curtain rail (2026 Update)

We had a similar problem several houses back.

Sorry I can't recall the make we used but I simply bought some Aluminium rail, which has finished in white. I carefully cut through the 'lip' on the back where the supports clipped at the points where I needed to made the bends (the bay was made of several flat windows- I can't recall how many- probably 5) I then simply bent the rail carefully. I fixed the rail, with brackets on either side of each bend and one in the middle of each straight run. The curtain 'ran' fine, 'senior management' approved and the curtains were quite heavy- full length (may be a 6' drop) and lined. The only thing I couldn't figure out was how to make them 'cord pull' to close.

You can get Swish Superluxe up to 5 metres long, e.g.

We have 3 metre lengths of this in two bay windows and heavy curtains run quite freely on it.

It comes in two sections with a joiner. The joiner is well supported if you follow the recommended bracket spacing with a bracket close to each side of the joiner. The joint should be no problem but the curtain overlap does need to to coincide with the joint.

Because of the joint you have a separate cording set for each section but we don't find this any problem, in fact it's quite an advantage, it makes heavy curtains easier to draw and can sometimes be quite useful if you need to just partially close one side to cut down dazzle from the sun.

Although the track feels quite stiff it can be bent to a ten inch radius although I found heating with a hairdryer was a great help. Having once bent it to the required radius it stayed there without springing back.

There's aluminium, not corded in this example:

Follow up:

Thanks for advice. I used Swish Supreme Glide which is aluminium, the gliders have rollers. The extrusion is similar to Swish Deluxe, but the two channels in the aly version are different from each other. It doesn't run as smoothly as you would hope, the butt joint works better than you might hope. But job done.

How do you know what I'd hope? What lube did you use?

NT

For a 3.2 m bay with curtains that heavy, I’d favour a good-quality aluminium track rather than a plastic one. Aluminium is much less likely to flex under a nearly 3 m curtain drop, and a track designed to be bent should let the gliders travel around the corners more smoothly.

The bracket layout matters just as much as the track. I’d put brackets close to either side of each bend and, if a join is unavoidable, support both sides of the join as well. That reduces movement at the joint and makes it less likely that the gliders will catch.

A properly fitted track joiner can work well, particularly if the joint is straight and perfectly aligned. For heavy curtains, though, I’d still choose a single continuous track if you can get one in the required length, simply because there is no joint for the gliders to cross.

There’s a useful explanation of how curtain tracks work, including bent tracks for bay windows

For this job I’d prioritise:

• aluminium rather than lightweight plastic;
• rollers or good-quality low-friction gliders;
• plenty of brackets around the bends;
• solid fixing into timber or suitable wall/ceiling structure; and
• as few track joins as possible.

If using a joiner, I’d assemble and test the track on the floor first. Run several gliders across the joint before hanging the curtains — even a very small step between the two sections becomes much more noticeable once there is significant curtain weight on the gliders.

Disclosure: I’m associated with iSeekBlinds, which published the curtain-track guide linked above.