When apartment- or house-hunting, the sight of a bay window might send up oohs and aahs from the crowd. The possibilities are outshone only by the marvelous, wide-angle view. (This is when the realtor lightly jingles the door keys in his pocket.) What seems like a world of bay window ideas, however, might turn into a world of hard decisions once you move in. What are the very best ways to use these sun-filled nooks? Here we've gone room-by-room to talk through ten excellent bay window ideas—and for each scenario, we've provided one for those willing to splurge on custom solutions and another featuring a craftier fix.
For a Dining Room
Custom: Add Bench Seating
In a Connecticut home, a custom-made table designed by Miles Redd defines the breakfast area, which is painted in Farrow & Ball's Ballroom Blue; the chairs are antique, and the window seat's cushion fabric is by Bennison.
Miguel Flores-Vianna
Crafty: Just Scoot the Dining Table Into It
In a Shelter Island, New York, home by Piccione Architecture & Design, the dining room's console is a Christophe Côme design.
Roger Davies
For a Work Space
Custom: Flank it with Built-ins
In a Manhattan apartment by Hein + Cozzi, the study's existing millwork was refreshed with a peacock shade, the sofa is by Avery Boardman, and the tea set is by Hermès.
Durston Saylor
Crafty: A Card Table Doubles as a Desk
A bay window is furnished with a French Empire table and Engadinese chairs in the master bedroom of a home in Saint Moritz, Switzerland by Studio Peregalli.
Oberto Gili
For a Bath
Custom: Build the Bath Into the Nook
A bath in the Edwin Lutyens–designed Hampshire, England, estate Marshcourt, with an expansive leaded window.
Tim Beddow
Crafty: Add a Claw-Foot and Hang a Curtain
A prototype of a Robert Venturi chair for Knoll enlivens a guest bath in a Shelter Island, New York, home by Philip Galanes and Michael Haverland Architect. The floor lamp is a midcentury Tommi Parzinger design, the Saarinen table is by KnollStudio, and the shower fittings are by Sign of the Crab.
Roger Davies
For Display
Custom: Build Out a Pedestal
In a London powder room decorated by Jacques Grange are a Gio Ponti chandelier, an Anselm Kiefer painting, and a bust by Klara Kristalova.
Henry Bourne
Crafty: Add a Console Table
At one end of a London drawing room by Francis Sultana, a Jean Royère sofa is grouped with Mattia Bonetti polished-steel side tables and a Charlotte Perriand bench with a cushion covered in an Edelman Leather cowhide; the large framed painting near the window is by Anselm Reyle, the photograph on the mantel is a piece by Marlo Pascual, and the pair of table lamps is by Elizabeth Garouste and Bonetti.
Luke White
For a Sitting Room
Custom: Build a Bench
A mirror surrounds the living room's fireplace in designer Campion Platt's Palm Beach, Florida, home. Platt designed the club chairs, the low table, and the banquette.
Ken Hayden
Crafty: Add a Sofa
Beneath an 18th-century English chandelier from Charles Edwards, Chippendale dining chairs encircle an 18th-century mahogany table in a Beverly Hills home designed by Waldo Fernandez; the artwork is by Rudolf Stingel.
