Laurence advises

House Beautiful online 28.03.2008

Our interior design expert offers help to a couple struggling to find a window treatment for their unusually shaped windows

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and a living room scene "My husband and I are coming to the end of a long self-build project, so we're now at the best part - buying items for the interior. We're planning a chocolate and aqua bedroom but we don't know how to dress the pentagonal-shaped window, especially the top section. Can you help?"

Lowri Harris, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire
Reader's bedroom window

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen says:

It's all very well building a shiny new house with all sorts of roofs and walls, but now you're reaping the bitter crop of your lack of aesthetic foresight. As far as I'm concerned, all new-builds should be built around their curtainage. Getting excited about loft lagging and underfloor heating is all well and good but it means nothing if the place looks like a solitary confinement cell after it's finished. I blame all those build-your-own home television programmes, which encourage the people of this country to neglect interior design in favour of
the gritty, manly pursuance of architecture. Conservatory with cream sofa and matching blinds
Triangular, conservatory blinds, from £76, Hilarys

So, back to your window treatments. If you get the opportunity, please visit the amazing Castle Drogo in Drewsteignton, Devon, the domestic masterpiece of Edwin Lutyens (01647 433306 or visit nationaltrust.org.uk). It's a riot of amazing details, and despite the fact that he had hundreds of rooms to create from scratch, Lutyens still found time to design unusual, hinged curtains to hang inside the window reveals and then swing across the window. Two swatches of curtain fabric
Curtain fabrics from Parkertex and Northcroft Fabrics

The effect is rather like a cross between a curtain and a shutter. As for the top section, use a triangular shaped pull-up roller blind that can be sourced from a conservatory blind company.Conservatory blinds are often triangular, so a small version would be perfect for Lowri's bedroom.