Bow Tie Blinds: Inspiration behind our guest bedroom windows
I have seen these types of blinds (also known as roman valance blinds or bow-tie blinds) on Pinterest for years and must confess have not been able to get them out of my mind.
They look so pretty and also have the benefit of being relatively simple to make, needing just one panel of lined fabric with some ties for bows attached. As an ex-curtain maker, I have made many a roman blind, and quite honestly, that’s a stress I don’t need in my life right now!
Of course, it must be said that these are certainly not the most practical of blinds. I didn’t want to use blackout lining as that would make the fabric too rigid for the rolls, and they are also a bit of a faff to put up and down. Thankfully our guest room is empty 95% of the year, and when we do have guests, I imagine they will probably just keep the blinds down throughout the day - to save the hassle of tying them up.
However, all that being said, they do look sweet in comparison to the simple roller blinds we had before, and they are so much softer and cosier. Our guest bedroom is on the ground floor opposite the front door, so it is a space I see a lot and I have certainly been enjoying this indulgent update.
If you’d like to try these yourself, I recommend using them as a ‘dress blind’ in a kitchen for instance, where you may not pull the blinds anyway but they soften the window, adding texture and interest. You could also use them as a layer with curtains, leaving the blinds tied up with curtains in front that you can pull across in the evening.
Fabric, Pinetum Stripe in ‘Flax’ by Sanderson; Wallpaper, Bella in ‘Green’ by Borastapeter, both at Wallpaper Direct; Window Film, Glass Films Europe; Candle, Livava Home.
Bow Tie Blind: The Inspiration
I haven’t been able to find many examples of this type of blind but here are a few that really got my mind going when it came to this style. You can drape the fabric in two different ways, either loosely or rolled like mine. I think the blinds with another pattern on the lining look particularly fun, but with a patterened wallpaper already in our guest room, I decided to keep it simpler for ours.
Light yellow and natural stripe tie-up blind, Etsy.
I used to work for interior designer and tv personality, Sophie Robinson, and as so, had the pleasure of visiting her beautiful home. Known for her bright colours and maximalist style, Sophie loves to mix florals and stripes as shown so wonderfully with the contrast lining and ties on this blind below.
A blind in the kitchen of interior designer and colour lover, Sophie Robinson, featuring Woodland Floral and Ribbon Stripe from Sophie’s collection at Harlequin.
How to hang your Bow Tie Blind
As you can see there are two ways to hang this type of blind, either with a pole or on a baton. The pole looks lovely but with the wooden beams in our guestroom already present, I didn’t feel like I needed to add any more detail or layers to the space and therefore preferred to keep it simple with a baton.
Thankfully, I had some scrap wood perfect to use for this too so it also didn’t cost me a penny extra. I painted them in the same colour as the woodwork and added some stick and sew velcro on to it. They may look uneven in the photos but I used a laser to ensure they’re straight and it’s the beams that are not!
