers the detail. And for the arithmetic worked through properly, see our guide to how much plantation shutters cost.
How ordering works — supply-only
We are supply-only, which is a short way of describing the division of labour: you measure, we supply, you collect and fit. You measure each section using the method above and enter the figures; the shutters are made to those exact measurements; you collect the finished shutters from us in Retford; and you fit them yourself. We never fit and we never recommend fitters — the section-by-section method exists precisely so that a careful person with a tape measure and a pencil can get a bay measured accurately.
If your bay is next on the list, start with the sketch: bird's-eye view, numbered sections, three widths and three heights apiece, smallest figure each time. Once the numbers are down, get a quote and see what your bay comes to, section by section.