Start with What the Bay Gives You

A bay window is one of the most generous features a British bedroom can have, and one of the most commonly wasted. Those extra 40 to 60 centimetres beyond the wall line — and in a Victorian terrace it can be closer to a metre — create a pocket of space deeper than any alcove and better lit than any corner. Too often it becomes a resting place for laundry baskets, spare pillows and a houseplant that never quite thrives. Give it half an hour of proper thought and it will earn its keep for years.

There are three dependable uses for a bedroom bay: a dressing table, a built-in window seat, or a small armchair. Which one suits you depends less on taste than on two practical questions — how much light the window gets, and how overlooked it is. Answer those first, then choose.

Read the Light and the Privacy

A north-facing bay delivers soft, even light all day. That is genuinely useful for a dressing table, because colours read true and there is no glare bouncing off the mirror. A south- or west-facing bay is brighter and warmer, which suits a window seat or a reading chair, but you will want shutters or a lined blind for those low summer evenings when the sun makes the room uncomfortably bright.

Privacy matters just as much. If you are on a ground floor, or looking straight at a neighbouring wall or a busy pavement, a chair positioned to gaze out of the window is pointless. Angle it into the room instead. A dressing table copes well with being overlooked, since you usually sit with your back to the glass.

One more thing to check before you commit: what is under the sill? A radiator sitting in the bay rules out a fixed window seat unless you are prepared to have it moved, which is doable but disruptive and rarely cheap. A dressing table placed hard against a hot radiator is equally unpleasant to sit at.

The Dressing Table Option

This is the use that flatters a bay most, because daylight is the best light there is for applying make-up or shaving. A top depth of 40 to 45 centimetres is ample, and you want at least 60 centimetres of clear knee space. If your sill sits at the typical 85 to 95 centimetres, a slim table will tuck neatly beneath it.

• Position the mirror on one of the flat return walls rather than square-on to the glass, so you are lit from the side rather than silhouetted against the window.
• Choose a stool that slides completely underneath — a backless upholstered one at around 45 centimetres high works well.
• Use shallow drawers for jewellery and cosmetics; deep drawers are wasted in a bay and will foul the sill.
• Add a small wall light or a plug-in lamp with a warm bulb for winter mornings, when daylight arrives late.

The Window Seat Option

A window seat turns dead space into the most inviting corner of the room, and it can double as storage for bedding if you build it as an ottoman with a lift-up lid. Standard seat height is 45 to 50 centimetres from floor to the top of the cushion. Allow a cushion depth of 8 to 10 centimetres — anything thinner feels like a park bench after twenty minutes.

Have the cushion made to fit the full bay, including the angled returns, so nothing shifts about. A hinged lid needs a clear radius to open, so leave 10 centimetres of clearance in front. If the bay is deep, consider a low back panel built into the window reveal; it makes the seat feel intentional rather than like a bench pushed into a gap.

The Armchair or Reading Nook

If the bay already has good light and reasonable privacy, a single armchair is the simplest transformation of all. Look for something slim — 70 to 80 centimetres wide — so it does not crowd the room. Positioning is everything: place it at a slight diagonal, turned towards the room rather than the view, and it will feel like a deliberate retreat instead of a chair shoved out of the way.

• Add a small side table no wider than 35 centimetres for a mug and a book.
• A floor lamp behind the chair solves the evening problem without cluttering the windowsill.
• Keep a basket or a low stool nearby for a throw, so the corner stays tidy.

Dressing the Window Itself

How you cover the window will make or break the space. Full-length curtains hung on a bay track that follows the shape of the recess look generous, but they eat into the depth — expect to lose 15 to 20 centimetres at each side. Plantation shutters are tidier in a small room because they sit inside the reveal and leave the floor clear; the trade-off is a harder, more contemporary look. Roman blinds suit a window seat neatly, since they stack at the top and let you sit right up against the glass.

In every case, choose a lining. A good thermal lining keeps the heat in during winter and softens street light at night. Keep colours pale and fabrics light in a small bedroom — a heavy dark curtain across a bay will swallow the very thing that makes the space special. And whatever you place there, leave the sill itself as clear as you can. A bay crowded with clutter loses its light, and light is the whole point.